The Boss Project by Vi Keeland

“Sounds good.”

For the entire drive, Merrick let me rattle on about all the different things I’d done to make what I thought was the perfect rental experience. “Both the treehouses have two large skylights, so there’s a ton of natural light during the day, but it’s absolutely incredible at night. The property is sixty acres, so there isn’t too much light pollution, and on a clear night you can lie in the bed and see the stars.”

I felt Merrick’s eyes on my face, so I looked over. “What?”

“Nothing.” He shook his head with a warm smile. “You just light up when you talk about them.”

“I do? Well, then I must look like a Lite-Brite because I’ve been chewing your ear off for the entire drive.”

Merrick chuckled. “It’s alright. I enjoyed it. It reminds me a lot of when I started my company. I talked about it all the time.”

I pointed to a road coming up. “This is it. The entrance is a mile or so down there. Then there are dirt paths that lead to the different rentals.” I put my blinker on. “I’m just going to pull over once I turn and check the website to see if they’re vacant.”

“Sounds good.”

I don’t think I’d ever been so excited to see two of the places not rented today. Both the glamping site and one of the treehouses had guests who’d checked out this morning. I nearly squealed as I put the car into drive again. “There’s one treehouse open and the glamping site. Which one do you want to go to first?”

“Whichever you want.”

“The treehouse, definitely.”

After we arrived at the property entrance, wooden signs with arrows pointed the way to the different rentals. Merrick looked around. “This must be tough to find at night.”

“Yeah, definitely. We always tell people it’s best to get here during daylight. If not, they have to go slow and use their high beams to see the signs on the trees.”

As we approached the first site, I pointed up. “This is the first one.”

Merrick ducked his head to get a better look out the windshield. “That’s pretty awesome.”

We parked, and I showed Merrick around the site. A freshwater stream ran through a few of the acres, and I’d selected the spots for the treehouses so they’d be nearby. Today it was running fast and loud.

“There’s no better sound to fall asleep to than this.”

“You can hear it from up there?” Merrick asked.

“Yep.”

“Nice.”

I pointed to a dirt trail that ran away from the stream. “If you follow that, it loops you on a nice hike through the adjoining state land. There’s a small lake about two miles off the trail. We have a map on our website, but there’s no clear trail to follow.”

“Is that who mostly rents these? Hikers and nature enthusiasts?”

“That and city people who need to get away for the weekend.” I waved for him to follow. “Come on, let’s climb up to the house.”

Once we were inside, I held my pointer to my lips in the universal shhh sign. The window had been left open, and you could hear the sound of the stream running. Every ten seconds or so, the wind blew, causing the leaves to rustle in perfect harmony with the water.

I smiled proudly. “What do you think? Magical, right?”

He looked around. The treehouse was only about two-hundred-and-fifty square feet, but it had all the essentials: a small fridge, cooktop, sink, bathroom with shower, and a bed with one nightstand. The floors were Pergo, but I’d picked it to match the outside of the tree, and the interior was painted a pale yellow.

“It’s pretty incredible,” he said. “People pay for soundtracks like that to fall asleep to at night. I’m not sure what I expected. I guess maybe dirt floors and a cot or something. But this looks like an efficiency in Manhattan.” His brows pulled together. “Wait… How is there electricity and plumbing in here?”

“Ah, it’s hidden. All of it runs down the back of the tree. You don’t see it when you climb up the ladder, and it’s camouflaged with all-weather paint to make it less conspicuous. The pipes run from the base of the tree under the ground to a small generator next to the storage shed behind the bushes in the back. I actually got all the electric done for free. When I was in school, I bartered home health care for an electrician’s sick mom for some electrical work my grandmother needed done. So I called the same electrician when I was building these. I was planning on paying him, but then he asked if I wanted to trade for some counseling sessions for his daughter who has OCD.”

“Damn. And you could only get me cat biscuits for my sperm. I think I’m kind of insulted.”

I snort-laughed and gave him a shrug.

Merrick scanned the room again. “This is a little fancier than the one in your grandmother’s yard. Although I don’t see a rhinestone phone or pink plastic fridge anywhere.”

“I know. But it does have this…” I walked over to the bed, laid down, and patted the spot next to me. “Come. You need to get the full effect.”

Merrick looked amused, but played along. He laid back on the bed, the two of us side by side, and stared up at the skylights. The trees blew in the wind around the edges, but most of what we could see was simply blue sky.