The Right Bed?: Your Bed or Mine?

“Hello, idiot,” she muttered.

“Rule number one,” Jake said. “No name-calling.” He started down the length of the porch, then motioned Sam and Emma to follow. When they reached the lake side of the house, they walked down the snow-packed path to the summer kitchen. “All right. You’ll stay here until you’ve worked things out. When you’ve both come to a rational decision about your future together, you can leave a lantern burning in the window and we’ll come and get you. There’s food and firewood inside. There’s a bathroom through the small door near the fireplace. I want you both to go inside, take off your jackets, your shoes and the rest of your clothes and put them on the porch. I’ll give them back to you when it’s time to leave.”

“What?” Sam said.

“I’m not giving you my clothes,” Emma said.

“Do we really need their clothes?” Caley asked.

“They can’t run away if we have their clothes,” Jake explained. “Unless they want to trudge through the snow in their bare feet, they won’t be going anywhere.”

“I’m not going to marry him,” Emma said. “You could lock me up and throw away the key and I still wouldn’t change my mind.”

“I wouldn’t marry her if she were the last person on earth,” Sam countered.

“Fine,” Jake said. “If that’s what you decide. But you’re going to come out of this with an understanding and a respect for each other. Our families have been friends for years and you’re not going to mess this up because you both want to carry a grudge. You’re the pair who started this and if you’re going to end it, then do it right. Either you leave here as two friends or as two people about to be married, I don’t care which.”

“Where are we supposed to sleep?” Sam asked.

“There’s a cot inside and warm blankets.”

“I’ll just call someone to come and get us.”

“There’s no phone inside,” Jake said. “And I have your cell phone. You lent it to me earlier this morning. And Caley borrowed Emma’s phone. You’ll talk to each other and that’s it. Now, Caley and I will be back to check up on you tomorrow morning.”

“You can’t do this,” Sam said. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”

Jake shrugged. “Yeah, I can do this.”

“Caley, you can’t leave me here,” Emma said.

“Maybe we should let them keep their clothes,” Caley suggested. “The jackets and pants and shoes will be enough to keep them from running away.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” Sam muttered. “You know, when the owner finds out that you kept us here, there’ll be trouble. I could charge you with—with kidnapping. Or unlawful imprisonment. Or—or—”

“I know the owner and he won’t mind,” Jake said. “Now get inside and start undressing.”

Grudgingly, Emma and Sam disappeared inside the summer kitchen and a few minutes later, they tossed their jackets, pants and shoes out onto the porch. Caley gave Jake an optimistic smile. “That didn’t go so badly.”

“Maybe we should wait around for a little while just to make sure they don’t kill each other.”

“Good idea.”

Jake grabbed her hand and they walked back to the main house. He opened the front door and she walked inside. Caley looked at the house differently now that she knew it was Jake’s home. She could imagine herself there on a warm summer day, all the windows thrown open to catch the breeze. The birds would sing from the trees and at night the leaves would rustle. She closed her eyes and inhaled the scent, determined to remember it.

“I love this place. I can just imagine what it was like years ago, without television and speedboats and electricity. It must have been so relaxing to live that way. To just slow down and let life happen.”

“I’ve thought about restoring the place to its original state,” Jake said, stepping behind her and slipping his arms around her waist.

His touch sent her pulse racing and she leaned back against him and smiled. “Really? You could live like that?”

“I wouldn’t take out the electricity and the plumbing. I think the lack of conveniences might wear a little thin, especially in the middle of winter. I’d be chopping firewood twenty-four hours a day just to stay warm. But it would be all right to just turn it all off.”

“Maybe for a day. But I really like a hot shower in the morning.”

He rested his chin on her shoulder. “What happened to your sense of adventure? You’ve gotten to be very high maintenance, haven’t you?”

Caley turned in his arms. “I’m still adventurous. And there are things you can do in a shower that you can’t do washing up in the sink.”

He growled softly, remembering their late-night lovemaking. “Yeah, I can see that. But skinny-dipping in the lake could be lots of fun, too.”

“So what are we going to do here? We gave Sam and Emma the only bed.”

Jake kissed her neck. “I was going to go up to the attic and look for the doors to the sun porch,” he said. “Or we can find something more interesting to do. The grease trap in the sink needs to be cleaned. And I think there’s a dead mouse in the linen closet.”

“Let’s go up in the attic,” Caley said.

“There may be spiders. Or bats.”

“It’ll be an adventure,” she teased.

Jake fetched a flashlight from the kitchen and they walked to the rear bedroom. He opened a door to reveal a stairway. They’d explored every inch of this house when they were kids, but Caley didn’t remember ever venturing into the attic. “Have you been up here?”

“A couple of times,” he said. “Watch out. The stairs are steep. You go first.”

Caley stared up into the dark attic and shook her head. “You go first.”

“You’re the adventurous one.”

“It’s your house.”

“I’ll give you a hundred dollars if you go first.”

Caley rolled her eyes. “What a baby you are.” She squinted up into the darkness. “What are you looking for?”

“Doors. There should be two doors that used to hang in the entrances to the solarium. The doors that are there are too new. They have beveled glass windows, which isn’t something that Durant would have chosen. I’m hoping the originals are up there.”

The attic wasn’t nearly as bad as Caley thought it would be. Though everything was covered with a thick coating of dust, it was tidy and snug. “I wonder what’s in these trunks.”

Jake shrugged. “Probably something creepy.”

“Like what? A dead body?” Caley knelt down on the floor. “Hold the flashlight on this latch,” she said.

“The doors won’t be in there. They’re huge.”

“I know. But aren’t you curious as to what’s in here? It might be something interesting.” Caley tugged at the latch and it flipped open. “If there’s a skeleton in here, I’m going to scream.”

“So am I,” Jake said.