page8 (2/2)

“It doesn’t feel like it though, does it?”

She shakes her head, tears filling her green eyes “No, it doesn’t”

She eats her food as if she has never eaten so her take care of herself, get some food in her that is fresh and healthy For years I’ve been building a successful company, but never have I felt so rewarded for , and I’ her breakfast

“How long have you been here?” I ask

“Teeks I ran out of as… I was stuck”

“Or ed”

She smiles “This cabin… it is the h escapes her “I walked in and thought I fell into a fairy tale”

I look around the space, trying to see it through her eyes I always thought the furniture needed to be updated and the three-decades-old appliances needed to be tossed, but she sees so different She sees home

“Why do you like it so reen beans

She bites her bottorandma raised me in an apartment in the city, until she died when I was sixteen But she always told me these stories of when she was little Her parents had a little cabin out on a lake and she had the besttrips and catching trout in the su in the woods in the fall They’d spend Christmas at the cabin and she said they always picked a tree form the woods and chopped it down”

“Is that what you did?” I ask, pointing to her little Charlie Brown tree

“I tried,” she says with a laugh “Isnow, but I’ve never used an axe in my life”

“It’s cute,” I tell her “And besides, you did it on your own That had to feel good”

She nods “Yeah, the last teeks have felt like a dream I haven’t had time alone like this in my whole life”

Her words hit me “I’ve spent sohours and so o hoo box?”

We push back fro our plates to the sink, she continues the conversation “But look at everything your hard work pays for” She points to the pots and pans “Everything you own is so fancy And this food?” She shakes her head in disbelief “You should be proud of what you’ve accomplished”