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“Strange. You don’t think it will gain legs, do you?”
“I dunno. My boss seems a little more concerned than I’d like.”
“I just don’t get it. How can you purchase and develop protected land? Isn’t that, like, an oxymoron?”
The optimist in me wouldn’t dwell on the fact that, technically speaking, Charlee was right. “Sort of. But I have faith it’ll work out. No way he’ll be allowed to develop this.” I waved my hand to the wide-open space in front of us. “Do you remember how long it took for me to get permission to use it for the lessons?”
“Free lessons,” she added. “A give-back to the community. You’d think that would have been a no-brainer. But yeah, I remember. And have to hand it to you. I’d have given up. What a pain in the balls.”
Taking a sip of wine, I chuckled. “Lucas’s colorful Army language is rubbing off on you.”
“Oh god, please no. Some of the things that come out of his mouth would make a truck driver blush.”
“And I have to hand it to you. Not sure I could date a guy like Lucas. Those military types are way too disciplined for me.”
Charlee laughed. “What’s wrong with being disciplined? That’s a good quality, no?”
“Sure. For some. But put a guy like that together with someone like me? No bueno.”
Charlee nearly spit out her wine. “I just tried to imagine it. You’re right. That would never work.”
“I bet you have to make your bed, don’t you?”
“I made my bed before Lucas.”
“Did you really?”
“Yes. Don’t you?”
“Hell no. So that I could mess it again at night?”
“No, so you can come into your bedroom with the sense of calm and order a made bed gives you. Plus, they say it’s a small accomplishment that sets the tone for the day.”
I pointed to the lake, where a duck and her ducklings swam past. “Look at that. And their wake, the way the water ripples behind them. Nature. The only sense of calm I need.”
Like a good friend, Charlee watched the ducks for way longer than she probably wanted to. “To each his, or her, own. But yeah, you and Lucas probably wouldn’t make it. Speaking of...”
“Hell, no.”
“How did you know what I was going to ask?”
“Are you kidding? I’m surprised it wasn’t the first thing you asked me.”
“It was that bad?” she asked of my date the night before.
“Worse. I deleted every single dating app on my phone.”
“No you didn’t.”
“I did.”
“Ugh. Swiping was so much fun.”
“For you, because you don’t actually have to go out on dates with these assholes. For me, pure torture. I’m over it.”
“So what’s the new plan? Meet someone in Kitchi Falls as if you don’t know every single guy in town already?”
“Maybe a tourist?”
