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A minute later he was back with two glasses of wine, and when he led her out to the deck, she gasped. The yard was enormous, with a beautifully manicured lawn and gorgeous plantings. There were two smaller buildings on the property, one obviously some type of shed that was tucked nicely into the landscaping. The other was bigger, and looked to be a guesthouse.
Further out, almost to where the lawn met the sand, there were two Adirondack chairs on a low wooden platform, facing the water. Beyond them she could see the beach, and then the ocean.
The yard was fenced in, offering total privacy, but the plantings had been designed to camouflage the fence. Everything looked to be in its natural element; there was nothing gaudy or overdone.
“Will, this is…it's absolutely beautiful.”
“Thank you. I wish I could take credit for it, but we have landscapers and gardeners who take care of everything. I just pay the bill. Why don't you sit?”
He gestured to a chair and pulled up another, moving it closer to her.
“I'm sorry if you thought Georgiana and I were spying on you,” she told him. “I had no idea why she was leading me down the hall, but I'm glad she did. It sounded amazing.”
“Thanks. I was just goofing around. It relaxes me, helps me decompress.”
Her eyebrows rose. “You needed to decompress before dinner? Are you dreading it that much?”
“I didn't mean it that way.”
She grinned. “I'm teasing. You’ll need to get used to that.”
He chuckled. “I like it. Keeps me on my toes.”
She looked out at the yard. “Is that a guesthouse there?”
“Yes. We have a housekeeper—well, that used to be her title, but she’s more like family. When Georgiana and I were younger, she and her husband lived there when we came for the summer. He was the property manager until he died years ago. She stays in the main house when she visits now.”
“How long has she been with your family?”
“About twenty-seven years. She still thinks she needs to take care of us. She's attempting to teach Georgie how to cook, but I think it's turning out to be more difficult than she imagined.”
“I can relate to that. I’m a mediocre cook at best. My mother never really taught me much, and once I was away at school, it was all about pinching pennies. I will never eat canned pasta or ramen noodles again.”
“The essential diet of the college student.”
“I'm sure you wouldn't know about that, Mr. Harvard. What did they serve you at the dining hall, caviar and lobster? On white linen tablecloths?”
He laughed. “Not quite. But I ate well. No canned pasta for me, but the occasional late-night package of ramen wasn’t unheard of.” He glanced at his watch. “You know, if we’re walking to the inn, we should probably leave.”
They enjoyed a leisurely stroll down the beach, carrying their shoes and making small talk. Once they arrived at the inn and were seated at their table, the server lit the candle at the center and they each ordered a glass of wine.
“I have a confession,” Elizabeth said. “I peeked around the corner to watch you play.”
“Oh. I thought you were just spying with your ears, not your eyes.”
“Both. You were in another world.”
“Yeah, that happens sometimes. It depends on my mood, I guess.” He paused. “Remember what you said about getting carried away when you take pictures? How you take the picture and hope it captures the emotion you felt at that moment?”
She nodded.
“That's me, with music. It's emotion.” He grinned. “Well, sometimes it's just cutting loose and making noise. But mostly it's about evoking feelings. Every significant event that’s happened in my life, good or bad, has a song that takes me back to it. I think it’s like that for most people. There are always songs playing in the background as we go through life, and they give each memory its own soundtrack.”
“That’s true. What kind of music do you enjoy playing the most?”
“I like it all. Rock, classical, blues, country…” He grinned. “You missed the singing.”
He laughed when she pouted, and she held his gaze, captivated by the way the candlelight reflected in his root beer-colored eyes. She finally pulled her eyes from his when the server appeared with their wine, ending the intimate moment.
