They walked side by side to the house, “I’ll be staying here for a week or so and then on to Silver Springs.”
Michael opened the door, turned to her, and kissed her. She thought maybe that was his good-bye.
Dinner was a quiet affair. Mrs. Buchanan had gone to a book club meeting, and Michael was also absent, so Isabel dined alone with the judge. Since Lucy wouldn’t let her help with dishes, Isabel headed to her room, but first she wanted to find Michael and ask him how long she was supposed to take to figure out her future. Would he call her, or did he expect her to call him? Hell would freeze before she did.
She checked his room and there was no sign of him. Even his travel bag was gone.
He really had left, hadn’t he?
Later that night she stood at the window in her bedroom. The moon was bright and she could see the waves dancing against the rocks. She was going to miss Nathan’s Bay. She was going to miss all the Buchanans, too. Most of all she was going to miss Michael.
Parting is such sweet sorrow. The line from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet came to mind. In the play, Juliet tells Romeo good night and says their parting is sorrowful, but it is also sweet because the two lovers can look forward to the next time they will be together. Shakespeare’s words made parting seem so romantic.
Shakespeare was a schmuck.
THIRTY-NINE
WHAT WAS THE PROTOCOL AFTER A BREAKUP? IF, IN FACT, IT WAS A BREAKUP.
Isabel’s chaotic thoughts were bouncing back and forth like a tennis ball. Did he break up with her or didn’t he? She had loved only one man and had possibly been dumped by him, but Isabel wasn’t experiencing the heartache, outrage, melancholy, or depression—to name a few of the emotions her friends had gone through. She supposed everyone’s reaction was different. Some were extreme. One of Lexi’s sorority sisters had stalked her ex-boyfriend for months before she moved on, and there was another woman who recently made the news when she tried to run over her ex with her SUV. She was going to spend the next ten to twenty getting over him.
Isabel wasn’t feeling any of those emotions. She wasn’t weepy like Lexi when Jason broke up with her, or melancholy like JoAnn when Ryan, the man she thought she loved, dumped her.
Isabel was irritated with Michael, but that was it. She didn’t want to run over him with her car.
Not yet, anyway. Maybe it was because a part of her believed he really was giving her time to think about her future and her feelings.
He was going to think about his feelings, too. Yeah right. Michael thinking or talking about feelings. Not possible.
? ? ?
WHILE SHE WAS AT NATHAN’S BAY, THE TWO ENTERTAINMENT ATTORNEYS SHE’D CONTACTED
came out to talk to her. The men couldn’t have been more different. One of them was full of ideas on how to make her a huge star. He talked a mile a minute and had the energy and enthusiasm needed to get her to the top. She wouldn’t soon forget the look on his face when she explained she didn’t want to become a star. He appeared flabbergasted.
Nick liked him because he was a great attorney with a stellar reputation. He was also part of a large agency in Los Angeles with offices in New York and Miami. It was so prestigious, talent fought to get in.
The other attorney she talked to was Jason Westerfield. His agency’s only office was in Los Angeles. There were four other agents in the firm. He talked to her for a long while, explained what he could do for her, and listened to what she wanted. Really listened. Nick had gone to law school with Jason. He told Isabel Jason was brilliant, and he highly recommended him.
It didn’t take long for her to make a decision. She chose Jason Westerfield. She needed calm in her life, and he fit. He would guide her in her career, but he wouldn’t pressure her to do anything she didn’t want to do.
? ? ?
GETTING BACK TO SILVER SPRINGS TURNED OUT TO BE TRICKY BUT DOABLE. SHE FLEW OUT
of a small airport outside of Boston and landed at an even smaller airport halfway between Savannah and Silver Springs. Kate and Dylan were waiting for her. She fell asleep in the backseat of their car while Dylan talked about the remodel on the house. The events of the last few weeks had been exhausting, but she hadn’t realized just how tired she was until she was back home.
As soon as she caught up on sleep, she went to work. She had made a list of what she wanted to get accomplished before she met with Xavier. Her priority was to get all her songs uploaded. She would have to listen to each song and make necessary changes first, which meant she was going to be kept busy and wouldn’t have time to think about Michael.
She didn’t expect him to call her for at least two weeks. He was giving her time to think, and yet with each day that passed, she became a little more annoyed.
After three full weeks without a word her irritation reached its peak. Was she fooling herself?
Had he moved on, and if so, shouldn’t she do the same thing? Her misery was her own fault. She never should have allowed herself to fall in love with him.
Luckily, there was plenty for her to do. She had talked to Donal Gladstone several times about the progress with Glen MacKenna. He told her he was working with the National Trust, and the negotiations for the donation of the land were going well. He also told her she had become somewhat of a hero in Dunross. According to Gladstone, the people of Dunross were crediting her with ridding them of the Harcus menace. Now that the Harcus duo and Graeme Gibson were behind bars, the entire area was breathing a sigh of relief. Isabel tried to downplay her part in the arrests, but he insisted she was being modest.
“Nonsense,” he told her. “Without you, people here would still be under their thumb. Everyone, especially the tenants of Glen MacKenna, hope you’ll return soon so they can thank you properly.”
She promised she would just as soon as her life settled down, though she didn’t know how long that was going to take.
She finally got around to going to the ophthalmologist for an eye exam and discovered she was nearsighted and didn’t have much depth perception. She picked out a pair of black frames and another pair of tortoiseshell frames. The specialist explained she didn’t have to wear them all the time, just when she wanted to drive . . . or read . . . or see.
When she wasn’t working on her songs, she spent a lot of time on video chats with Damon, Owen, Lexi, and JoAnn. They caught her up on their lives, and she told them all about Scotland, but she didn’t say anything about her relationship with Michael. It was too raw. Besides, she didn’t know what the relationship was.
Despite her determined efforts to forget, Michael was never far from her thoughts. Four full weeks and not one word from him. What was the matter with that man? She knew he loved her. Why was it taking so long for him to realize it?
Maybe he was never going to realize it.