Emma Mackenzie had spent her life taking care of people, first her sick mother and then her dysfunctional grandmother. Now, she was responsible for this huge lighthouse, and it would be impossible to hide her imperfections when she was the one guiding strangers through the tall building day after day.
Sure, she could’ve said no to this job, but when her old friend had told her about it, she’d been intrigued. After all, her previous line of work was nothing like this. Every day had been stressful and full of adrenaline. Surely, walking people through a lighthouse would be a cakewalk compared to that.
Never mind that she knew next to nothing about lighthouses, except what she’d learned watching YouTube videos and grilling her old friend. Paul had been a buddy of hers in high school, and when he’d heard about her recent situation, he’d been the first to step up with the opportunity. He lived in Atlanta now, working as a headhunter mostly for the tech industry, but he had connections in Seagrove and one thing had led to another.
After meetings with the county, mostly virtual, she’d been hired. A part of her was scared a bit, but the larger part of her was grateful to get away from regular life. Escaping to a small island that nobody had even heard of made her feel safer than she had in years.
When she looked at the ocean, it reminded her of her mother. She’d passed away almost ten years ago now, but Emma would’ve given anything to have one more day with her. She so loved the ocean. They went on beach vacations a lot when she was a kid, even though her mother was working two jobs just to pay for things like that. Having never had a father in her life, Emma had counted on her mom. Although she’d been in her late twenties when her mom was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer, it hadn’t made it any easier. She needed her, even now, at forty years old.
She had especially needed her when she had to step up and take care of her grandmother. The woman had been impossible to deal with for most of her life, and being responsible for her after her own mother had passed away almost destroyed her. In the end, a stroke in her sleep had taken her, but not before she’d taken just about everything out of Emma. That was already a year ago. How time flew.
“Oh good! You made it!”
A woman walked toward her, a smile on her face. She looked overly made up for the area, and her hair was so high that it looked like cotton candy piled on her head.
“Yes. Sorry I’m a little late. There was traffic coming through Charleston.”
She waved her hand. “No problem. We don’t really follow time too closely around here. I’m Henrietta. We spoke on the phone?”
Emma nodded. “Oh, yes. Nice to meet you.”
“Why don’t you follow me, and I’ll show you to your new home.”
Before Emma could respond, Henrietta was high-tailing it down the gravel driveway toward a small cottage. She quickly followed behind her, a trail of small pebbles popping up under Henrietta’s chunky high-heels.
The cottage was nice enough from the outside. It was brick painted white and mainly just a little square building. Nothing fancy, but that was okay. The simpler the better as far as Emma was concerned. Her life had been far too complicated for too long. She needed air and space and calmness.
Henrietta keyed the door and opened it, standing back so Emma could walk inside first. She was surprised at just how nice it was. They had obviously redecorated the place recently as it had a farmhouse look to it with whitewashed walls and distressed wood floors. Emma was pleasantly surprised.
“It’s very cute.”
“Isn’t it? Just adorable. Now, there’s one bedroom, one bathroom, living room and kitchen. All the basics.”
“Great.”
“The kitchen has been stocked with pots and pans and so forth. We did a small grocery run just so you’d have some stuff here. Milk, eggs, those kinds of things.”
“Sounds like you thought of everything.”
“We try. Well, here’s your keys.” She handed Emma a small keyring, her big pink nails almost scratching Emma’s finger. “Now, Roger will contact you tomorrow about doing a lighthouse walkthrough. We have a whole script you can use for the tours, and those won’t start for another week or so.”
“Got it.”
“Better run. I’m meeting my friend, SuAnn for lunch. She owns the bakery over the bridge. You might want to try it some time. The best poundcake you’ve ever put in your mouth!”
Emma forced a smile. She was too tired to care about poundcake right now. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
As she watched Henrietta drive away, she wondered if she’d made the right decision coming to Seagrove. The town seemed nice enough, but was she ready to finally look at her life and deal with everything that had happened in the last year?
“I don’t understand this…” Dylan groaned as he stared at his math worksheet, He laid his forehead on the paper and sighed. “Can’t I just quit school and work for you?”
Dawson chuckled. Although he did need help around the inn, it probably wasn’t the best idea to let his nine-year-old son quit school. “No, buddy. You need to finish school so you can become something important like a doctor.”
Dylan looked at him. “I don’t want to be a doctor.”
“What do you want to be then?”
“I want to be a race car driver and a chef.”
Dawson smiled. “You can do anything you want to do, Dylan. But first, you have to master third grade math.”
Dylan sighed. “Can I take a break?”
He’d been at it for over an hour, so Dawson agreed. “Sure. Why don’t you go help Lucy fix dinner? I’m sure she could use the help.”
Without missing a beat, Dylan trotted off to the kitchen. Dawson loved being a dad. Dylan
