Stella's jaw dropped quite unceremoniously and decidedly in a very unladylike fashion when she saw the 'cabin' by the lake. Cabin? That was a 'cabin'?  She had envisioned a quaint little log cabin by the lake, you know, one of those ubiquitous single story constructions with two bedrooms, a bathroom, a small kitchenette, not a mansion disguised as .... a mansion, but labeled 'cabin'. The exterior was log cabin, but that's where the comparison ceased. Her mouth was still open when they pulled into the garage, a cabin with a garage and a garage door opener? She finally closed it and turned to grin at Anton.<br/><br/>"My, you model types really know how to rough it." she winked and got out of the car to help bring all the bags in. Of course the man had one bag, show off, but he made up for it with coolers and bags of groceries.  Once inside, she went exploring, leaving him to stock the kitchen. There was a two story great room with a two story stone fireplace (which a plaque by the fireplace announced was sourced locally as was most of the timber the house had been built of). Lovely artpieces by local artists, adored walls and flat surfaces, and the view out of the huge window overlooking the lake was spectacular. She hoped that they'd get to see at least one daytime storm  while here, because that would be amazing. A baby grand stood by the window and she opened it and ran her fingers over the keys playing parts of a Chopin etude to see if it was in tune. It was. In a corner stood two guitars and she picked those up too, running her fingers over the strings, they were not quite  in tune, but with a guitar that was an easy fix. She tuned the one which was least out of tune and began to play a<a class="link link--external" data-proxy-href="/proxy.php?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DE6Vk_IZy-Sk&amp;hash=b8976af56048e646ba05b879676868f3" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6Vk_IZy-Sk" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank">little</a>. Before putting the instrument down again. There was more to see, the guitar could wait.<br/><br/>There was a deck in front of the gigantic great room overlooking the lake and she opened the door and stepped out, seeing some kayaks stacked on the side. hmmm, she thought, possibilities.<br/><br/>A cool breeze came in off the lake and she went back inside, leaving the French doors open to let in fresh air. Stella returned to the kitchen and saw her carry ons and his backpack lie in a tumble on the floor. That's when what they were doing sort of hit home. She was in a place with Anton. Just her and him. No buffer of cats, or other people in the way. Just them. Butterflies began to dance in her belly and she bent down pretending to be busy with her bags, and then straightened up. They would see this trough. Over the next few days they'd see if they were compatible. If they were not, would their friendship endure? She looked at him and smiled, hoping she looked less nervous than she felt.<i>Come on, Stella, people do this all. the. time, they were both adults, stop being a stupid little girl,</i>she told herself.<br/><br/>"Which room can I take, Anton?  I assume, you have a favorite you prefer, and I don't want to crash in there. But I do want to freshen up a bit."  She didn't mention that she was hungry and hoping they'd go out and grab a bite, or hopefully he bought sandwiches and something to drink? A beer on the deck along with a sandwich and chips sounded really good actually.