Page 15 of Kindred Lies
Chapter 9
After a night of not so restful sleep Amethyst crawled out of bed and slowly made her way to the bathroom for a rejuvenating hot shower. Something had to brush the cobwebs out of her brain. She remembered waking up after having a nightmare. It should have been about Marianne and Easton, but instead her mind had transposed Amethyst and Cooper in their places. She could still feel the pain and loneliness. The dream seemed so real, like she experienced every aspect of their grief. The images and pain still resonated inside of her. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't shake free of them. There had to be a message her subconscious tried to pummel into her, but for the life of her she couldn't imagine what it could be.Why would I put myself into Marianne's place? Do I really need to experience her pain in order to empathize with her predicament?
It didn't matter. She had other concerns. Her mother could arrive at any minute. As usual she hadn't clued Amethyst in her travel arrangements. That left her guessing as to when she would actually arrive. For all she knew her mother hadn't even left Florida, but that was only wishful thinking on her part. Even if her mother had delayed her departure it would not stop the inevitable. Lyoness Keane didn't change her mind often, at least not where her daughter was concerned. She tossed men aside like yesterday's trash, but she had always let Amethyst know how much she adored her.
After she finished her shower Amethyst got dressed and wandered down to the main lobby of the inn. She found Olivia sitting behind the counter as she walked towards the door. She didn't have any specific plans for the day, but she had hoped to see Cooper. She needed to tell someone how crazy her dream had been. It didn't occur to her to share it with anyone else. Cooper had just sprung to the forefront of her mind when she needed to talk with someone.
Olivia looked up from the computer and nodded at Amethyst. “Hi. Are you heading out?”
How to answer that? She felt lost because she didn't know what she wanted to do. She might as well go out and explore the town. She didn't have any idea where that would lead her, but maybe that could be a good thing. She still wanted to see Cooper though so she said, “I think so. Is Cooper going to be in today?”
Olivia walked over to the counter as she said, “Yeah, probably this evening. He didn't give me a specific time. Originally, I was supposed to work all day today, but since I came in for a bit yesterday he is going to let me out early.”
How incredibly generous of him to do that, it showed how much his family cared about their employees. It probably made Olivia more willing to come in on her days off when they gave a little tit for tat. Amethyst had traveled all over the world and not one place had ever truly felt like it could be home for her. She had been in North Point less than a day and leaving just didn't seem like a good idea. Too bad that there was no real reason for her to stay in town, she lived a nomadic life and that didn't look like it had any chance of changing any time soon. Well, she had never been the type of person to cry over something she couldn't change so she shook that melancholy idea out of her head before she said, “All right. I just wanted to remind you my mother should be coming in today. I have no clue what time. She failed to update me on her itinerary.”
Olivia nodded her head at Amethyst as she said, “Oh, yeah, that's right. I'll be here most of the day, but don't worry if she doesn't arrive before I leave I'll let Coop know when he comes in that she's expected.”
Amethyst smiled at Olivia. The woman had an exuberant personality and she knew that if she stayed at North Point she would have enjoyed getting to know her. There was that down in the dumps feeling again. If she wanted to stay she could right? Of course she could, it didn't mean that choice would be in her cards though. So instead of whimsical fantasies she shook herself back to reality. She understood the actuality of the moment, wishing something happened didn't ever make it so. Her mother had made sure she learned that important lesson a long time ago. “Great. I'm going to take off now then. I'll see you later.”
She strolled over to the door and quickly walked out of the inn. Distance, she needed it and fast. Something nagged her in the back of her brain and she couldn't pin point exactly what it could be.
Most towns were loyal to their residents and stood by each other. In certain towns though their main enjoyments surrounded negative gossip and thrived on turmoil. On the outside looking in they still had that peaceful perfect façade, but once you dug deeper you saw it for what it was, hell on Earth. As she strolled along main street she stopped just outside of a little gift shop and thought about going in to browse the merchandise.
Looking in the window they had a bunch of cute little knick-knacks and tourist items to help remember the town. Maybe she should get a sweatshirt with the North Point, Michigan emblem on it. Having a reminder of the town might be just what she needed to shake this feeling that she should stay. Amethyst knew that she didn't belong anywhere. Sure she had an apartment in New York but it had never felt like home. She would always be that lost, rootless child, never belonging anywhere or to anyone. She had one sole family member and even on good days her mother drove her crazy. She might love her, but at times she didn't like her very much. Just as she decided to go into the store she heard a voice behind her say, “Alone today? No Cooper dragging at your heels?”
She turned around and looked directly into Nicholas Drake's eyes. The man unnerved her in so many ways she couldn't even begin to describe them all. Cooper had told her he had been in the Navy with his dad and they were best friends. If she had to guess his age, she'd say he topped her mother's thirty-eight by about five years. Most adults didn't bother her, this one made her wary. Something in his eyes told her that he could see right through her and left her feeling exposed. She just needed to ignore it and do what she came to town to do. Her article was what was important and this man’s opinion didn't hold any weight with her. She held firm not once wavering as she stated, “I have no idea where Cooper is. We barely know each other.” Amethyst would not show any weakness in Nicholas Drake’s presence.
His cold blue eyes stared daggers at her as he said, “He looked like he'd like to remedy that yesterday.”
Amethyst shrugged her shoulders. “I can't help how he feels. I'm only in town until my research is done. After that he most likely won't ever see me again. Why does it matter to you anyway?” She lifted an inquisitive brow.
He didn't answer her. Amethyst found him unbelievably infuriating.Did he really have to stare people down like that? More importantly did it really work for him?The man needed to be taken down a peg or two. Unfortunately, Amethyst doubted her ability to make that actually happen, so she just let him stare at her in silence. It seemed to bother him that he couldn’t make her cower. After a few more moments he finally deigned to answer her question. “It doesn't matter. If I'm being honest I find that you are a bit of a puzzle to me.”
I am a puzzle to him?She had to stop herself from snorting at his words. He could remain nonplussed. She didn’t owe him anything. Hell would freeze over before she explained anything about herself to the man. Just because he didn't like her spending time with his godson did not give him the right to browbeat her into telling him a damn thing. Still, she had to admit curiosity ran in her blood so she asked, “How so? As far as I can tell I've always been an open book.” Mostly true of course, just a teeny white lie. Some things she kept to herself. She believed a person should be entitled to keep some secrets and on a Richter scale hers were very mild.
He truly did look perplexed as he looked down at her. “Why do I feel like we have met somewhere before?”
Amethyst shrugged her shoulders. “I don't know. Have you ever seen the painting at the inn?”
He tilted his head and asked, “What painting?”
Maybe he hadn't seen it before, but she had thought it could be the only explanation. “The one in the family quarters at the inn…of Marianne Trenton-Hill.”
He stood there is eerily silence again. This time Amethyst thought perhaps he needed to remember if he had ever seen the portrait before. Her assumptions turned out to be correct. “Ah, yeah I have seen it. That must explain it. If my memory serves me you bear a striking resemblance to her.”
Amethyst nodded. “I admit it unnerved me a bit to see the painting.”
“I can see how it might. Do you believe in ghosts Amethyst?”
How to answer that question? Part of her did believe in them and another part thought they were fanciful notions some people latched onto when they couldn’t let go of their loved ones. Instead of explaining that all to him she said, “I'm not sure. I'm open to the possibility. It is something I want to include in my article. I have to be at least aware that they might exist. Otherwise there wouldn’t be much of a story.”
The silence only lasted a brief moment this time before he answered, “I hadn't realized you wrote articles. You seem a bit young to already be established. How do you expect to survive as a writer? What do your parents have to say about this choice?”
What business did he have to question her choices? He was not her father and even if her father had lived she liked to believe he would have approved of her no matter what decisions she made. With a bit of exasperation in her voice she told him, “I don't see how it matters to you either way, but my mother has always supported my decisions. Yes, I can survive writing because I make more than enough money for my meager needs. You could say I'm a child prodigy. I've been writing articles since the ripe ole' age of fifteen and I started my own magazine at seventeen, making me a very established writer.”
He raised one of his eyebrows in disbelief. His response angered her even more as he said, “Only your mother approves? I guess that explains a lot. A father wouldn't approve of his daughter traipsing around the country alone at the age of what? Eighteen?”
He had no right to judge her or her mother. Nicholas Drake didn't know why they made the choices they did. “For the record I'll be twenty in three weeks. Not that it's any business of yours, but my father's dead.” There that should put the arrogant bastard in his place.
His only reaction consisted of him saying, “I see.” Before turning around and leaving. She couldn't believe how rude the man acted. The second encounter with him had not gone any better than the first. Sadly, if she had time to think about it she knew that he was exactly the kind of father she had always wanted. He appeared strong and capable of protecting her. She had wanted a father that not only loved her, but also had felt the need to make every one of her hurts go away. His response had been one her pretend dad might have said. Any adoring father should be concerned about his only daughter traveling alone. The statement he made only caused her to remember her early childhood fantasies. For that reason alone it made her hate him. He made her wish once again that her father still lived and that she had gotten the chance to know him.
