Sleep well. Right. Not in this lifetime. From his point of view, morning was about as out of reach as the girl in the next room. Lily. Wow. What a girl. Stress that last word, girl.  Hands off, way off. Damned if he understood it, but he liked her. A lot. He could have his pick back home, in Haliburton, anywhere. There were always women who would go out with him, beautiful women. So why this girl, this average, and plain girl? Simple, idiot. Because she wasn’t plain or normal. This was going to be a very long night.

Sleep didn’t come easily to Lily, either. She couldn’t get her head around his comment. Flattered. That’s all she was. She wasn’t used to it, so of course it would startle her. Then why couldn’t she stop thinking about the young man that made the remark? He was so out of her league. Get over it, girl. He’d be leaving in the morning, and that would be that. Two days from now he wouldn’t even remember her name. Just think about that.

           ~ ❃ ~

Fortunately, morning came for both of them. Lily woke at 6:15, got out of bed, and looked out the window. The lake had a light mist over it, thin enough you could just make it out. The lake was so calm it resembled glass. A peaceful morning, one would never have suspected a wild storm the night before. The sun was out, and it was clear that the birds were making ample use of the calm water to grab the little bugs atop the water. She smiled, threw on a long skirt, and button-up denim short sleeve top, and went outside.  

           ~ ❃ ~

Zack woke up with a grin on his face. Wow, what a dream. So real, but it couldn’t have been. He’d wake up and he’d be in his bed at the lodge. He sat up and saw a note beside him on the pillow.

Zack;
Just thought I’d confirm any confusions for the night before.
Your truck has not yet been returned, and I will be in shortly to fix
breakfast. Hope you like eggs. Lily    

Zack just sat there, dumbfounded. So okay, it wasn’t a dream. Might as well get up and take a look around. He walked to the window, and had to take a step back. This was so not what he was expecting to see. He suspected to see a ton of trees, maybe a few rocks, and that would be pretty much it. What he saw was natural beauty. Tall, almost never ending trees, pines, maple, Tamarack, spruce, oak, and others he couldn’t name. There was a garden in full bloom, with all sorts of exotic colours, pinks, oranges, reds, everything. Birds, everywhere. And sun, gloriously filtering through the canopy. He dressed quickly, and went out in search for Lily.

Her heard before he saw. At first he wasn’t sure if it , if she was real. She held a guitar on her lap, while she sat on a log, and sang a soft tune. She looked so natural, and naturally beautiful. He smiled to himself. A lot like the land that bred her, he thought. Then he shook his head. What was he doing here? He leaned against a tall oak. Well, he thought, he was just going to have to wait and find out.

“Good morning to you, Lily” Zack called out.

Her eyes shot up. “‘ Morning to you too. Sleep well?”

“Like a baby. Thought I was dreaming until I looked out the window. I didn’t know you could sing.” It wasn’t exactly the truth, for he’d heard her the night before, but he decided not to mention that.

“It’s a family thing, really. When my dad’s family comes to visit, my Grandpa gets out the violin, dad takes the piano, and my uncle the guitar. Then, my cousin and I sing. Now I’m learning an instrument. So, what about you? Where did you learn how to play both the guitar and piano?”  

He shuffled his feet and looked at them. “Uh, well. My dad played guitar, and me mum played the piano. They both wanted me to play their instrument, so I didn’t play ball, and I learned both.”

“Are your feet that much easier on the eyes than me this morning?” There was a glint of humor in her eyes when he abruptly adverted his gaze to meet hers.

“Your face versus my big ol’ ugly feet? Hmmm. Which is easier on the eyes? That’s a tough one, Lily.” He grinned. “I’d say, you are most definitely a much more pleasant sight to see.”

She laughed shakily and looked away. “Listen, speaking of sights to see, how’s about we get breakfast and then I show you around some?”

“Sold.”
               
                                                                    ~ ❃ ~

“Holy Mother of Pearl!” Zack’s mouth nearly dropped to the floor. “You meant breakfast. I haven’t seen a meal like this one since I was little.”

He’d come in some twenty minutes after her to find the cottage smelling strongly of bacon, home-fries, pancakes, and maple syrup. It smelled like heaven. She set a monstrous plate down in from of him as he took a seat at the hand-made maple table. She sat across from him with a bowl of what looked like oatmeal. He shook his head in incredulously.

“You’re not eatin’ any of this?”

She laughed, “No. This is what I like every mornin’ and I didn’t figure you’d feel the same, so I whipped up a bit of this’n that.”

“You didn’t have to go to all that trouble.”

“It wasn’t any. I love to cook. For lunch, if you’d like, you could try some of my home made soup? It’s really quite good.” She suddenly averted her gaze. “I mean, if you’re still here.”

“If my memory serves me correctly, you told me you’d show me around. Does that still hold true?”

“Of course it still holds. We’ll head out after breakfast.”

“Have you taken your, ah...”Zack sighed and shook his head.

“My insulin? Yeah. Took it when I woke up. Hit a blood vessel this time. Makes it hard to stop the bleeding.”

Zack swore under his breath. So Lily cleared her throat, “Zack, it’s alright if it makes you uncomfortable. I mean, tons of my friends have difficulties--”

He cut her off.“It isn’t that.”

She looked at him inquiringly, “Then wha–?”

“It’s the fact that I can sit here and eat whatever I want when I want, and you can’t.”

Lily willed him  to meet her gaze then spoke very softy, “I certainly didn’t expect that.”

“Yeah, well. If your friends haven’t said it, you’re with the wrong crowd. Surely your boyfriend...”

She laughed, “What makes you think I have a boyfriend?”

He quickly back peddled. “Well, you know, it wasn’t – I didn’t mean...god!”

“I don’t have a boyfriend. Never needed one. The boys that I know are ones I’ve grown up with, and they look at me as if I was just one of the guys. Which, I admit, can be a pain in the ass.”

Her blunt word had him choking on his orange juice. “You sure swear like one. Cripes, do your folks let you curse like that?”

Colour flushed her cheeks. “My mum doesn’t know, and my dad know’s where I get it   from– my friends, and him.”

He chuckled, then burst out laughing. “My God! I am so not in Kansas anymore.”

“You should know better than to think that Canada has the same beliefs as the States.” She was all of a sudden serious.

So he met her gaze just as seriously. “I do know better. You don’t have the dream of a white picket fence with a all-American family. I respect that. And sometimes almost envy it. You see things clearly, but don’t have a dream.”

She shook her head. “That’s not true. We have dreams. Of peace, and most importantly, of justice. We also are big on individual dreams. We all have them.” She looked away, avoiding his steady gaze.

“What are your dreams, Lily?”