Life in the Palace (Prince Harry #5)

Chapter Sixteen

On their third day at the cabin, Meredith's father was down at the lake before even the sun came up. In the small cabin, Harry heard her father moving around the cabin, eating a quick breakfast, changing and then heading out down the docks. Harry went back to sleep beside his wife.

When it was more of an appropriate time to awake, Meredith was the first to get up, slipping into the small shower and coming out about twenty minutes late. She pulled out the cereal and milk. Already, the sun started to stream through the curtains. It was going to be another beautiful day. Harry took a shorter shower, coming out smelling a bit like a lake. All the water here was lake water, which was why Harry was forced to drink bottled water.

After eating, they did the dishes and changed. It was warmer today, and they both wore shorts and t-shirts. Harry wore a plain shirt while Meredith had pulled out one of her own t-shirts that she no longer wore since being royal. Her shirt was a picture of fake flowery lungs from a Florence + the Machine concert. Harry had another hat on, but Meredith only wore sunglasses.

Driving thirty minutes on the winding roads, they pulled into a tourists attraction that happened to be the middle of nowhere. That was how things went up here. The gravel crunched under the car's wheels as Meredith parked. The park was spread out, and at this early in the morning, even though it was nearly midday, it was fairly quiet. There was running water, and the sound of motors roared off in the distance. Those things were coming later. Meredith took him toward the desk, paying for the tickets of fun today.

They started off at mini golf, a secret love of Meredith's. Harry didn't mind normal golf, but it did bore him. He liked rugby and fast-moving sports, though he had to play golf a few times in his life. On the other side, Meredith didn't care about regular golf, but she did get competitive about mini golf... and trivia. Harry lost at that game always. 

It was eighteen holes. They wrapped around each other, crossing the small area. Some running water and random rocks made it more difficult, plus all the paths were winding. It didn't help that there were natural roadblocks on the course, such as fallen pine needles or pine cones. There were random Minnesota facts, as the fact that it was illegal to wear a skunk on a head when crossing from Minnesota into Wisconsin-- it was a state law. "Really?" Harry asked.

"Listen," Meredith said, "drunk people do what drunk people do. Plus, I'm assuming it happened in the winter, and there's not a lot to do then."

Harry scoffed.

Meredith placed her small green ball down on the green turf. She lined up her club and then smacked the ball hard. The ball ricocheted off the stones that surrounded the path that lead to the whole. Her ball only made it halfway down.

"I don't think you need to do it that hard," Harry said.

She rolled her eyes and moved out of the way. "Then you go ahead."

Harry set down his yellow ball. He lined up the ball, trying not to take this game seriously, but he was a competitive person. He used it a lot in sports when growing up. Harry took his time measuring up, so much time that Meredith grew impatient-- not that she naturally had a lot of it. He finally putted, and the ball moved maybe six or seven feet. It was only thirteen feet to the hole, but they were about the same-- only halfway to the hole.

"After you," he said, moving out of the way.

Meredith moved beside her green ball. This was the first time they had ever played mini golf. Usually, it was a date or date night occasion. She lined up her putter. She measured for a few seconds, and then she hit the ball. It bounced off a rock border and then hit another boarder and then went into the white lined ball. A smile crossed her face; she was beginning to turn cocky with her mini golf skills.