7. Ellis
Chapter seven
Ellis
After our less-than-ideal first meeting, I severely doubted that my efforts would lead to any kind of love story, but Harper was right. If I wanted answers, even if it was just so I could finally close that chapter and move on, I needed to talk to Cara again.
But first, I needed to find her.
Luck was on my side for a change. After finishing my breakfast in the cozy dining room, I took my laptop to the sunroom and picked out a table with a great view of the town.
Brightwater, nestled between the sparkling lake and the snow-dusted pine forest, was truly a pretty sight. It was totally different world from my life in Stenton, where I spent most of my hours at our luxurious but impersonal family home or the sleek, utilitarian steel-and-glass tower that was Horizon Electronics headquarters.
Everything here was quieter, slower, friendlier, cozier, and I almost dreaded returning to the high-speed, high-pressure lifestyle after this project was done. And that would be a lot sooner than I wanted if I couldn’t convince the Spencers to sell me their land.
I wrote a couple of emails to the rest of the team, asking for their evaluation and discussing an increased offer on the land. In my experience, everyone had their price. Even sentimental ranchers could be separated from their beloved horses if enough money was on the table.
After I sent the emails, I pulled up the contract for the new Taiwanese contractors again, but I struggled to focus. Cara kept intruding on my thoughts.
After an unfruitful twenty minutes, I slammed my laptop shut and paced around the room, trying to come up with a plan to find her again. Google had let me down. There were no entries pointing me in the right direction. I could ask the Spencers about her since she seemed to be friends with them, but my gut feeling told me they wouldn’t be very inclined to help me.
While I was still trying to figure out a way to find a person who apparently did not want to be found, at least not by me, my eyes landed on an unassuming brochure on a side table next to an armchair.
The brochure’s cover showed a picture of the main street and said “Brightwater: Services and Events.”
I picked it up and flipped through the pages. The brochure listed bakeries and towing services, private Spanish tutors and horse riding lessons, a daycare center, and an undertaker.
I was almost ready to discard it, when I found Cara’s name on the very last page:
“Golden Hour Photography: Weddings, newborn shoots, family pictures. Owner: Cara Shepherd.”
The brochure listed opening hours, a phone number, and the address of the photo studio.
My heart started beating faster. So Cara was a photographer—a fitting profession although newborn shoots and family pictures seemed a far cry from the glamorous lifestyle of a celebrated artist that I’d envisioned for her.
Life had a way of beating our dreams out of us. I knew that all too well. At one time in my life, just after I started law school, I dreamed about doing something more worthwhile with that law degree than setting up contracts for semiconductors with Taiwanese companies: specializing in civil rights, maybe even providing legal aid free of charge or becoming a public defender. When I was still with Cara, those goals had seemed obtainable because she’d always encouraged me to follow my heart. But when she left my life, my resolve left with her, and eventually I gave into my father’s demands and pursued corporate law, the perfect preparation for taking over Horizon Electronic one day. I’d settled into my fate, but the thought that Cara hadn’t fulfilled her ambitions either made me sad. I couldn’t help but wonder what had led Cara to give up her dream of being an artist.
At least she was happy, assuming what she’d told me the day before was true. I was going to find that out for myself soon because I was going to pay her photo studio a visit.
Cara’s photo studio was a little corner shop with canary-yellow wood siding and a white door, where Main Street met Lakeside Street.
I looked through the storefront windows but couldn’t see much through the blinds, so I walked inside.
The front room had a small reception desk, and the walls were decorated with pictures I assumed Cara had taken herself. The motifs were mundane. Couples, families, small children, some landscapes, but even with my lack of expertise, I could tell they were masterfully taken. Cara’s natural talent was clearly shining through.
The front room was empty, but it was separated from the back room only by a heavy velvet curtain, and voices were coming from the other side, including Cara’s voice.
“Tip your chin up a little, Tim.” I could hear her say. “Sandra, turn your body a bit to the left. That’s perfect. Smile, everyone. You, too, Max.”
Closing time was only ten minutes away and I’d hoped to find her alone, but apparently, she still had customers.
I remained quiet and waited patiently in the front room, but I couldn’t stop myself from peeking through the gap of the curtain.
There she was.
Her blonde hair in a messy bun, dressed in a simple dark-green sweater and some light-blue jeans, she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. If I had the choice, I would take her over all those high society girls with their expensive designer dresses and their perfectly painted faces any day.
I couldn’t take my eyes off her, watching her animated face and her bright eyes as she gave her directions to get that perfect picture.
The shoot was about to wrap up and the family—mother, father, and their two elementary-school-aged sons—got ready to leave, so I stepped back from the curtain.
“Okay, that’s all for today. I’ll send you an email as soon as the pictures are ready for you. Max, Daniel, great job.”
The family walked out of the back room. They shot me a confused look when they walked past, probably because they’d never seen me there before. I’d heard small town folks could be wary of strangers.
Cara stayed behind, fiddling with her camera and packing away her equipment.
My heart was thumping hard against my ribs as I stepped through the curtain.
“Hello, Cara.”
For the second time in a row, Cara jumped in shock when she saw me.
“Good lord, Ellis, I nearly dropped my lens because of you. Do you have any idea what these things cost?”
I suppressed a smirk. “No, but I’m optimistic I could afford them.”
She gave me an annoyed look. “Don’t sneak up on me again, okay? What are you doing here, anyway?”
“I wanted to talk to you.”
I could see her expression harden. She turned away and walked behind her desk, as if she was trying to hide behind her computer screen.
“What about?” she asked, but her tone didn’t sound like she was keen to answer.
I stepped closer. “About what happened thirteen years ago.”
Her lips pursed. “I already told you.”
“And I don’t believe you. I just want the truth, Cara. For… for closure.”
I searched for her eyes, and she looked back, her dark-green eyes wide, staring at me like a deer in the headlights.
Why was she so scared? I’d never done anything to her that could have caused that, did I?
Cara visibly swallowed. “Ellis… I… some stones should be left unturned. Why are you bringing this up after all this time, anyway? Why seek me out now? Thirteen years later, after we both moved on.”
“Because I did not move on,” I admitted. “That might sound pathetic, but I cannot forget you. Maybe it was the cryptic way things ended between us, I don’t know, but I could never let go of you all those years. And when I saw your son’s picture in the newspaper—”
She flinched visibly at the mention of her son.
“Is that it? Is that the reason you’re so cold?” I asked. “You found someone else, right? The father of your boy. Who is he?”
I tried not to sound accusatory, but even I could hear I was failing. The thought of Cara with another man upset me even though I had no right to be upset. She’d broken up with me years ago. Of course she’d moved on. Just because I couldn’t let go of the past didn’t mean she wasn’t allowed to find love again. My irritation was unfair, but I couldn’t help it.
Cara rubbed her eyes with a sigh. “No, that’s not it, Ellis. There’s no one. Riley’s father… is not in the picture.”
A little spark of joy ignited in my chest. There was no one else! I took another step toward her, and this time, she didn’t back away.
“Then what is it?” I asked gently, trying not to alienate her even more by being too demanding. “Why won’t you talk to me?”
Her mouth opened as if she wanted to say something, but no words came out. Her face was full of emotion, mostly pain, but a hint of something else showed, something that gave me hope, something that made me move in even closer.
“Tell me you’re over it, over me, and I will leave right away. Tell me I really was just a summer fling to you, and I will leave Brightwater and even leave the Spencers and their ranch alone.”
She closed her eyes. “You know I can’t say that, Ellis.”
Her words were like music to my ears. Not exactly a romantic profession of love, but it was enough for me. I reached out to cup her face with my hand. Her eyes shot open, and she shivered a little when my finger brushed her cheek. Her skin felt soft and warm, just as I remembered it.
My gaze was drawn to her lips, rosy and full.
Another step closer. I wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her in for the kiss that I had longed for, for over a decade. She angled her face toward mine, and her eyes closed again, but this time there was no sorrow in her expression.
I moved in, drawn to her like a moth to a flame.
Moments before our lips touched, the front door creaked. “Cara?” a woman said. “Are you still here? I forgot to take the invoice with me.”
Both startled, we jumped apart.
Cara gave me one last hard-to-read look before she turned away. “Wait a second, Sandra. I have it right here.”
She grabbed a piece of paper from her table and headed for the front room, leaving me behind.
My pulse was thundering in my ears as I tried to process what was happening to me. After five minutes alone with Cara, I felt like I’d stepped into a time machine. The desire and longing I felt for her as a twenty-two-year-old returned with force, as if someone had opened a floodgate.
When Cara returned, I could tell she was still spooked by the sudden interruption. She looked at me warily, and my stomach clenched when I realized our moment of reconnection was gone.
“I think it’s better if you go now, Ellis.”
“When can I see you again?” I tried to take her hand, but she pulled away from me.
“I… This… I don’t think this is a good idea,” she said, avoiding my gaze.
“Why not? You said there is no one else. I’m single too. Why can’t we—”
“Because I don’t want to,” she blurted out, but she still couldn’t look me in the face. “Now, leave, please .”
“Fine, I’ll leave you alone for now,“ I said, “but I won’t give up. I can tell you still have feelings for me, Cara. And I won’t stop until I know why you’re holding back.”
She crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You’re starting to sound like an asshole.”
“All I want is honesty.”
“All I want is to be left alone. Now, go.”
I had no other choice but to walk out, but a lost battle didn’t mean the war was over.
As I stood on the corner in front of her studio, the cold breeze cooling my heated face, I was more determined than ever. I would get to the bottom of this, I would find out what Cara was so afraid of telling me, and I would win her back.