Turn to Me: Chapter 6
“They got out of the car and grabbed their bags. Rhett unlocked the cabin door and pushed it open. He fumbled around the inside of the doorframe until he found the light switch and flicked it on. A yellow bulb in the ceiling joined forces with the dim sunlight through the frosted windows to illuminate the large room in front of him. A big overstuffed couch and two armchairs faced a wood stove against one wall, a generous stack of firewood piled a safe distance away. A galley kitchen ran along the opposite wall, with an electric range top, a cube fridge, and a small sink. A round table and two wooden chairs comprised the dining area.
The inside of the cabin felt nearly as cold as the outside. Rhett could see his breath in the air as he slung his backpack onto the couch and strode across the room. There was a small hallway off the kitchen area that had three doors heading off it. Rhett opened one to reveal a closet with the promised axe and other emergency gear on the top shelf and a snow shovel leaning against the inside wall. The door across from the closet contained a spartan bathroom with a narrow shower.
The bedroom was behind the third door at the end of the hallway. Rhett pushed open the door and then stopped and said, “Oh.”
Link, right behind him, almost crashed into his back. “What?” he asked, then peered around Rhett’s shoulder. They contemplated the single queen-sized bed for a few seconds in silence before Rhett shrugged. “Well, we’ve shared smaller beds before. At least this way we’ll be warmer.”
Link said wryly, “Did you even ask if they had a cabin with two beds?”
Rhett shook his head sheepishly. “I honestly didn’t think about it.”
“I guess it’ll be fine. There’s always the couch if you start snoring too much.”
Rhett laughed. “For you, or for me?”
“You, of course.” Link poked him in the arm.
They went back to the main room and built a fire in the wood stove, stomping their feet and rubbing their hands to stay warm until the stove had put out enough heat they could stand to take their jackets off. Soon the place felt nice and cozy.
While Rhett tended the fire, Link made some hot chocolate for both of them. He handed Rhett a steaming mug before sitting down on the couch, feet up on the coffee table and head leaned back. “This is comfy,” he said. “I think I might take a nap.”
Rhett sat next to him and smacked his thigh. “Nope, we need to come up with some ideas first. This is a working trip, remember? I need to be able to expense it.”
“Oh, I see how it is.” Link rolled his eyes, but sat up a little straighter and cupped his hot chocolate between his hands. Rhett took out his laptop and opened it up to take notes.
For the rest of the day and into the evening, they tossed around what must have been hundreds of ideas for what to do in 2014, from the obvious to the utterly ridiculous. Rhett plugged his iPod into his battery-powered speakers and put Merle on in the background while they talked. Naturally, their conversations frequently diverged into reminiscing about childhood experiences or goofy arguments about deep philosophical issues, but even those were useful fodder for future GMM episodes.
Rhett cooked macaroni and cheese for dinner and they ate it on the couch, still talking. As Link paused in the middle of a bite to laugh hysterically at something stupid Rhett had just said, Rhett was struck by how wonderful the day had been so far. It had been so long since they had been able to focus on each other and talk for hours like this, without the constant interruptions of family and business demands. He briefly imagined how different things would be if their lives were simpler, if they could be together like this all the time. Maybe in an alternate universe, he thought, they were.
They ended the evening reasonably early, deciding to call it quits after their ideas became increasingly silly and unfeasible. They decided to watch a few episodes of Breaking Bad to unwind a bit. Link made them another round of hot chocolate and they settled on the couch with Rhett’s laptop playing on the coffee table. Halfway into the first episode, Link yawned and leaned his head on Rhett’s shoulder. By halfway through the second episode, he was asleep.
Rhett prodded his leg as the credits rolled. “C’mon, man, it looks like bedtime.”
Link blinked up at him with a soft smile. “Was I good enough? Do I get to sleep in tomorrow?”
Rhett patted his knee. “Sure, buddy, you can sleep as late as you want.”
Link stood up and shuffled off toward the bedroom. Rhett built up the wood stove in the hopes it would burn well through the night, rinsed their dishes in the sink, and turned off the light. By the time he had brushed his teeth and entered the bedroom, Link was already asleep, huddled up under a thick pile of blankets.
Rhett changed into a t-shirt and cotton lounge pants and climbed into bed. Link was sprawled on his side facing him, face buried in his pillow and shrouded by his hair. Rhett had to shove Link’s knee out of the way in order to fit onto the bed at all. He sighed as he realized just how short the mattress was, his feet dangling comically off the end of it. He thought longingly of his own bed in sunny LA and hoped his back wouldn’t hurt too much in the morning.
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