Page 10 of Awake in Cheshire Bay
His eyes got larger, having failed to get my joke.
Hastily, he tore off the receipt and handed it to Antonio, disappearing into the dining room. No doubt to gossip with the staff and inform them I’d lost my mind. Small towns were fun like that.
I shook my head and tucked my unused card back into my wallet. My phone lit up with three messages. All from Cedar.
Your tracker is still on.
Are you still out with him?
Call me tomorrow – I want details. All. Of. Them.
“You smiling?” Antonio folded the receipt and tucked it into his wallet.
Embarrassed, I dropped the phone back into my purse. “What? Yeah. Sorry. Just my friend.”
“You are still safe.”
It could’ve been a question, but I wasn’t sure, and I didn’t want to ask for clarification. “Thank you for dinner.”
“My pleasure. You good company, and you love your village.”
“Yes, I do. I can’t imagine living anywhere else.”
He beamed. “Shall we walk? You show me more?”
I rose and immediately, his hand was on my back guiding me out even though he was behind me. Those proverbial butterflies took flight, swirling all around. Seriously, there was something wrong with me.
We’d walked through the restaurant, where thankfully not too many people took notice of us, and back out to the sidewalk, where once again, Antonio took the outside position and we headed down the hill back toward the motel.
“Where to?”
As much as I needed to leave him to his own devices and not give away any of our town’s secrets, I found myself wanting to stay with the man.
“Ever been to a lighthouse?” There’d been no change of expression on his chiseled face, so I pursed my lips together as I thought of another idea. “If you’re looking for something different, that path will lead us to a nice embankment and a working lighthouse.”
“Go that way.” There was a tinge of excitement in his voice as he pointed to the path leading to the embankment.
We took the sidewalk around the end of the street, and I stopped to show him the start of the bay.
The sand here was soft and powdery, a little teaser to the big beach near Stewart’s Surf. Those were the only two with this type of sand, aside from the private beaches in front of Eric’s house. All the others in the area had fine pebbles, or rocks resembling pieces of glass. I needed to remember to give him directions to those places as they were really something to see, especially the beached with all the coloured pieces, it was like sea glass or something.
“Are there beaches like this where you’re from?”
He paced beside me. “Yes, but not immediate to home. Take car ride to get there.”
Hmm...my brain went wild with possibilities.
“Well, here the beaches are all around the little peninsula, and the buildings are a little rundown.”
My wandering gaze tried to see the area as a developer would, and while the architecture was reminiscent of an upscale 1960’s style, it hadn’t been as well maintained over the years. Cracks, which I thought added character, probably looked like scars to someone who’d be more interested in tearing it down and rebuilding.
I spoke and added as much personality into how things were. “That motel, the one you’re staying at? It’s been run by one family, over the generations, as are most of the businesses.”
Antonio scanned the area, nodding slightly.
“But no one sells. Ever.” I added for effect. “The beach houses, those get willed down to the children, and the grandchildren.”
The house Eric owned had been in his family for three generations, and Lily’s was something like that too. Only Jesse had recently acquired a beach house in the past five years, and that was a total fluke. It was on the market less than twenty-four hours.