Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
That wasn’t our destination, though—not yet. We’d be moving over to the lodge in five days, after our stay in one of their cabins.
We kept going until we rounded the edge of the island, and a small marina appeared. My breath caught as a seaplane came in for a landing on the water’s glassy surface, then taxied to a long dock. I’d only seen that in movies.
“I can arrange a tour for you in one of those if you want,” Malcolm said, as he brought the boat around so it was parallel to another dock. “Needless to say, I wouldn’t go with you. But judging by your reaction just now, that seems like something you’d enjoy.”
“Thanks for the offer, but you don’t have to do that.” I was all too aware of how much he’d already spent on me, including a first-class plane ticket. The last thing I wanted was to make him spend even more, especially on something he wouldn’t even be a part of.
Five staff members in burgundy windbreakers hurried out to assist us as we docked. After the boat was secured, our luggage was whisked away and we were brought to reception, which was in its own building. It had floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the marina, clusters of couches and chairs, and a front desk that looked like it had been sliced from the center of a tree lengthwise, complete with the bark edge.
Malcolm checked us in while I hit up the coffee station. By the time he joined me, I’d doctored up two cups of coffee, polished off one of the delicious-looking cookies that were sitting out for the guests, and stuck two more cookies in my pocket.
I handed him his cup and a cookie, and he thanked me and said, “Our cabin is the farthest from the marina. I told them we preferred to walk, which should take about fifteen minutes. But if you’d rather not, they can drive us there in a golf cart.”
“A walk sounds great, actually.”
We left reception and followed a path up a hill. When it branched off, we headed to the left, into a tidy forest of towering pines. The path was lined with decorative brass and wood light posts, which turned on automatically as the sun began to set.
At one point, we passed a gray cat, which was sitting on a bench and licking its paw. I gestured at it with my coffee cup and asked, “How’d he get here?”
“I actually read about that on the lodge’s website. A groundskeeper brought a couple of cats over in the 1950s, to control the rodent population. Ever since, the lodge has always maintained a small colony of cats on the island.”
“And how would a rodent get here?”
“As a stowaway on a boat. Or it could make its way across the archipelago, which is how several species of animals have taken up residence on the island.”
“You mean they’d swim from island to island?”
“They could. Bears and wolves have both been observed swimming to get to places with new food sources. Animals could also travel across the mud flats when the tide is particularly low.”
I shot him a look. “Are you saying there are bears and wolves on this island?”
“No, just that it’s possible, hypothetically speaking.”
When I said, “This is all very educational,” he grinned at me.
There were about two dozen cabins on the property, and each was set apart from the others. Walking at a steady pace, we passed a cabin about every minute. I liked the fact that they’d obviously been placed with privacy in mind.
Ours was at the end of the path, overlooking the water. The design was modern and elegant, which weren’t words I normally would have applied to a cabin, and like the lodge, its exterior was dark wood. That helped it blend in with the trees and bushes that bracketed it on both sides.
Our luggage had beat us here, and as I stepped around it and into the main part of the cabin, I murmured, “This is so nice.”
It was comprised of three rooms—a large, open living space with a kitchenette at this end, and a bedroom and bathroom, which were off to the right. It had vaulted ceilings, a warm, earthy color palette, and a back wall that was almost entirely made of glass.
I cut through the cabin and went out onto the deck. The view was absolutely breathtaking. The setting sun was reflected on the water, which was dotted with little islets. In the distance, the mainland looked like a landscape painting of mountains, trees, and rugged shoreline.
When I spotted a seal bobbing in the water, I ran back inside, grabbed Malcolm’s hand, and towed him onto the deck to show him. He slid his arms around my waist, and when I glanced at him, he was watching me instead of the seal. I smiled at him and kissed his cheek before saying, “This is magical. Thank you so much for bringing me here.”