Loving Him (FTM) (Wattys2015)

Part Two

Harry's place turned out to be a tree house in the woods. In fact, I surmised it was about a hundred feet away from the spot she let me know I had been caught following her. With the lake as a view, it appeared to be a large and sturdy tree dwelling. High up too. I audibly gulped as heights and I were not the best of friends, but I attempted to look brave while regarding that tree house far, far, far up that giant tree. Okay, it wasn't that high, but to someone who became nervous standing on a step stool, it looked to be a thousand feet above the ground.

"You scared, jailbird?" The owner of the woodland residence inquired in an amused tone. "If climbing isn't your thing we could go sit by the lake instead."

I pasted on a smile that felt wobbly. "No, I'm cool. Let's go in."

Concern replaced the amusement as she stepped closer to me. I think she started to take my hand but changed her mind at the last moment, instead pushing it into a pants pocket. "Are you sure? The lake is a nice place to...talk."

"No, let's do it in your tree house."

"What a tramp! Didn't even have to buy you dinner first." As Harry grinned I wondered why she jokingly referred to me as a tramp until I examined my last statement. My cheeks heating as they most likely colored, I pointed toward the tree.

"Show me how to get up the tree, smartass."

Hand removed from her pocket, I wanted to swoon when Harry successfully grabbed my hand and even linked our fingers while pulling me toward the other side of the tree house where one flight of stairs led to an impressively sized deck. From the ground it appeared spacious enough to accommodate a standard patio table with four chairs surrounding it and even room for a couple chaise lounges and a grill. In fact, was that round black thing I spotted a grill?

"Yeah, I don't have electricity so it's one of those basic grills that use charcoal. Bought it at a garage sale."

"So you cook?" I held onto the wood railing as I followed Harry up the stairs, internally reminding myself not to look down. Once we reached the deck, along with the grill I spotted a picnic table with a padded bench built into either side, a hammock suspended between two poles, a bucket and a couple fishing poles leaning against the wall.

"Hamburgers, franks, boneless chicken pieces...stuff like that." A ring of keys pulled from her pocket, she selected one, inserting it in the door.

"I'd wondered how you kept strangers from entering your tree house considering it isn't in your backyard."

"Had this since I was fourteen and never noticed evidence of tampering." Stepping out of the way, Harry encouraged me to enter first.

Once within, I marveled at the simple yet awesome decor. Windows were on every wall except the one with the door. The greatest was a picture window, which overlooked the lake I once skinny dipped in with a group of friends. Although I lived in this town all my life, that was one of the few times I ventured to these woods. Skinny dipping. Hm, I'd be interested in trying that with Harry.

Ahem, back to the tree house. The walls were decorated with framed pencil sketches and watercolor paintings. The pencil drawings were mostly of people and the watercolors landscapes. Looking closer, I noticed that most had the name Harry D. written in the lower right corner, but a few were Spencer D. Realizing she had at least three brothers, I wondered if this Spencer could have been one of them.

The thickest part of the tree, which emerged near the middle of the floor and traveled beyond a high ceiling also had a couple sketches attached to it. As for furniture, there was a basic round wooden table with a couple matching chairs, a low, rectangular coffeetable with a beanbag chair on either side of it and a large area rug below and a five-shelve bookcase stuffed with magazines, books, art supplies, CDs and a radio. Next to the bookcase was a wooden trunk and because I admit to having a serious case of nose trouble, I wondered what could be inside.