Page 36 of Beauty and the Beard

“I came here with a dream. To own a sugar shack and make maple syrup. The best Canada would ever taste. I put that signpost in the ground before I even built my cabin.” I chuckle again. “And not more than an hour later, Connor rolled up here and chewed me out for not keeping his family informed. He wasstill building the lodge, and it wasn’t open. I had no business to inform about my plans, so that didn’t happen.”

“He thought you were pulling a fast one or something? Undercutting his business?”

“Nah. He didn’t want someone bringing massive amounts of traffic here. He wanted a quiet road, and he was worried I might create a problem.”

“So, how did you go from fighting with each other to getting married?”

Taking his hand, we walk back up to the buildings. The smile on my face is the biggest it’s ever been since he died. With a laugh, I turn to Sasha.

“It wasn’t overnight, but he had a crush after that meeting and he kept making excuses to drop by and ask how things were going. Before long, he was bringing me food, and we were sharing meals here. Then he was helping me and then… well, then we both realized we really liked each other. The rest is history, as they say.”

Sasha smiles along with me and gets his camera out of the bag.

“It sounds like a great story. Maybe you’ll share more with me?”

“Definitely. But what I want to show you is what I own here and why I wanted it so bad.”

Sasha follows me along the path through the maple trees I used to tap. The equipment, if it’s still any good, remains stored in the processing building and the path we walk is still slightly overgrown. Okay, lots overgrown. I should have warned him to wear pants just in case. Ticks and the other bugs out here can be a real annoyance.

But he doesn’t seem to care, and he’s fascinated with things I don’t even look twice at. The fungus off a tree, a group of buttercups, and a tiny tree frog he spots near a patch off the trail.

“Look how cute it is, Leaf! I didn’t know they made them that small.” He leans in to photograph it and it jumps. He screeches, then bursts into laughter. “Oh my god, it scared the crap out of me!”

His innocent jubilation tugs me in like a magnet. My heart is light, and as we walk along this path, I show him where and how trees are tapped in the spring. As the time passes and he soaks it all in like a sponge, a hope grows. Hope that I enjoy living again.

Perhaps hope that I can also love again.

“How many trees are here, Leaf? You can’t have tapped them all.”

“I’ve lost track, but no, I didn’t tap them all. But I had tapped 200 at one time. That’s as big as I got. Then we decided to concentrate on the lodge since it was the bigger income generator and the plan was to work on this more in the winter.”

Sasha pauses, sensing there’s more to the story. And perhaps feeling the shift like I am. That there’s once again hope for both of us.

“I’m getting thirsty. Do you mind if we head back for a break?”

“That’s a good idea. You need to keep hydrated and I should have brought a water bottle with us. I wouldn’t mind a drink myself.”

Hand in hand, we silently walk the same way we came from, and the lightness I felt earlier remains.

Sasha isn’t just beautiful.

He’s smart and funny. Intuitive and incredibly strong.

And he’s someone I like to spend time with.

Back at the cabin, I root the key from my pocket and force the door open. Dust streams through the beams of light, and the hot, stale air smacks into us.

“It’s empty now and I don’t know if the water even works out here anymore. I’ve neglected it.”

The two-room cabin was my home for two years while I cleared timber and had the processing barn built. It was two years of immersing myself into everything maple syrup and somewhere in that busy part of my life, I allowed myself to fall in love with Connor.

He was unexpected. Much like Sasha.

Connor came here so often it wasn’t until a year after meeting for lunch almost daily that he blatantly asked me if there was a reason I hadn’t made a move on him yet. It shocked me so much to know someone like him was even attracted to me. But I kissed him that day. Right in this very room.

Oblivious to my memories, Sasha peeks into the tiny bathroom and back at me.

“Were you ever cold living here? It seems like you’d be cold.”

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