Tiny House in the Trees

by Celia Bonaduce

  “You scared us all to death,” her mother said.

  “Totally,” Curly said.

  “Amen, brother,” came a muffled voice inside Curly’s jacket.

  Molly’s eyes widened as Curly retrieved Galileo from his pocket.

  “Horse’s ass,” Galileo said as he gave Curly the side-eye.

  “I tried to get him in here as an emotional-support parrot, but his bedside manner left something to be desired.”

  “I can imagine,” Molly said.

  “Everyone has been so nice,” Molly’s relentlessly cheerful mother said. “Bale has put us up in one of the tiny houses. He said you’d want to know which one. It’s the Victorian. It’s just adorable. I can see why you find them so interesting.”

  Molly knew nobody was going to mention her thesis. It was bad enough she’d failed. It was bad enough her model was in ruins. But the worst of it was, she’d let everyone down.

  “I’m sorry for everything,” Molly said, tears springing suddenly to her eyes. “You must be so disappointed in me—again.”

  “Bite me,” Galileo squawked, reacting to Molly’s tone.

  “What are you talking about?” her mother said. “You’ve never let us down.”

  “Although jumping out of that tree with a buzz saw over your head was not your smartest move,” Curly said.

  “Horse’s ass,” Galileo said, responding to Molly’s reaction to Curly’s statement.

  “Footsteps,” Molly’s mother whispered as a rustling could be heard in the hall.

  Curly shoved Galileo back in his jacket.

  “And be quiet,” Curly said to his pocket. “Or we’ll all get thrown out of here.”

  Bale appeared in the doorway. Seeing his arm in a sling hurt every time she saw him.

  “I love you…” came the muffled voice in Curly’s jacket.

  Molly looked horrified.

  Bale was too far away to hear, thank God. Curly walked quickly to the door to intercept Bale.

  But the muffled voice continued.

  “I love you, Bale.”

  I love you, Bale?

  Molly shot a look at her mother.

  “I’ve been working with him,” she said with a wink. “After hearing everything that’s been going on, I figured you’d want to nip that ‘I love you, Quinn’ thing in the bud. Although Quinn does say he’ll give you your property back, which was stowed illegally on his property. I swear, Molly, who raised you to do something like that?”

  “Thank you,” Molly said.

  “You’ve always had terrible taste in men,” her mother said. Glancing over at Bale, she added, “Until now, I hope.”

  “I hope so, too,” Molly said.

  Her mother kissed her and headed to the door to say hello to Bale. Molly felt sorry for her mother, who she could tell was going to try her damnedest to will Bale into seeing all the fabulous attributes of her daughter.

  She watched her family chat easily with Bale. They’d become friends while she was lying in a hospital bed. Molly knew her family only saw that Bale had tried to save her. But, she knew that didn’t mean he was in love with her.

  He would have saved anybody.

  Violet was a very lucky woman.

  Molly’s mother gave her one last look, which said, “Don’t blow this,” as she and Curly left the room.

  “You’re looking good,” Bale said.

  “Everybody says that,” Molly said. “But I know I look terrible!”

  “Yeah, you do,” Bale agreed. “But you look better than you did yesterday and the day before. So, pretty soon, we’ll all be able to say that, and it will be true.”

  “Something to look forward to, I guess.”

  “You scared the crap out of all of us, you know.”

  “I do know,” Molly said. “And believe me, my mother is never going to let me forget it.”

  Molly was feeling stronger. She needed to fit the last remaining puzzle pieces into place. Everyone was acting unnervingly cheerful on their visits, but it was time to hear the rest.

  “So, let’s start with your arm,” Molly said, as if in mid-conversation with her thoughts.

  “It’s broken, but it’ll heal,” Bale said, looking down at his sling.

  “I thought you’d bought the tree farm,” Molly said.

  “What would I do with a tree farm?” Bale asked. “Don’t I have enough problems?”

  “Why were you there?”

  “I…this is going to sound nuts…but I wanted to check out the tree house model. To see what you’d done since you started painting it.”

  That did seem nuts, but it was as reasonable an explanation as any.

  “Can you work with it like that?” Molly said, indicating his arm.

  “Hell, no. But that’s okay. I’ve hired a few of the guys who drive the tinies to the conventions. They know assembly. Some of them are going to stay on.”

  “I feel like I ruined everything,” Molly said, her eyes welling up.

  “That’s not like you. You always look on the bright side,” Bale said, as he took her hand. “Just think of it as my expansion taking place ahead of schedule.”

  As much as she needed to know, Molly couldn’t quite bring herself to ask about the tree house model’s remains, so she skirted around it.

  “So did Quinn move over to Crabby’s?” she asked.

  “Yep,” Bale said. “And he found your stuff.”

  “I know, my mom told me.”

  “I did some fast-talking and promised I’d give everything to you when you got out of here.”

  “Was he angry?”

  “Not really,” Bale said. “We bonded over your amazing talent for breaking and entering.”

  Molly blushed.

  “Quinn isn’t a bad guy,” Bale said. “He just…I don’t know…keeps looking for something that isn’t there.”

  “Like what?”

  “How should I know? It isn’t there.”

  “Very philosophical.”

  Molly looked at Bale. She was looking for something that was there—something that was in front of her this whole time—and she never saw it. Was she any better off than Quinn?

  “The air dancers have been a big hit,” Bale said.

  “Do they keep the deer away?”

  “For a while,” Bale said. “But between the air dancers and Crabby dive-bombing them to scare them off, the trees are doing pretty well.”

  “It’s impossible to think about Crabby being even more reckless than Quinn up there,” Molly said.

  “It’ll be interesting to see what they do now that they’ve changed jobs,” Bale said.

  “I wonder if either one of them will hire me when I get out of here,” Molly said.

  “Don’t worry about that,” Bale said. “You have enough on your plate. You need to focus on getting well.”

  “I guess,” Molly said, her eyes brimming with tears as she thought about not graduating. “Since I don’t have anything else to focus on.”

  Chapter 31

  Molly’s mother helped her dress on the morning she was going to be released from the hospital.

  “Ouch,” Molly said, as her mother pulled her hair into a ponytail.

  “You always used to say that when you were a little girl. I’d think you’d have toughened up by now.”

  “I’d think you’d have learned how to put in a ponytail without scalping me by now.”

  “You have to look nice.”

  “Why?”

  “You used to always ask that when you were a little girl, too.”

  “Seriously, Mom, why do I have to look nice?”

  “Because Bale asked if he could pick you up.”

  “Why?”

  “Molly!”

  “Sorry.”


  “You know he’s a wonderful man, don’t you?”

  “Yes, Mom.”

  “Well, then. If he wants to pick you up, we’ll let him.”

  “But you’re already here.”

  “Honestly, honey. Have I taught you nothing?”

  An orderly arrived with a wheelchair.

  “Ready to get out of here?” he asked.

  “And how!” Molly’s mother said with enthusiasm.

  She looked sheepishly at Molly, who had raised an eyebrow in annoyance.

  “I guess you can speak for yourself,” Molly’s mom continued.

  “That’s okay, Mom,” Molly said as she settled into the wheelchair. “Thanks for coming here. Thanks for…”

  Molly wiped a tear from her eye.

  “Now don’t get all sentimental,” Molly’s mom said, wiping away her own tear. “You can’t have swollen eyes when Bale sees you.”

  The orderly swung Molly around and headed down the hall.

  “I’ll see you later tonight,” Molly’s mom called after them.

  “Aren’t you coming?” Molly leaned sideways in the wheelchair and looked back at her mother.

  “Good heavens, no! You could still learn a lot from me, you know.”

  Molly found herself getting nervous as they approached the hospital entrance. She could see Bale’s truck outside the two massive sliding doors. She looked behind her, hoping her mother had changed her mind, but the corridor was empty.

  Molly was on her own.

  “Hey,” Bale said.

  “Hey,” Molly said, looking up from the wheelchair. “This is so nice of you.”

  Bale signaled the orderly that he could take it from there.

  “No problem at all,” Bale said, helping her out of the wheelchair and into the truck.

  “Can you drive with your arm in a sling?”

  “Nope. Is that a problem?”

  Had everyone gone crazy since she’d been in the hospital?

  “Sorry, just joking,” Bale said. “I can drive with the cast, just not the sling. Besides, we’re not going far.”

  As they pulled out of the parking lot, Bale turned left.

  The tiny house lot, the Tower, and Galileo were all to the right.

  “Where are we going?” Molly asked.

  “To my house.”

  “Does my mother know?” Molly asked. Aghast at how childish she sounded, she added. “It’s just that she might be expecting me.”

  “She knows where we’re going,” Bale said. “But, to be honest, she doesn’t know why.”

  Molly turned to look out the window. She really wasn’t sure what to say. “Does Violet know” came to mind, but she rejected it. She’d just have to wait and see where this day would take her.

  They pulled into Bale’s long gravel private road and crunched up the driveway. Bale’s house was an old farmhouse with a front porch. Molly smiled. One of his first tiny houses was based on his own home.

  Bale drove past the house, driving along the river. He stopped in front of a new tiny house. It was stunning. It was steampunk with added flair—an industrial, Victorian, gypsy wagon. Molly knew immediately what it was.

  “This is the house I built for Violet,” Bale said proudly. “I incorporated a lot of the design ideas you and I talked about. I thought you might want to see it.”

  “I do,” Molly said, trying to hold back the tears.

  He brought me here to show me the masterpiece he built for another woman.

  “Let’s go inside,” Bale said.

  Molly’s brain could barely register the interior as Bale showed her the two lofts, the full kitchen, and the colorful bathroom.

  “I hope you like it,” Bale said as he helped her down the stairs. “You really were my inspiration.”

  For all the good that does me.

  “I should be getting back,” Molly said. “I don’t want to keep Mom and Curly waiting.”

  “I just have one other thing I want to show you,” Bale said. “It’s walking distance, if you’re not too tired.”

  Molly was tired—and heartbroken—but Bale had done so much for her. What could she say?

  “I’m fine,” she said with false cheer. “Let’s go!”

  They walked along the river’s edge on a path with yellowing leaves underfoot. Bale kept up a steady stream of conversation, but Molly really didn’t hear anything.

  “Okay,” he said. “I need you to close your eyes.”

  Molly was about to ask why but decided against it. She just closed her eyes.

  “Okay, I’m going to guide you,” Bale said. “It’s only a couple steps around the bend. Do you trust me?”

  “I trust you.”

  Molly could hear the leaves underfoot. She could hear the river rushing along her left side. Suddenly, they stopped walking.

  “Okay,” Bale said, holding her shoulders. “Open your eyes.”

  Molly opened her eyes. She was staring into Bale’s. He stepped to one side. Molly staggered, but Bale caught her.

  She walked past him and stared up and up and up.

  The tree, which Bale had described to her as the perfect setting for her model, stood before her, its branches arching out in just the way he’d said they did. The trunk curved faithfully to his description. But that wasn’t all.

  Her tree house model stood before her, life-sized, more beautiful than she could have ever imagined.

  “How did this happen?” Molly asked.

  “You’re the civil engineer,” Bale said. “You should be able to figure that out.”

  “I know…I mean… Why did you do this?”

  The question hung in the air. The silence stretched on and on. Finally Bale spoke.

  “Don’t you know why?” he asked gently.

  “What about…” Molly pointed back to the steampunk tiny house back in the front yard. “What about Violet?”

  “What about Violet?”

  “Aren’t you guys…you know…”

  “We were almost…you know,” Bale said, making one-handed quote marks with his good arm. “I thought it might work out with her. When I went to see her, we had a romantic dinner. Then we went back to her place.”

  “I’m not sure I need to hear the gory details.”

  “That’s okay,” Bales said. “Because there are no gory details. We kissed, and she said to me, ‘I don’t know who she is, but you need to go after her.’”

  “And did you?’ Molly asked. “Did you go after her?”

  “I built her a tree house,” Bale said in exasperation, pointing to the tree behind him.

  Molly threw her arms around Bale. He lifted her up in his one good arm.

  “I didn’t know you felt the same way I did,” Molly said. “I was so afraid to say anything.”

  “Me too,” Bale said, as he nestled his face into her neck. “But we’re good now, right?”

  “We’ve very good,” Molly said as Bale put her back on the ground.

  “Molly, listen.” Bale got very serious. “We’ve wasted so much time. I want…”

  Someone cleared his throat behind them. Molly and Bale both whirled.

  “Professor Cambridge?” Molly asked, stunned.

  “Hello, Bale. Hello, Ms. McGinnis,” Professor Cambridge said in his disapproving way. “What’s going on here, Bale? I got your note and your directions to meet you here.”

  “Yes, sir,” Bale said. “Thank you for coming.”

  “And exactly why am I here?” Professor Cambridge asked.

  Bale and Molly looked at each other. A giant tree house stood in front of him. Wasn’t that a clue?

  “Well, sir,” Bale said. “I know you heard about Molly’s accident.”

  “Yes, most unfortunate.” Professor Cambridge nodded to Molly.
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  “I thought maybe if you saw what she’d designed,” Bale said, sweeping his arm to point out the tree. “You might…”

  “I might what?”

  “You might approve her thesis,” Bale said.

  Molly gasped. She looked at Professor Cambridge, and any hope died. He looked as sour as ever.

  “If memory serves, Ms. McGinnis was supposed to build a model, not an edifice.”

  “But this tree house is built faithfully on her design,” Bale said.

  He really was at the tree fort checking the design for changes, Molly realized. Now it made sense.

  “All right,” Professor Cambridge said. “I’ve come all this way. Let’s take a look.”

  Molly was shaking. In her wildest dreams, she never could have imagined seeing her tree house realized. Now here it was, built by the man she loved, who loved her—and they were about to tour her dream with Professor Cambridge.

  Two out of three ain’t bad.

  “Lead the way,” Bale said to Molly.

  She was about to say she’d never seen the place, but of course she knew every inch of it. She smiled.

  “Right this way, Professor Cambridge,” she said proudly.

  She showed him the bathroom on the ground floor, answering questions about gravity and hydraulics. They climbed the stairs to the living room and kitchen, looking out over the river and the town from the large windows. Most of the furniture was built in, but Bale had accessorized the place perfectly, incorporating Molly’s own possessions from Crabby’s back room. They stepped onto the balconies that appeared in every nook of the branches. As they approached the almost vertical stairs to the bedroom, Professor Cambridge stopped.

  “I’ve seen enough,” Professor Cambridge said. “I’ve already done my stairs at the gym today.”

  Molly was grateful. She didn’t really want to share her first glance of the bedroom with Professor Cambridge.

  “What do you think?” Bale asked, because Molly couldn’t.

  “It’s not what we agreed upon,” Professor Cambridge said.

  Molly tried to breathe. She reached for Bale’s hand.

  “But it’s a hell of a tree house,” Professor Cambridge said, looking around disapprovingly. “I used to have a tree house when I was a boy. I think it’s what made me want to be an engineer. I’d completely forgotten that.”