The sound of a door closing drew her attention. Melissa emerged from Captain’s Watch Cottage carrying her camera bag. She wore a baseball cap pulled low. Without the tripod and equipment, she looked smaller somehow and more vulnerable.
Their eyes met across the courtyard.
For a moment, Emily thought Melissa might simply turn away. Instead, the photographer gave a small nod of acknowledgment before heading toward the path that led to the beach.
It wasn’t much. It barely qualified as interaction. But something about the gesture felt significant.
She found herself standing and calling out before she’d consciously decided to do so. “The light’s beautiful on the water this time of morning.”
Melissa stopped walking. She turned back slowly, her expression guarded. “It is.”
“I used to paint seascapes.” She rose and crossed the distance between them. “Back when I painted. The morning light was always my favorite. That quality right after sunrise where everything looks both sharp and soft at the same time.”
“Used to paint? You don’t anymore?” Melissa frowned slightly.
“I’m taking a break.” The euphemism felt ridiculous even as she said it. “An involuntary break, I guess.”
Melissa’s shoulders relaxed slightly. “I understand involuntary breaks.” She adjusted the strap of her camera bag. “They’re harder than the voluntary kind.”
“Much harder.” She paused, then decided to continue. “That’s why I came here. Just to get some privacy. A break from… everything.”
Melissa nodded as if she knew exactly how that felt.
They stood in silence for a moment.
Melissa looked at her like she wanted to say something more.
“What?” Emily asked.
“Well… the Friday gathering in the courtyard.” Melissa’s gaze swept across the courtyard. “I usually skip them. Too many people, too much forced cheerfulness. But if you were thinking about going, it might be less awful with someone else there who also doesn’t want to be.”
“That’s possibly the least enthusiastic invitation I’ve ever received.”
Melissa’s mouth lifted in something that might have been a smile. “I’m out of practice with people.”
“Me too.”
“So is that a yes?”
“Yes,” she heard herself say. “It’s a yes.”
Chapter7
Emily stood at her cottage window and watched Winnie arrange platters of food on the courtyard table. The warm glow of string lights illuminated the gathering space, making it look inviting and intimate. Too intimate.
She could still back out. No one would notice if she simply stayed inside with the curtains drawn and the lights off. They’d assume she was tired, busy, or simply not interested in socializing.
But Melissa had invited her. That awkward, tentative invitation had created an obligation she couldn’t quite shake. She imagined Melissa arriving, looking for her, wondering if Emily had deliberately avoided her.
Emily took a deep breath and stepped outside into the warm evening air. The courtyard was more crowded than she’d expected. Several residents she recognized from the cottages mingled near the fire pit, while others were scattered throughout the space. Strangers. People from town, perhaps. This wasn’t just a small gathering of cottage residents. This was a community event.
She crossed the courtyard slowly, acutely aware of how exposed she felt. Every face turned her direction felt like a spotlight, and every pause in conversation a potential judgment. She smoothed her hands down her shorts.
Then she spotted Melissa standing near the edge of the gathering, arms crossed, looking equally uncomfortable. Her camera was conspicuously absent. Relief flooded through her. At least she wasn’t the only one who looked like she’d rather be anywhere else.
“You came,” Emily said as she approached.
Melissa shifted her weight from foot to foot. “I said I would, though I’m already regretting it.”
