can handle getting ready in there.”
Stepping around her, he peeked into the space and shook his head. “Yeah. The bathroom really is small. I think we should just tell her this won’t work. All of it.”
But Aspen tuned him out. “Normally I don’t mind a small bathroom, but I think I would die without a big shower—or a tub! You know, if this was a long-term thing.”
“Yeah, I’m not loving this…”
“Oh! Remember how long it took me to find an apartment that had a decent bathroom? I must have said no to a dozen places because the bathrooms were old and uninspired.” Then she laughed. “Okay, so I know I’m a little spoiled, but that shower certainly looked…”
“Tiny?” he supplied. They both laughed and carefully maneuvered around each other to keep looking around. Their chests brushed against each other and Aspen was certain she heard Gabe softly hiss.
Forcing that thought aside, she looked around and frowned. “Where do I sleep?”
Gabe pointed to the ladder. “I’m guessing that’s a sleeping loft up there.”
“Oh.”
He moved over to the ladder and looked up. “You can climb up and look,” he said. “But from what I can see, you can’t stand up once you get up there.”
“So you basically climb the ladder and then crawl into the bed?”
“I guess.”
“That’s not always a bad thing,” she said as she carefully climbed the ladder. “Although, I think I would have opted for stairs.”
“They probably took up more space,” he said.
“Maybe. But they would have provided storage and drawers. I’ve seen that on HGTV.” Aspen perched herself near the top and looked at the loft. “It’s really kind of cool. And there’s a skylight! On a starry night, I bet that’s not a bad view to have.” She smiled down at him. “I wonder if that couch folds out to a bed.”
“How come?”
“Because there’s only one bed up here.” She gingerly climbed down and did her best to sound casual about the whole thing. “I was kind of hoping you’d hang out over here with me like we do back at home. And sometimes you sleep on my couch, but…that couch doesn’t look big enough for you to sprawl out. Of course, you could just camp out up here with me and stare at the stars.” She felt herself blushing and let out a mirthless laugh. “I mean, I know it’s not that long of a walk back to the main house, so I’m probably being ridiculous…”
Luckily, he seemed relaxed. “I’m really sorry about this, Aspen. This was not what my mom and I discussed at all. I still don’t know what in the world she was thinking.”
“Would you stop? Please? You’re beginning to sound like a broken record.”
“You know what I’m saying.”
“I do and I get it. Was this a bit of a shock? Kind of. Is it a horrible one? No.” Then she figured she owed him the truth. “And just so you know, I’m a little freaked about it too.”
His eyes went wide. “Really?”
Nodding, she said, “Well, yeah. I feel like I’m being banished before I’ve even had a chance to do anything wrong.”
His shoulders sagged. “That settles it. We’ll go inside and talk to her over dinner and tell her that this isn’t going to work. I asked you here because I wanted to cheer you up.”
“I hate to make such a fuss. Maybe we’re just overthinking it. I mean…look around. It’s not that bad.” Then she glanced around and frowned. “Okay, that bathroom is definitely an issue for me, but it might be nice to have a place to retreat to at the end of the day.”
Wrapping his arms around her, Gabe hugged her. “I might be spending a lot of time here then because that’s the sort of thing I always wish for when I’m here for the holidays.”
“Well…my space is your space.”
“Are you sure? You may regret saying that.”
“Never,” she firmly interrupted. “It’s going to be just like back in Atlanta. Except the hallway is now a cold, snowy path in the yard.”
Off in the distance, Mrs. Andrews called their names.
“Come on. We’ll go and enjoy some dinner and after dessert we’ll move my stuff over and figure out where everything goes. It’ll be like a game or a puzzle!” she teased. “We’ll find all the little nooks and crannies to put all my junk and then I’ll have to try to remember where they are when we need them.”
He laughed and it was low and a little husky. “You