Page 21 of HoHoHo for You

An hour later, I shook my head in disbelief as the boat rode a wave right up onto the pale sand of a tiny island.

Sam tipped the guy and helped him get our bags safely out and onto the sand while I sat in the boat, staring and wondering what the hell we were doing.

He beckoned me to the side of the boat, swept me up to his chest and carried me through the shallow waves to the beach.

I suddenly understood why he’d told me to pack light and bring bug-spray. A few minutes later we’d left the sand and were entirely surrounded by trees, vines, and undergrowth that were half-jungle, half forest. The trail we walked was narrow—I followed Sam who carried both bags. It took almost ten minutes from the beach until the trees opened to an area that looked like a driveway, which confused me, until I realized that the massive trees in front of us were ahouse.Or rather, a house had been built into and across two of them.

A winding staircase started at the bottom of that cement area and sloped up behind the trunks of the trees, to a treehouse well above our heads.

“Sam!” I gasped.

He turned and smiled at me, winking. “No Christmas decorations, I promise.” I gaped at him and he slowed in his walk. “This isn’t even the best part. Come on.”

I was like a kid, skipping up to meet him and grabbing his arm, dragging him forward until we were on that cement, and then running up what turned out not to be stairs, but ramps that led all the way into what was described as acottage,Sam told me.

It was small, rustic, clean, and so quiet.

“Sam…” I breathed as I stepped inside and turned a full circle to take in every part of this adorable place.

Sam dropped our bags inside the door, and stood back to let me look around.

The walls were wood, but stained a light gray with slightly darker trim at the windows and doors. A queen bed lay right at the center of what was essentially a large box with a conical roof and a covered deck that ran along every side except where the ramp climbed to meet it at the back.

Large windows on either side of the room let natural light in, but kept it from being direct because the roof extended over the deck, and the tree canopy was intact overhead. We were shaded from every side.

The décor was simple and coastal. One large TV had been attached to the wall facing the bed, but Sam said there was no cable out here, so it only worked for casting. Insect screens covered every door and window, along with little signs warning against leaving them open. There was a small kitchen at one end, and an even smaller bathroom next to it. That surprised me.

Sam led me out the creaking screen door on the other side of the room from which we’d entered, and I wanted to dance. The deck was much wider here. Comfortable, deep, outdoor furniture and a hammock gave us plenty of places to rest, mosquito nets draped from the branches overhead for the evenings. Tree trunks growing through the floor of the decking on both sides of the house only added to the character of the place.

But the view… The view stole my breath.

Sam led me to the railing at the back of the deck and tipped his head for me to look over. I gasped.

A small waterfall fell from a natural rocky-outcropping to the right and into a wide, natural pool twenty feet below that fed a small waterway off to the left.

“It’s our bath,” Sam said with a quiet smile. “And our pool. And… well, just a place to cool off. There’s air conditioning and a bathroom inside, but the water pressure is for shit, and everyone I spoke to says we won’t want to close up the windows and doors so… this is how we cool off and get clean,” he said, looking at me sideways like he wasn’t quite sure how I’d feel about it.

“So, you’re saying… I get to see you naked and wet every day?” I said breathlessly.

Sam grinned. “Yes, babe. Yes, you do.”

“Have I died and gone to heaven?”

He snorted, but instead of taking my cue, he proceeded to show me all the ways we could make this place home.

He’d done it. He’d found my paradise.

This island was tiny and privately owned. The amenities were rustic and finicky, so the proper rich people didn’t like to come. It could only be reached by boat. But we were close enough to the mainland that there was cell service, and satellite internet.

Literally no other soul on the island except for a boat that would come every Thursday to pick up our trash and transport us to the main islands to shop for the week.

The only light on the island was whatever we turned on in the treehouse. It was powered mostly by solar panels, but there was a generator if a storm blew in. And though the bathroom was fully functional, the owners hadn’t lied when they said the water pressure was cruddy.

I was overjoyed. We couldn’t see another person or habitation unless we were on the main beach, and even then they were distant.

And that waterfall and swimming hole… god, it made my heart happy.

“We’ve got a month,” Sam said after showing me everything. “Talk about divine appointment, the day before I contacted them, their usual client pulled out of the booking at the last minute. We won’t go back until after New Year’s.”

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