A Rocky Path

by Lauralynn Elliott

  “Nonsense. You are welcome everywhere. Although, I wouldn’t advise you to venture into the rooms of our male occupants.”

  Emily laughed. “Not a chance! Well, I’ll let you have some privacy, and I’ll explore some more.”

  “Enjoy yourself.”

  Next, Emily went to the first floor and looked into the rooms down there. She had seen them on her tour with Rebecca, but she wanted to take a closer look at the library. The walls were filled with books. Not only was Rebecca’s decorating taste eclectic, but so was her literary taste. You could find just about any genre of book you wanted on these shelves. None of the books Rebecca had written were down here, but she noticed that the upstairs sitting room contained all her books. Rebecca’s writing was mostly fantasy, explaining her taste in dragons and such. There were several leather armchairs upholstered in dark brown. She tried one out and understood why one would want to read in here. She could get comfortable and go to sleep in this chair. There was a desk and chair in a corner. What really made this room cozy and inviting, though, was a stone fireplace. What a great place to curl up with a good book!

  She continued her exploration outside. It was dark, but the lamps gave off plenty of light. She had only seen the front of the house before, but she stepped through the French doors going out of the family room and into a beautiful garden. And right in the middle of the garden was a pool with stone all around it. Emily wondered how Rebecca had found so much stone to match the original stone in the house. There was also a hot tub in the same theme. Oh, to be rich!

  There were steps leading down a manmade stone path. She went down the steps and followed the path and was suddenly on a small cliff. She had had no idea how close she was to the ocean. It was hidden from the house, and she had been so nervous on the way here that she had paid no attention to where she was. She made her way down the cliff to the rocky shore. The waves were lapping against the rocks. It was so beautiful and peaceful. She knew this was a place she could come if she needed solitude.

  Suddenly, Emily got the feeling that she wasn’t alone. It was really pretty silly because it was obvious that no one else was around. However, she couldn’t seem to shake the feeling that someone was there with her, watching her. She finally decided that she was just reacting to being in a new place in a different type of environment than she was used to.

  When she returned to the house, she was tired and decided that she would wait until the next day to go through the old treasures of the house. She really wanted to get a good night’s sleep so she could get up early and get her workout in before she got started to work. She went up to her rooms, brushed her teeth, washed her face and put on her sleep shirt. She was fast asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

  Chapter Three

  The next morning, Emily woke up refreshed and ready to face the day. At six o’clock, she went down to the basement for her workout. When she got there, Jamie was lifting weights. He was benching 200 lbs. When he saw her, he put up the weights and sat up. He was wearing a tank top and his muscles looked rock hard.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you would be down so early. I was trying to get a workout in before you came down. Some people don’t like an audience when they’re working out.”

  Emily said, “Don’t be silly. We should be able to work out at the same time without getting in each other’s way.”

  “Good. I’ll try not to get in your way,” he said with a grin. He seemed so different from the sullen guy she had met the night before.

  “If you get on a weight machine that I want, I’ll just pick you up and throw you off of it,” she teased.

  “Very funny. Well, I’m done for now, but I look forward to working out with you. If you’re going to come down at six, then I’ll try to get down here at the same time.”

  “I would like that. By the way, do we fend for ourselves for breakfast, or what?”

  “No,” said Jamie, “my mother makes a buffet breakfast every morning. It’s set up in warmers in the family dining room. Whenever someone is ready, they just come in for a bite to eat.”

  “Thanks,” said Emily. “I’m sure I’ll be very hungry when I’m done here.”

  She did her aerobics first, then worked out with the weights and machines. She was finished an hour later, went upstairs and took a shower, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, then went down to breakfast. And what a feast it was! Eggs, bacon, sausage, crepes, biscuits, and more.

  “I am going to get fat!” she exclaimed to Sam, who was already seated at the table, eating.

  He looked her up and down and grinned. “I don’t think there’s any chance of that. You are in fine form!”

  She laughed. She was surrounded by guys younger than her, yet they were so attractive….she was going to like this place for several reasons.

  After a pleasant breakfast in Sam’s company, she went up to the office to start to work.

  “What’s first on the agenda, boss?” asked Emily.

  Rebecca cringed. “Please don’t call me that.”

  Emily grinned. “Sorry. So get me started!’

  Rebecca gave her a list of things that needed to be done, as well as a manuscript to read after she had finished everything else.

  “Wow. I get the first peek at your newest book!” she exclaimed.

  “Yep! And no talking to anyone about it. I mean anyone. Not even Sam. He’s my nephew and I love him, but this is business. Ok?”

  “Mum’s the word.”

  She got through all her other tasks in the first hour. After that, she started on the manuscript. She was so into the story that she didn’t realize it was lunchtime until Rebecca said her name.

  “What? Oh, I’m sorry. Hey, this story is really good!”

  “Thank you. However, I don’t expect you to work through lunch. And we’re going out for lunch, and then shopping.”

  “What are we shopping for?” asked Emily.

  “Some clothes for you. I’m telling you, we are giving away those awful suits. Do you have any other dressy clothes?”

  “No, I had to wear those atrocities to the office, and I couldn’t afford anything else but t-shirts and jeans. And I really can’t ask you to give me an advance on my salary to buy new clothes.”

  Rebecca laughed. “This is not an advance. This is an investment. I expect you to look good and feel good, so we need to find you some clothes that will do that. We can work in casual clothes, but occasionally we’ll have to go out, and you need some dressier clothes. How you look will reflect on me….oh, who am I kidding? I just like to buy clothes and make people happy!”

  Emily protested. “You shouldn’t have to buy my clothes!”

  “I want to do this. It will be fun.”

  So that’s what they did. Rebecca took her to a great Italian restaurant, then they shopped until they could barely stand up.

  “I can’t believe we bought all this stuff!” cried Emily. “What were you thinking?”

  “I was thinking that I haven’t had this much fun in ages! I want you to enjoy everything we bought today. Promise me you won’t feel bad about my buying you clothes.”

  “Oh, ok. I guess you can afford it. And if it makes you happy….”

  “It does. And I hope it makes you happy, too!”

  When they got back, Jamie came out and unloaded their packages from the car, and carried them up to her room. He grinned as he was putting them all on the bed.

  “I see that Rebecca has gone on one of her shopping sprees again. She has bought me a bunch of stuff, too. I used to be bothered by it, but I found out she really likes to do it. Just enjoy her generosity. I finally have learned to.”

  Emily said, “It will take some getting used to. But I think I can manage.”

  After he had left, she started pulling her new things out of their packages. There were new jeans, cute little shirts to go with them, and a lot of other casual things. Hiking boots, sandals, high heels. But also, there were dressy things, lacy things, girly things.
She felt like a princess.

  She decided she would dress up for dinner. They had been gone so long that it was late afternoon when they got back, so it was almost time to eat.

  She took special care with her makeup and hair that evening. Then she looked in her newly stocked closet, trying to decide what to wear. She finally chose a clingy emerald green dress that came above her knees, but not too short. It had short sleeves and a square neckline, not demure, but not too low. She knew she looked great. She was one of those rare women who could wear clingy things and have no bulges showing. This was one of those times that she was glad that she worked hard at staying fit.

  When she came down to dinner, everyone stared. She was suddenly afraid she had made a big mistake. ‘What was I thinking?’ she thought.

  Then Rebecca smiled and said. “You look absolutely gorgeous. You have to excuse us, but we were used to seeing you in t-shirts, so we were surprised at how beautiful you really are.”

  “I second that motion!” Sam said with a grin.

  Jamie just stared at her, then looked away. What was it with him? Sometimes he was so friendly and sometimes…well, you just didn’t know how to take him. She was a little intrigued.

  Dinner was wonderful again that evening. Chicken in wine sauce this time. The conversation was pleasant, the food was good and Emily was happy to be here. She had never thought she would be happy again, but now she really was. Jamie continued to be sullen and contributed very little to the conversation. But Sam, Sally, and Rebecca were fun and nice and Emily felt like she had found a new family.

  Afterwards, Emily changed into jeans and went down to the basement to sift through the things that were left in the house from long ago. Rebecca had told her that she could keep anything that she found that she liked. There was furniture and a lot of little trinkets. Then she found something that really caught her eye. It was a silver ring with entwined hearts. It was a simple little thing, but for some reason, she really wanted it. It fit her ring finger on her left hand perfectly. She had taken off her wedding band before coming to Maine, so this little ring felt good on her finger after not having anything there for awhile. She was happy that she had come down here. She looked through a few more things, but now that she had found the ring, her heart was no longer in it. So she went back upstairs.

  She went up to the sitting room to look for Rebecca. She found her there, so she showed her the ring.

  “Isn’t it beautiful?” asked Emily.

  “Well, it is pretty, but it’s not very fancy. What made you want the little thing?”

  Emily frowned. “I don’t know. But it feels right on my finger. May I keep it?”

  “Of course. I told you that you could have anything in that room.”

  “Thanks,” said Emily. “I think I’ll go up to bed now.”

  She fell asleep almost immediately, but she had a lot of disjointed dreams all through the night and kept waking up. She didn’t know what had disturbed her so much, since she had slept so well the night before.

  ‘Six o’clock is sure going to come early in the morning,’ she thought to herself.

  She finally fell into a dreamless sleep at about three o’clock.

  Chapter Four

  The next two weeks passed quickly for Emily. She was absorbed in her work during the day. At night, she walked the grounds and sometimes went to the library to read. Dinner was always a pleasant time, with good company and great food. She felt like she had come home. This was the place she was supposed to be and these were the people she loved spending time with. Sam was always friendly and Jamie was very moody. But neither man was hard on the eyes!

  It was on a Friday evening, after dinner, that she went down the stone path to the shore and got a little surprise. There was a man sitting on one of the rocks with a pad in his hand, drawing. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and he looked unbelievably good in them. She cautiously walked up to him.

  “Hello. I don’t believe we’ve met. My name is Emily Adams. Are you a friend of the family?”

  He looked up at her and she was suddenly looking into the most beautiful sapphire blue eyes she had ever seen. His hair was long and mostly straight, and at the moment disheveled because of the breeze that had started blowing. He was a mixture of rugged man and sensitive artist, which normally didn’t mix, but worked well on this guy. She estimated his age to be about 30. He had an air of sadness about him, but he smiled at her, and all that melancholy seemed to disappear.

  “No, I don’t know anyone from here yet. I just moved into a house a couple of miles down the shore there. I walked up here because I love this particular spot. This place is perfect for drawing. It’s peaceful, beautiful and isolated.”

  Emily smiled back at him. She couldn’t help it. “It was isolated until I came along and ruined your solitude. I’m sorry, but this is where I come a lot in the evenings.”

  “Oh, then it is I who has ruined your solitude. Forgive me. I will walk back to my house and leave you to your privacy.”

  “No, wait! That’s ok. I wouldn’t mind the company. But you never did tell me your name.”

  He hesitated. “My name is Patrick McCulloch.”

  Emily frowned. “McCulloch? Are you related to the McCullochs who used to own this house?”

  “Oh, no, that’s just a coincidence. I knew some McCullochs used to live here, but that’s a different family. I’m not from around here. I come from Connecticut.”

  His speech held just a bit of an accent, but she couldn’t quite place it. It wasn’t pronounced enough to tell where it may have originated. Also, it seemed like he sprinkled a mixture of formal speech in with casual speech. She was intrigued.

  “That sure does seem to be a strange coincidence. So you’re an artist. Do you paint as well, or just draw?”

  “I do a little bit of everything. I enjoy drawing the most, I think. I haven’t done any paintings in awhile.”

  “Do you sell your art or is it a hobby?”

  “It’s more than a hobby. It’s almost an obsession. But, no, I don’t sell anything, although I sometimes give it away. My family is wealthy, so I don’t have to depend on my art for a living. So I can do whatever I please. So tell me about you, Emily Adams.”

  She told him about what had happened to her husband and about her move to Maine, and about how much she loved the people she was living with now. They talked about how much they both enjoyed living in this area.

  Suddenly his face became pale. “That ring…where did you get it?”

  She looked down at the little silver ring. “I found it in some old things that were left in the house by the McCullochs. Hey, are you alright?”

  He seemed to recover, and laughed, although there didn’t seem to be much amusement in it. “Of course. I don’t know what came over me. I’m not feeling very well. Maybe I should just return home.”

  “Do you want me to walk with you? You looked there for a minute like you had seen a ghost.”

  “No, of course not, I’m fine. Maybe I’m coming down with a touch of something. I will just walk on down to my house and lie down for awhile. It was good meeting you. We will meet again soon, I am sure of it.”

  Then he got up and started across the rocks. A slight mist had started forming in the air, and soon Patrick was swallowed up by it and she couldn’t see him anymore. It was odd that a fog like that had formed so quickly.

  She started back up to the house, and met Jamie as he was coming out.

  “I was just trying to find you,” he said. I was wondering if you wanted to come into town with me to see a movie.”

  “That sounds like fun. Just let me get my purse and I’ll be ready to go.”

  They took Jamie’s car, a red 1968 Camaro. It was fully restored and ran beautifully.

  “I really love this car,” said Emily. “This is my favorite model of car and favorite year. Did you restore it yourself?”

  “Yep. It was a mess when I bought it.”

  “Well, I love it.�
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  “And you look great riding in it,” he said, looking at her admiringly.

  They went to a movie theater that showed vintage films and classic cult movies. The Rocky Horror Picture show was playing that night.

  “I can’t believe it,” she laughed. “I haven’t seen this movie in forever!”

  They had fun watching the show and participating in the interactive part, which was a common thing among Rocky Horror fans. They threw toast at the screen and said all the right things at the right parts. They were both laughing as they left the theater.

  “I haven’t had this much fun in years! Thank you so much for bringing me here,” Emily said.

  When they got back to the house, they let themselves in and Emily started up the stairs to go to bed.

  “Wait,” he said.

  He walked over to her, brushed the hair back from her face and kissed her softly.

  “I had a great time, Emily. I really enjoy your company.”

  Then he walked off into the family room. Emily touched her lips where his kiss seemed to still linger. Then her mind suddenly wandered to the man she had met on the rocks today. She felt a little guilty then…here she was being kissed by an attractive man, younger than her, no less, and she was thinking about someone else. Something was wrong with this picture.

  ***

  She had trouble sleeping that night. She couldn’t figure out why her mind kept wondering back to Patrick. She had just met this guy and knew almost nothing about him. She realized that while they were talking, he had steered the conversation away from himself and onto her. All she knew was that he was an artist from Connecticut, that he was wealthy and lived somewhere down the coast from her. He was extremely handsome and had a magnetism about him, but didn’t seem to work at it. It was just there. She had noticed that when she was talking to him, little butterflies had formed in her stomach. Although she really liked Jamie and enjoyed his company, her stomach had stayed butterfly-free with him.