Northern Proposals (9 page)

I stepped back outside then hollered, "There's a root cellar door." I opened it, descended a steep set of stairs, and discovered the basement was just a utility room. It didn't extend under the entire cabin but was just big enough for the furnace and well. It was musty and had cobwebs.

I climbed back upstairs and reported that to Jessica.

"I don't care," she said. "But I want it available all year."

"Mrs. Benson lived here," Karen said. "It should do very well in winter."

We looked around some more then stepped outside and stood on the front porch.

"I wanted it," Jessica said quietly to me when Karen wasn't right next to us.

"I want to know what another hundred thousand would get," I told her.

"I can't afford much more than this one."

"I'm curious." I paused. "You couldn't write an offer today?"

"No. I don't have the down payment."

"Let's go talk to her. I'm just curious."

"All right," Jessica said.

We collected Karen and stepped back inside. I began asking questions. I started with, "How does this compare to other cabins in the area for a similar price?"

"It's always hard to judge," she said. "Lot sizes vary so much. The lakes are all different. And no one builds tract house cabins, so every cabin is unique. Some have garages, some don't. Many are larger but don't have even a tiny basement. Many aren't insulated or have a furnace."

She paused. "For similar money, I can find a bigger cabin on a smaller lot. I can find a similar cabin on a larger lot, but this is a really nice lake. This is a good size lot, and you could expand the cabin and build the garage you want, when you decided to do that.
In my opinion, this is priced properly, and I'm surprised it hasn't sold."

We talked for a while. Jessica was puzzled at my questions, but I ignored the looks she gave us. Finally I was down to one remaining question.

"Do banks give loans to unmarried couples?"

"All the time, if they both have good credit."

That's when Jessica realized what I was doing. "You want to buy it with me."

I smiled at her. "Maybe. This place is really cute and I love it, but I would want us to be able to invite friends. If you and I each have a bedroom, where do our friends sleep?"

I turned to Karen. "Clearly we haven't talked about this. Until yesterday, we've never socialized together. But I think we're becoming friends. Is this weird?"

"I can't comment on your friendship," she said with a smile. "But it's not uncommon for two families to buy a cabin together. It's not necessarily common, but I wouldn't call it rare. It makes a lot of sense. Share the expenses, share the work, and most people don't use a cabin even half time, so sharing it with someone else doesn't need to be onerous, even when it's two families. Neither of you are married?"

"No," Jessica said. "So I expect we'd come up together a lot." She looked at me. "Are you just teasing me?"

"No, but I'm not ready to commit to anything, either," I said
. "We don't really know each other well enough to enter into something like this yet." I turned to Karen. "Are there standard agreements for something like this?"

"I've had a few clients who have purchased houses together like this. It is common to write a contract outlining what happens if one of them wants to sell." She talked about it with us for a while.

"If we were willing to spend another fifty or a hundred thousand, would we find something much better?"

"You would find a little bigger cabin and maybe a garage. This is a beautiful lot, and you won't improve on it without spending a lot more."

"So if we come back in a few months or next year and are ready to buy something, this cabin might be available, but probably not. But you could find something we would like, especially if we're willing to spend a little more."

"Yes. Definitely."

After that we got up and roamed around the cabin for another couple of minutes. Then we locked up, and Karen drove us back to her office. She gave us a little more information, and we thanked her for her time.

In the car, Jessica turned to me. "You're serious."

"I'm not teasing. Have you ever been somewhere and loved it immediately? I love it up here. But we would need to know each other better. This is a big commitment." I paused. "And I would want a boat, but I don't know the first thing about them, like what they cost or how to take care of them. I don't even know how to drive one."

"You're really serious."

I smiled. "How do you feel about it?"

"I love it. Did you really want a different one?"

"I loved that place," I told her. "But unless we're sharing a bed, how would we have guests?"

She nodded.

"If you have a girlfriend or I have a boyfriend, then we can't both come up plus bring guests, unless people sleep on the sofa or the floor."

She turned away and started the car. She waited for a chance then backed out and drove us back to Marcy's. Neither of us said anything. When we got home, Jessica said, "We should fix that."

"Fix what?"

"I should teach you how to drive the boat. We have time before dinner."

"Oh, and I want some more swimming."

* * *

It was fun learning how to drive the boat. Jessica had me do everything, and it was a lot easier than I expected. "There are more complicated boats. This one is pretty simple."

"Simple is good. We wouldn't need anything complicated. Would you want a ski boat?" I asked her.

"We would have to talk about whether we wanted a pontoon boat or a ski boat first. I wouldn't mind having both. If I could only get one, I'd probably get a ski boat. If we were going to have a bigger cabin and have more than four of us up at a time, then a pontoon boat is a better party boat."

I drove us to go look at "our" cabin again. She turned to me beseechingly. "I want it."

"I do too," I told her. "But we may hate each other by this time tomorrow."

She paused and sighed. "You just told me not to seduce you. We can buy the cabin as friends, or
we can buy it as lovers, but we can't buy it as failed lovers."

I thought about it for a bit
, considering the implications of buying it and then having a falling out. "If you had the down payment, could you make payments without me?"

"Yes. I wouldn't be able to buy a boat for a while though. I'd probably find a cheap canoe or rowboat. I can fish from a rowboat, and I can go motor boating when Jon takes me."

"Let's go swim," I said. She nodded. I motored us out to the middle of the lake and killed the engine. "Why don't you swim from shore?"

"I do," she said. "But this is fun, and I like sitting on the deck of the boat letting the waves rock me. It's hypnotic and relaxing."

There was a little more boat traffic this afternoon than there had been this morning, but it was still quieter than I would have expected. I stripped down to my swimsuit and dived into the water. Jessica was right behind me. She followed me a distance from the boat, then I smiled at her, slowly backing away closer to the boat.

"If you can catch me, you can kiss me," I said
playfully, then immediately dived under the water and began swimming back to the boat.

I didn't bother looking back but headed straight for the boat. I didn't know if she was
behind me or wondering where I was. I did her trick and came up underneath the boat, being careful not to hit my head. My heart was racing as I imagined what she would do with me, what we might do together.

Then I felt her hands on my legs, and she rose up next to me, immediately wrapping her
smooth, athletic legs around me. I slipped under the water, and she pulled me up. I was sputtering from the sudden dunking.

"Sorry," she said.

I smiled and grabbed the boat for extra flotation. "It's okay," I said, my heart thumping. "You caught me," I told her. I sounded breathless, and I found myself staring at her.

"What are you doing?" she asked.
Her green eyes gleamed at me. Drops of water glistened in her eyelashes and ran down her cheeks.

"Flirting," I breathed.

She pulled herself closer, wrapping herself more completely around me. My heart was pounding as I stared into her compelling eyes. Her legs and arms enveloped me completely. I'd never been held like this before, especially not by a woman, and I decided I liked it. A lot.

She studied my face, watching my reactions. Surely she had to know my heart was
bursting. I wanted her to kiss me. I licked my lips.

"I don't know how I'll feel on Monday," I told her
, my voice cracking. "Right now, it's just a kiss."

She pulled closer and I closed my eyes. Her lips brushed mine tentatively and withdrew.

I opened my eyes and looked at her. She was studying me, perhaps wondering how I was about to react.

"I don't understand," I told her.

She looked away, but she hadn't stopped holding me, and my heart was still pounding, but I felt myself growing upset and feeling rejected.

"I thought-" I said. I
interrupted myself. "Never mind. I should have kept my mouth shut about the cabin. Now you're all freaked out."

She looked back at me. "You raised the stakes awfully high."

"If you were only risking a broken heart, would that have been a real kiss?"

"Yes."

"Either kiss me properly, Jessica or unwrap yourself."

I closed my eyes again and waited. Either she would kiss me or she had damned well better unwrap herself from me.

She started to loosen, and my heart began to break, but she was only adjusting her grip, and soon I felt her legs curl further around me, her body pressed more tightly to mine, and then her lips were on mine.

I wrapped my free arm around her, pulling her against me, my heart
thumping madly in my chest. When she flicked her tongue against my lips, I parted for her, and I felt her tongue slide between my open lips.

I moaned into the kiss. So did she.

I couldn't think. I couldn't think about anything. All I could do was feel. I felt her lips and tasted her tongue. I felt her limbs wrapped around me. I felt the skin of her back, slick with the water. Her breath was sweet, clean and intoxicating. I felt my heart pounding.

I felt very confused.

She moaned again, pulling me even tighter into the vee of her thighs, and I responded, the sound of my heart drowning out the quiet lapping of the waves against the boat.

Eventually, disappointingly, she pulled away. I opened my eyes and looked at her. She looked very happy but a little nervous at the same time. She started to unwrap herself, but I said, "Please, keep holding me. I like this."

She smiled and tightened her hold. "I've never kissed anyone under a boat before," she said.

"Have you held someone like this before me?"

"A few times, and been held a few times. But never someone I wanted as much as I want you."

I hugged her tightly. She laid her head on my shoulder. "I want more kisses later. For now, we need to swim, and I need to think. I don't want you to let go, but you probably should."

She looked a little disappointed as she let me go.

"Wait,
please," I told her. "One more short kiss, first?"

She smiled and pulled my lips to hers. This was a shorter kiss, but still a proper kiss. Then as she finished the kiss, she slipped away from me. "Care for a race?"

"You'll win. You're a better swimmer than I am."

"I'll give you a head start. Three times around the boat, no diving underneath, and if I pass you, I have to do it on the outside."

"How much of a head start?"

"Half a lap."

I considered her suggestion. "I could win that."

"You could. Wager?"

"Only if it's something I'm willing to give you."

"If I win, I get to blindfold you again later," she said.

"And if I win?"

"What do you want?"

"Bedtime massage."

"Deal." She pulled away from me towards the front of the boat. "
Swim on the surface, no touching the boat at any time. We'll start in front and I'll start when I see you at the back."

I paddled after her then turned left, planning to go counter-clockwise around the boat. I turned to her. "What if it's so close we can't tell?"

"Then we both win."

"Deal." I took a big deep breath then started swimming, conserving myself until I got to the back, then giving it my all.

When I swim, I breathe to my left side. As I crossed the back of the boat, I took a breath and briefly looked up the length of the boat between the hulls. I saw Jessica at the other end just starting to swim. I made the turn and headed up the side of the boat, keeping enough distance I wouldn't accidentally bump the hull. I turned left again across the front, taking a breath, and I saw Jessica directly behind the boat.