Free Northern Proposals by Julia P. Lynde

I'm not ready to commit to anything, either," I said . "We don't really know each other well enough to enter into something like this yet." I turned to Karen. "Are there standard agreements for something like this?"
    "I've had a few clients who have purchased houses together like this. It is common to write a contract outlining what happens if one of them wants to sell." She talked about it with us for a while.
    "If we were willing to spend another fifty or a hundred thousand, would we find something much better?"
    "You would find a little bigger cabin and maybe a garage. This is a beautiful lot, and you won't improve on it without spending a lot more."
    "So if we come back in a few months or next year and are ready to buy something, this cabin might be available, but probably not. But you could find something we would like, especially if we're willing to spend a little more."
    "Yes. Definitely."
    After that we got up and roamed around the cabin for another couple of minutes. Then we locked up, and Karen drove us back to her office. She gave us a little more information, and we thanked her for her time.
    In the car, Jessica turned to me. "You're serious."
    "I'm not teasing. Have you ever been somewhere and loved it immediately? I love it up here. But we would need to know each other better. This is a big commitment." I paused. "And I would want a boat, but I don't know the first thing about them, like what they cost or how to take care of them. I don't even know how to drive one."
    "You're really serious."
    I smiled. "How do you feel about it?"
    "I love it. Did you really want a different one?"
    "I loved that place," I told her. "But unless we're sharing a bed, how would we have guests?"
    She nodded.
    "If you have a girlfriend or I have a boyfriend, then we can't both come up plus bring guests, unless people sleep on the sofa or the floor."
    She turned away and started the car. She waited for a chance then backed out and drove us back to Marcy's. Neither of us said anything. When we got home, Jessica said, "We should fix that."
    "Fix what?"
    "I should teach you how to drive the boat. We have time before dinner."
    "Oh, and I want some more swimming."
    * * *
    It was fun learning how to drive the boat. Jessica had me do everything, and it was a lot easier than I expected. "There are more complicated boats. This one is pretty simple."
    "Simple is good. We wouldn't need anything complicated. Would you want a ski boat?" I asked her.
    "We would have to talk about whether we wanted a pontoon boat or a ski boat first. I wouldn't mind having both. If I could only get one, I'd probably get a ski boat. If we were going to have a bigger cabin and have more than four of us up at a time, then a pontoon boat is a better party boat."
    I drove us to go look at "our" cabin again. She turned to me beseechingly. "I want it."
    "I do too," I told her. "But we may hate each other by this time tomorrow."
    She paused and sighed. "You just told me not to seduce you. We can buy the cabin as friends, or we can buy it as lovers, but we can't buy it as failed lovers."
    I thought about it for a bit , considering the implications of buying it and then having a falling out. "If you had the down payment, could you make payments without me?"
    "Yes. I wouldn't be able to buy a boat for a while though. I'd probably find a cheap canoe or rowboat. I can fish from a rowboat, and I can go motor boating when Jon takes me."
    "Let's go swim," I said. She nodded. I motored us out to the middle of the lake and killed the engine. "Why don't you swim from shore?"
    "I do," she said. "But this is fun, and I like sitting on the deck of the boat letting the waves rock me. It's hypnotic and relaxing."
    There was a little more boat traffic this afternoon than there had been this morning, but it was still quieter than I would have expected. I stripped down to my swimsuit and dived into the water. Jessica was right behind me. She followed me a distance from the boat, then I smiled