A grin tugged at his mouth. “My sister can catch fish with the best of them, even clean them herself, but put her in the kitchen with one ...”
“Let’s just say she gives new meaning to the term ‘blackened,’” Reed finished for him, making a face.
Hank shook his head, tsking. “Don’t listen to these two. They’re just jealous that their baby sister can fish circles around them.”
“There might be a bit of truth in that,” Gage conceded with a nod.
“I’ve got work to do,” Hank announced. He looked at Aurora. “If we don’t cross paths before you leave tomorrow, it’s been nice meeting you.”
“Same here,” she replied.
Recalling her clearance rack purchase, Gage said, “I’m putting Aurora in the Sleepy Moose cabin.”
“Good choice,” Reed said. “I’ve got to go fix a loose handrail across the way. I’ll see you two at dinner.”
“The Sleepy Moose?” Aurora inquired after Reed had walked away.
“Continuing the moose theme you started earlier,” he said with a grin. “Come on, I’ll show you to your cabin.”
They moved down the wide, well-worn trail that led to a semicircle of one-bedroom cabins that bookended one side of the main lodge. The larger cabins slept up to four comfortably. Tucked among the trees on the opposite side of the lodge were an equal number of studio cabins, also surrounded by woods.
He watched as Aurora did a slow visual sweep of the cabins.
“I know they look rustic,” Gage said. “But inside they’re a bit more modernized. They’ve got both running water and electricity. And there’s Wi-Fi. Your sign-in password is BIGFISH. If you forget, it’s on a small, framed magnet on the fridge.”
“That’s awesome. I wasn’t sure if I would have cell service out here or not.”
“It’s decent until the weather isn’t. Then it’s a bit spotty.”
Running water and electricity were a plus, but Aurora had gone without before during her many travels. But having Wi-Fi was so appreciated. Not only could she stay in contact with her friends and family, but she could also work when time allowed.
“I don’t mind rustic,” she assured him as she breathed in the crisp, clean air with hints of pine and light floral undertones she couldn’t quite put a name to. While the trail they’d taken there had been only sparsely wooded, no doubt having been cleared out to make travel to and from the main lodge easier for guestsstaying in the surrounding cabins, a thicket of trees stood just beyond the cabins.
As they moved farther into the wide, half-moon-shaped clearing, Aurora got a better glimpse of her accommodation for that night. The cozy little log cabins were spread far enough apart to give guests a sense of privacy, yet not so distant that it might feel uncomfortably remote. Each one was tucked back into the denser woods.
Gage came to a stop in front of one of the cabins. “Welcome to the Sleepy Moose. Not only does it go with your socks, it’s located nearest to the trail leading back to the main lodge.”
Aurora laughed. “It’s perfect.” She took in the small wooden deck that lined the front of the cabin. Beyond it, a dark green door stood beside a wide, curtained window, its trim done in the same dark evergreen color. Beside the door was a sign with the profile of a moose over the words THE SLEEPY MOOSE. She reached up to run her fingers over the sign. “This is so cute.”
“Figured you like it better than the Lazy Salmon, which is the next cabin over.”
“I like the cabins having cutesy names.”
“You have Julia to thank for that,” Gage said as he stepped over to adjust the pile of logs at the far side of the porch. “We were looking for ways to add character to the cabins, and my sister came up with the idea of giving the cabins names rather than assigning them numbers.”
“Well, I love it.”
Gage crossed back over to the door. “I would’ve offered you one of the cabins across the way, so you’d have other people staying around you, but there aren’t any available,” he said as he reached out to punch a code into a keypad above the doorknob. “We have a group staying with us right now as part of the lodge’s fishing retreat package.”
“Don’t give it another thought,” she told him. “Peace and solitude of any sort will be more than welcome.”
Gage turned the knob and opened the cabin door. “Give me a sec to turn some lights on and open the curtains. They’re room darkening and definitely live up to their name.”
Aurora waited just outside the doorway. “This cabin is beyond perfect. I love the feeling of being immersed in nature.”
“Not what I would have expected to hear from a city girl,” he told her as the fading sunlight filtered into the cabin window through the surrounding trees.
Aurora laughed. “I might live in Seattle, but I have traveled extensively. Believe me when I tell you that this ‘city girl’ has spent more than a few nights sleeping on the ground in tents. Some of those having no bottoms to them.”
