Cottage on the Hill (MxMxMxMxM)

Chapter Thirty-nine

7:45am, Tuesday November 17th

I stood in the doorway wrapped in a blanket as Hale put his bag in the backseat and got in. Ollie clambered into his car and waved from the driver's seat before pulling out and driving away. Cas wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled my closer. I scrunched my toes as the cold seeped through my slippers.

"Weather isn't too bad this morning; do you want to go for a walk?"

"Sure." I dropped my blanket on the couch, where we'd eaten breakfast, then headed upstairs. Cas tossed me a pair of pants and some big thick socks. "Where are we walking?" I asked in an attempt to hide the dizziness that just fell over me.

"We can just walk through the national park, if you want? Or down into the village?" He pulled on a sweater and a beanie.

I added a whole third layer to my outfit before I even thought about going downstairs. "The forest sounds good," I said, taking a deep breath. I really want to go, I need to go, I thought, trying to hide the illness. Cas, however, saw straight through me and came over to stand before me.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

I nodded, but he wasn't convinced. "I'm fine. I will be fine. I'll have you, and if it gets too much we'll just turn around and come back," I said, as convincingly as I could manage.

He sighed. "Alright." I watched him get shoes and a scarf for me. I hope this goes fine. We stepped out into the cold after putting on our coats and boots by the front door, shivering as our breath curled before us. Cas hooked his arm through mine and we headed off stepping in time with each other.

"Have any publishers messaged you back?" I asked, looking up at him before going back to watching the ground so I don't step in any puddles.

"A couple. There is a local publisher that wants to portray the flora around the area, which, let's be honest, is the same throughout most of the UK." Cas sighed. "They seem nice enough and they haven't asked for any money yet, so that's a plus."

We passed a bundle of some kind of vine that is wrapping itself around a pine tree. Cas stopped and took some photos with his phone. "Why would asking for money be bad?" I asked as we kept walking.

"Publishers earn money by taking a portion of the book sales, so asking for a fee to publish someones book is morally wrong and chances are they are just going to print a couple hundred copies without actually doing any marketing for it. Why would they if you've just given them £3000?" He looked down at me.

"I guess they don't need to earn money if the writers are paying them." I sighed, pursing my lips. "Have you sent it to any publishers like that?"

"Not that I know of. They're pretty good at hiding themselves. A good way to tell is if they had ads for their services. Real publishes get so many manuscripts that they don't need ads."

We stopped again for Cas to take some photos of a nice-looking pine tree. "Haven't you already done the pine page spread for the book?"

"No, I've done the notes for it."

"What was that tree I saw you drawing the other day then?"

"A cypress tree?"

"Oh. Maybe. Does a cypress look like a pine?"

"Uh, a bit." He went around the other side of the tree, stamping through the damp under growth. I shoved my gloved hands into my pockets and kicked a stone off the path. "The rangers aren't doing a good job keeping the invasive species under control," he muttered as he came back to me and hooked his arm back through mine.