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Chapter 36
Yawning, Alison walked into the kitchen to make herself some coffee. Six o’clock in the morning came very early, but Caroline was an early riser so Alison wanted to respect that while she was staying there. It was all part of being a good hostess.
Alison blearily pulled the bag of coffee grounds and package of filters from the cabinet over the coffee machine.
“Oh, good, I was hoping I would get to see you before I left.”
The voice from behind her, when she’d been so convinced that she was alone in the kitchen, caused her to screech and throw the coffee supplies in her hands up in the air.
She turned to see Caroline standing in the doorway to the kitchen, perfectly put together and with her carry-on bag sitting next to her. With one hand, Alison reached out to grab the counter and steady herself, and with the other she covered her now–racing heart. The bag of grounds and package of filters landed on the floor with a thump, but thankfully the bag stayed closed. Alison was getting tired of cleaning up the floor as a result of being startled in this kitchen.
Caroline barely seemed to notice her outsized startled response. She acknowledged it only with a mildly sardonic, “Well, I’m used to getting a reaction when I enter a room, but that seemed extreme.”
“Caroline, I didn’t expect you to be up and ready already. It’s only six.”
“Well, my flight leaves early, so I have to leave here early as a consequence.”
Alison had been so surprised by the unexpectedness of another person’s presence in the kitchen that she hadn’t fully registered the words that Caroline had said. Now she heard them in her mind—that she was glad she got to see Alison before she left.
“Wait, I’m confused. You’ve only been here a couple of days. Did something happen at the dinner party that offended you or upset you? Is that why you changed your plans?”
“No, not at all. Your friends were perfectly charming. I just got the answer I came here for, and so there’s no reason for me to stay.”
“And what answer was that?”
Caroline smiled a little. “Whether this jaunt to the Oregon coast was going to be a temporary blip in your radar or something significantly more permanent.”
Alison’s stomach flipped over. She knew which it was. It wasn’t something she was ready to fully accept yet. She still felt torn between two worlds—drawn by the one she was in, but still clinging, with some part of her, to the one she’d left behind. Still, if even Caroline could see it, then maybe she wasn’t quite as torn as she’d been telling herself she was.
“I’m sorry, Caroline. It might not be forever. I don’t really know what my future holds right now.”
Caroline walked over to her and, in a rare show of affection, placed her hand gently on Alison’s cheek. “Oh, my dear girl. Of course you do.”
Then, back to her brisk self, she turned and firmly grasped the handle of her carry-on bag, wheeling it toward the door. Alison hurried to catch up with her. “Give me two seconds. I’ll put on my clothes and drive you to the airport.”
Caroline barely glanced back over her shoulder. “No need. I’ve already called a car. It will be here momentarily.”
She opened the door and stepped through it, but then stopped halfway over the threshold and looked back at Alison meaningfully. “You make that contractor take good care of you, do you hear me?”
Alison was filled with both the warmth and energy that the strong cup of coffee she’d originally come downstairs searching for could never have matched. “I will. And I’ll do the same for him.”
The door closed behind Caroline and it was like a light switch flipping on. Suddenly, Alison became clear on so many things she’d been foggy on until just that moment. It was like the sound of the door clicking had been implanted in her mind as the post-hypnotic suggestion that would cue her to wake up from a trance, and it worked just that fast.
She needed to stop existing in limbo. She was hurting herself by subjecting her psyche to the constant back and forth of wanting two things at once. Cognitive dissonance and all the attendant stresses were keeping her from being able to fully enjoy the beautiful opportunity that life and fate were offering her here: a new life. A new love.
Caroline’d been right. She already knew what she wanted to do. Of course she did. The only thing left to do was commit to it.
Well…that, and get her cup of coffee. Nothing happened before coffee.
