A Stranger in the Hamptons

by Heather Graham

  Julianne grimaced, she could be incredibly stubborn, like most people in this town. With their support or not, she was going to enjoy her own love life despite their machinations and pressure. Living here was like having a hundred parents, both comforting in their support but also united in their reprisal. She looked around, the cheery light blue walls were the backdrop for several tables of people who were whispering behind their menus and behind their hands. She straightened her back and looked at each of them directly, forcing them to look away. She sent a clear signal to them that this was her life and she was going to live it as she saw fit.

  Meanwhile, inspired by the dopamine rush of his burgeoning feelings for Julianne, Heath’s writing and creative muse had returned as he was losing sleep in his excitement to write a completely rebooted and much more authentic novel. The chaotic mess of notes, scribbles, and printings littered the floor and every horizontal surface throughout his rental cabin. He stepped over some important plot planning notes when he heard the knock at the door.

  Julianne invites Heath to take a walk through town so that they could talk. He grabbed his coat, mostly out of habit, to sling it over one shoulder while shutting the door behind them. He wrapped his arm around her waist as she guided him between the stores and through the narrow streets and around the tiny houses from the heydays of whaling and carriage travel.

  Trying to break the tension, but sensing her mood was not ready for any semblance of a deep conversation, “I have been writing a novel, a new one, which is very close to my heart. I have not been able to sleep just from the excitement of creating something which speaks to my soul,” Heath said, gushing out in his excitement.

  He looked over at Julianne, who seemed distracted and unmoved by his revelation.

  “I am glad to hear your time has been productive here. The townspeople are worried about me getting involved with you. I would love to have your assurance that you intend to remain with me here since this seems to be working for you,” Julianne said, her voice low and then becoming more impassioned as she spoke.

  She looked over at him, pinning him with her stare and stopped walking forward, awaiting his response. When he didn’t answer, Julianne left his side and walked off angrily as tears sparkled in the corners of her eyes. He didn’t follow her because he was unsure what he could say which would not make it worse. He really liked her, felt deeply for her, in fact, but she was tied to this town, and he never knew where his career was going to take him.

  Heath continues his walk until he encounters a small, local bar sandwiched between an ice cream parlor and a real estate office. He veered toward the entrance, intending to have a drink or two to take the edge off from his rollercoaster of a week. He sat down on the high stool next to a table in the back, where the semi-darkness offered him a tiny bit of anonymity. He hunched over the table, waiting for the tall, gaunt redheaded waitress to notice him. As his eyes scanned the interior, pausing briefly on the dart board and pool table, his view encountered a sultry, beautiful brunette who met his eyes across the expanse of the bar.

  On a pretense of ordering a drink, he rose to his feet and made his way past her on the way to speak with the bartender.

  “Fanny, the waitress, will get to you, she is just alone working tonight, it will be a couple of minutes,” the tall, serious bartender replied to his unspoken question when he was several feet away but just past where the lovely brunette was sitting alone. He turned on his heel to return to his table and was directly in front of the brunette.

  “Slow service tonight, huh?” Heath asked, as a rhetorical question.

  The brunette was already having a drink, which she swirled with her long, black straw and smiled back at him. He felt empowered to take the couple steps toward her table to introduce himself.

  “I’m Heath, and you are?” He asked with a slow smile.

  “Alicia and everyone knows who you are. I admire your writing, and I would love to get to know you better. Ya, know, something which hasn’t been published in a dozen magazines already,” She said while turning up her Bloody Mary and downing the last bit in one seductive gulp.

  Heath smiled. This was the only part of fame which he didn’t mind. Writers didn’t get the kind of throw-your-panties groupies as other famous people, but he was able to woo lovely ladies with a much higher success rate because of it. He recalled passing the ‘Hamptons Bay Luxury Hotel’ only about three blocks down. He wondered how difficult it would be to get this beautiful woman to walk down there with him.

  On a lark, mostly kidding, and with an over-bright smile, he extended his elbow to her, and said, “Well, let’s not let that discovery wait too long. The night is still young.”

  Alicia took his arm, and he led her out, nodding to the bartender as he went. He led her down the street, questioning most of the way if he remembered which corner the hotel was on, while the other part of his brain reprimanding him for what he was doing. He wasn’t the commitment type, and Alicia was much more his speed.

  He quickly checked into the hotel, with a half-embarrassed smile and led Alicia up to the room. When he swiped the key card with one hand, he pressed Alicia up against the door with the other. The door clicked and gave way. Heath wrapped his arm around Alicia’s back, guiding her into the coastal themed room with conch shells and decorations upon every available surface.

  “Was this what you wanted to know more about me?” Heath asked, his voice hoarse with desire and a tinge of nervousness.

  The next morning while leaving the hotel, Heath and Alicia were spotted by a nosy acquaintance who immediately goes to the library to tell Julianne what she saw. The gossip about where and whom he had been with spread faster than a newspaper article. He was met with stares and confrontational looks as he entered the library foyer.

  The hurt mirrored in Julianne’s eyes was all he needed to see to know that she had found out. He approached her with caution, unsure of what he should say or what he could say to calm her down.

  “Why, why did you do it?” Julianne asked, her voice indignant and angry.

  “There’s no reason to overreact. We haven’t been seeing each other exclusively,” Heath began.

  “No? Really? Apparently, that was my assumption, but not yours! You spent the night with Alicia because you assumed since we had not said the words, you were free to behave any way you wished?” She said, the hurt and vulnerability evident in her voice.

  Heath tried to comfort her, wrapping her in his arms briefly before she pushed against him and walked away. It was too late. He gathered from her trembling chin all that he needed to know.

  “You took advantage of my trust, but at least I know who you are now and I won’t be fooled anymore,” She said, turning on her heel and leaving the room.

  Heath stared at her, knowing it was over, yet flabbergasted at how quickly this had gone badly for him. His heart broke that he had lost her due to an impulsive decision, which really hadn’t meant anything at all.

  He had planned on pitching his new book to his publisher, so he could move up the date and give her a little space to cool down. He left town, avoiding the stares and tittering on the ferry. His trip out of the closed community was much different than it had been coming in.

  A few days later, word had reached the outer areas of the community, so Ace began coming back into the library. He was clearly peeved at the situation, and his intense eyes showed his emotion clearly. He became a shoulder to cry on and a respite from reprisal as she took some time to get away to the privacy of his home.

  She was driven into Ace’s arms on the tail of shame and embarrassment, but soon after she begins to piece together that Ace’s behavior is more dangerous and troubled than mysterious and interesting. She emotionally withdrew from him, avoiding him in town and not going back to his home. Because he knew where she lived and worked, it was impossible to completely leave him. She considered simply leaving town because of the painful memories of Heath and the discomfort she fel
t around Ace, but due to her financial circumstances she couldn’t afford to leave the only job she had ever had and the house she inherited from her grandfather. Even though the gossip had died down, Julianne had nowhere to turn for help.

  During his time away from Julianne, Heath yearned to be with her. He wanted to explain his fear of commitment and apologize for being stupid and impulsive. He tried calling her nonstop, but she wouldn’t answer his calls. He was heartbroken and unable to deliver on any of the optimistic promises he had made to his publisher. So Heath decides to return to the Hamptons and try to talk it out with Julianne.

  However, when he returned to the Hamptons and walked up to her house, the door was wide open. In the living room, there were signs of a struggle as the coffee table was turned over and the lamp was broken. Upon investigating the rest of the house, her belongings were all there, including her purse with her driver’s license. His heart races with fear as he determined that someone had likely taken her by force.

  Years of being a novelist and being naturally suspicious, the only person who came to his mind was Ace, but he had no idea where he lived or where he worked. He rushed out the door to get help. The small, Podunk police station was several blocks away, so he hurried, without running, because he didn’t want to start any tongues wagging.

  As he entered the Sheriff’s Office, the overweight officer was dozing in his chair with his feet propped on the top of the desk. The slam of the door behind Heath woke him with a start, and he looked around in surprise.

  “Sheriff, I am sorry to barge in on you like this, but something has happened to Julianne,” Heath said breathless and over-excited.

  “What’s happened?” Sheriff James asked, his groggy expression converting to interest.

  “I believe that Ace has kidnapped Julianne!” Heath declared, then described the state of her house and the presence of her identification still in her purse.

  The sheriff rolls his eyes and groggily puts on his coat, assuming that a lover’s quarrel was the cause of all of this commotion.

  “Come on, I will take you to Ace’s house outside of town to sort all this out,” Sheriff James replied, inwardly grateful for something to do.

  The road between town and the outskirts was long, bumpy and even the moderate speed of the police cruiser kicked up a cloud of dust which threatened to choke them inside the vehicle. The county didn’t maintain the roads this far out of town, so they had deteriorated to a pretty sorry shape. When the little dingy white house, with peeling paint, came into view, there was no one in the yard or thereabout, but Ace’s truck was parked off to the right side of the dirt lawn.

  “Ya stay here, I will go check on her. I wouldn’t want you to get upset if she is in a compromising position,” Sheriff James said with a wink.

  Heath stayed in the car, grateful for his help and not wanting to make a difficult situation worse.

  When the sheriff knocked on the rickety door, the door opened without any further provocation.

  “Ace, it's James, comin’ to check on Julianne…” Before he could explain fully why he was there, shots rang out, one ending in a dull thump and one eliciting a shrill scream as the sheriff was shot dead by Ace.

  Heath screamed in horror as he saw the sheriff fall, scrambling from the car and running up toward the house.

  Ace dragged Julianne from the house and into his small truck, her resistance muted by her shock at what had just happened.

  Heath runs back toward the sheriff’s car and jumps into the driver’s seat following after them. Ace takes a sharp turn down a dirt road and Heath’s struggles to keep up in the low riding car. From inside of Ace’s truck, Julianne takes advantage of Ace looking in the rear view mirror and kicks Ace across the face. The truck careens as they crash into a tree beside the path. Angered and not injured by the accident, Ace drags Julianne out of the car and forces her onto a narrow path to escape on foot.

  Heath arrived at the scene of the accident and quickly realizes that it is empty. He looks around trying to ascertain which direction they headed as he was unsure what to do until he heard Julianne’s shrill scream. Heath rushed after her, his pace gulping up the path between them. His heart was beating wildly as he broke through the bushes, to find himself standing at the base of the lighthouse. Heath pursued them up the stairs and toward the top of the dilapidated structure.

  Heath silently and slowly picked his way through the dry-rotted boards and debris, stopping only when a board threatened to creak. He was so focused on not making any noise that Ace came from the shadows to strike Heath across the face. Heath fell tumbling downward with a groan, and the two men begin to fight. Every instinct and skill that Heath had at his disposal was needed to fend off the irrational anger coming at him. Slowly, almost in slow motion, Ace was pushed backward, and part of the platform gave away with a loud crack, sending Ace backward with great momentum flailing his arms and legs as he accelerated toward the rocks and tide below. Heath hears a sharp intake of breath above him and looks up to see Julianne’s shocked and terrified face. He held her to his side, breathing shallowly to protect his broken ribs until he got her back to safety.

  A few days later, after the sheriff’s funeral, the stocky waitress hugs Heath and looks into his eyes, as she thanked him for saving Julianne from certain death. The waitress walked away, hobbling on her white flat shoes across the grass.

  “Will I ever see you again?” Julianne asked Heath when the crowd had disappeared and they were relatively alone.

  “Well, I need to meet with my real estate agent in Manhattan to finalize my purchase of rea property here in the Hamptons. Then I can’t wait to take you to California on my next business trip,” Heath said, kissing her gently.

  Julianne smiled broadly and hooked her arm in his, leading him in the direction of his cabin.

  Please stay tuned for part two of the Saga.