She draws in a long breath. “Well, let me leave you to get ready for dinner.”
“Yeah,” I pause. “What about Carter? Constance told me that you…”
“Broke up with him? I did. I loved him Livvie, but I just had to accept that I deserved better than the guy he was that night.”
I don’t say anything, so she continues. “He’s a coach at the rehab place he went seven years ago. He’ll probably never leave.” She sighs. “I’m glad he found his place, as I found mine, running my business and all that.”
So we all found our place, I think soberly. Only sometimes, I still feel like I’m floating around, looking for a place to anchor, and knowing that there’s only one place for me, and only one person I want to be with.
I can’t keep thinking like that if I want to convince myself that I’ve gotten over Jackson, so I shake the thought from my head. “I'll meet you downstairs.” I tell Blythe.
She nods. “It was nice to see you Livvie.”
“You too, Blythe.”
Chapter Fourteen
ALTHOUGH I like to work in the privacy of
my room, sometimes, after walking around the house and grounds taking pictures, I go to the library to work on developing some of the digital shots. The floor to ceiling bookshelves are stacked with thousands of books, many of which I spent my teenage years reading.
I love working with cameras, bur I relish the part where I embellish beautiful images with magical software, to add the little things that take a scene from beautiful to incredible. I’m so engrossed in what I’m doing that I don’t hear the door to the library opening.
“Hey you,” Nick’s voice interrupts my work. He’s standing by the door, looking every inch the modern metro-sexual male in gray pants and a cream shirt.
“Hey you too,” I turn back to my work. We’re almost done, and in two days, we’ll all leave Halcyon. I can’t wait to leave, not because I’ve not enjoyed being around Constance or Blythe, or Mrs. Shannon, which I have, but because, the sooner I’m done and gone, the sooner I’ll stop worrying about Jackson coming back to disturb my feelings again.
“Elaine’s come up with a fantastic first draft,” He says. “Reads like a good novel, which is what Grace wanted.” He sighs. “God knows another academic sounding book on architectural styles would have bored me to death.”
“I’m looking forward to reading it.”
He shrugs. “You should. By the way, did you know the Lockewoods gave an engagement party for a minor European royal in the twenties and the next day the fiancée eloped with the younger son?”
“Guy Lockewood.” I smile. “He was a pilot, riding on the glories from being a flyboy in the war. Fortunately, it didn’t cause another battle of Troy. She came to her senses and went back to her fiancé.”
Nick looks at me intently. “I forget you know all about the family history. You did grow up here after all. I still can’t believe you never mentioned that. It rankles.”
“You’ll get over it.” I laugh. “Seriously, it's just not something I talk about that much.”
“I get that,” he laughs. “Though I’ll be more likely to forgive you if you promise to tell Blythe all the wonderful things you know about me.”
“I don’t know any wonderful things about you.”
He gives me a poisonous look, but I only smile wider. “I’m not going to be your wingman here, if that’s what you’re thinking. I thought it was Elaine you were interested in.”
“I’m interested in all women.” He shakes his head, “In any case Elaine's more interested in the owner of this lovely house than she is in a poor old journalist like me. I don’t think a day has gone by when she doesn’t ask Constance when the guy is coming back."
“And is he planning to, come back, I mean.”
“I have no idea,” He says distantly, his mind already on something else. “I should leave you to work.” He leaves the room, shutting the door behind him.
I don’t care what happens between Jackson and Elaine, I tell myself, as long as it happens when I’m safely away from Halcyon, as long as he doesn’t come back to disturb my peace of mind again. Offering a silent prayer to whatever is keeping him away, I turn my attention back to the picture on my computer.
I’m still working when the door opens again. “I thought you were going to leave me to finish my work.” I say playfully, mimicking Nick's accent without looking up.
He doesn’t reply. In the silence that follows, my fingers pause on the mouse, and I feel the familiar tingle going down my spine. Immediately, I know it’s not Nick, but Jackson, that I’ve somehow conjured him out of my thoughts, and he’s back to torment me again.
Still I don’t look up, I don’t want to see him and acknowledge that he has returned, not when I hope he would disappear, not when despite the fact that I thought I didn’t want him to come back, my heart is pounding with excitement.