Page 3 of Coming Home to Maple Tree Lodge

‘Are you OK?’ she shouted over, realising her voice sounded a little breathless from the shock.

He ran a hand through his dark hair and looked dazed. ‘I’m fine. You?’ he shouted back.

‘I’m OK,’ she replied, despite the car being stranded in the middle of the pond.

The stranger puffed out a sigh before looking annoyed. ‘Although if you had been driving properly and not like Lewis Hamilton then this wouldn’t have happened,’ he told her.

Feeling embarrassed, she was about to reply when she realised that water was beginning to trickle inside at the bottom of each of the car doors.

Grimacing, she pushed her door open, anxious to get out in case it sank any further.

‘Wait!’ she heard the man call out.

But she was in no mood to listen. She was panicking about the water coming in and, after pushing the door against what felt like a mound of earth, Lily jumped out of the car and straight into what appeared to be a bog.

Her favourite white trainers were quickly submerged into a brown ooze which at least only went up to her ankles. She stared down in disbelief at the pond which appeared to be more mud than water.

‘I did say wait,’ called out the man, walking towards her.

‘You could have elaborated on that a little,’ she told him, her humiliation growing by the second.

‘I’ll give you a hand,’ he said, coming to the edge of the bank to stretch out his arm towards her.

‘I can manage just fine,’ she muttered, waving his arm away with her hand. She wasn’t some damsel in distress. The embarrassment at her predicament made her words sound harsher than usual. ‘I don’t need saving!’

He looked surprised but withdrew his hand and leant against a nearby tree. ‘Go ahead,’ he told her. ‘I haven’t had my daily laugh yet.’

What was this man’s problem? she wondered. He was about the same age as her, dressed casually in jeans and jumper. But his admittedly attractive face was currently looking extremely smug and she couldn’t figure out why.

And then she realised. Because she couldn’t move her feet. At all. She tried and tried until she was red in the face and yet no matter how much she tugged at her feet, they wouldn’t move. It was as if they were stuck in glue.

With a howl of frustration, she finally and reluctantly looked at the man, who was smiling down at her from the nearby bank.

‘It’s the combination of sand and soil mixed together,’ he told her. ‘Makes for the stickiest of muds. The trees love it. Holds on to all the moisture and makes them grow big and strong.’

‘Great,’ she murmured, trying one last tug of her foot to no avail. ‘Lucky trees.’

‘So, are you going to accept my help now?’ he asked.

‘Yes, please,’ she muttered.

He reached out both of his hands to take her outstretched ones. They locked fingers and she tried not to feel even more mortified.

‘Ready?’ he said, before bracing himself. ‘In one, two, three…’

At the count of three, he gave her one almighty tug. But as she registered that she was finally free from the mud, Lily alsorealised that her feet were now bare as she flew through the air. Her trainers had been left behind.

However, that was nothing compared to the utmost problem in her mind and that was, thanks to his extremely strong pull, she was catapulted not only out of the muddy pond but straight into the stranger’s chest instead. Hearing him exclaim ‘ooof’ upon impact, the momentum carried her forward and they both crashed to the floor.

For a moment, Lily felt somewhat stunned. And then finally, the realisation that she was now lying directly on top of a stranger in the middle of the forest came rushing into her consciousness.

She looked down into his face and found him staring up at her with dark brown eyes. For a moment there was nothing but the sound of the drops of water dripping down from the trees onto the ground.

Then his handsome face broke into a grin.

‘Welcome to Maple Tree Lodge,’ he said.

2