The Treehouse on Dog River Road by Catherine Drake

Author:Catherine Drake
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: She Writes Press

THE BUS PULLED up to the barn for the last run of the evening back to Waterbury. Nathan asked the driver if he could drop them off at a crossroads to his house on the way to the hotel, and the driver obliged. Taking the bus would mean he would have to go back to the barn in the morning to get his car, but that was better than driving himself. Of course, it might mean running into Lindsey in the morning. Thankfully, she had not reappeared yet, not since she passed out in the cottage.

Nathan and Hannah jumped out of the bus along the road leading to their houses to shouts of “Bye, Nathan,” “Go get ya some!” “Great ceremony” and began the half-mile walk home.

“This walk will sober us up,” Nathan said, leading Hannah along the road in the moonlight. “You okay?”

“I’m fine, but I’m glad I brought this sweater. That was a blast, Nathan. Thanks for badgering me into going.”

“Ha, you’re welcome. So now that my family has been revealed in all their crazy glory, will you hang out with me again?”

“How can I avoid you? Your dog is obsessed with me.”

They walked along in silence for a while. The road was quiet and all Hannah could hear were their footsteps.

“Watcha thinking about?” Hannah quietly asked Nathan.

“Just recalling the evening,” Nathan said. He reached in the dark to find Hannah’s hand to hold as they walked. “I feel good about how it all turned out.”

“It was great,” agreed Hannah. “I like your family.”

When they got to the driveway of Molly and Ted’s house, Hannah stopped and turned to Nathan. He smiled and stepped back, pulled her hand toward him, and tilted his head toward his home. Wordlessly, they turned toward his house.

As they got to his doorstep, Hannah paused. “I gotta tell you before we go in. I can’t sleep with you. Not tonight, maybe some other time, but not tonight. I just want to say that before we go in. We can hang out, but don’t push it, okay?”

“Hey, that’s fine,” he said, without hesitation. “I wouldn’t push it, ever. No problem. Let’s just hang.”

Hannah was relieved. It was the first time she’d ever flat-out said something like that to a guy so early in a “relationship.” Even with the Lindsey drama, it had been a great date, and, in her experience, that would typically end with sex.

Hannah entered Nathan’s house as if she were entering a museum. It was cluttered and untidy. She immediately began scanning the living room to assess the habitat. Some items gave a hint of what Nathan was into. She saw pictures, objects d’art, a small original oil painting of Mount Mansfield, an upside-down map of the world that made it not so Eurocentric, a turntable, and LP collection. His laptop had a sticker of a fluffy white cloud and the phrase THERE IS NO CLOUD, IT’S JUST SOMEONE ELSE’S COMPUTER. On the coffee table was a pile of books, The Warmth of Other Suns on the top.

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