The Spyglass Portal: A Lighthouse Novel (7 page)

Aidan cocked his head. “Yes, I’m okay. But who’s Patty?”

“Not Patty. Paddy, your dog.”

He grinned again. “I don’t have a dog, Sam.”

Her patience had run thin with this game. “Where were you at six o’clock last evening?” she blurted.

He rubbed his chin. “Six last night? Home, eating dinner alone. Why do you ask?”

“Why do I ask?” This guy was unbelievable. “Because you were supposed to be meet me at The Catch at six o’clock. I don’t like being stood up and made a fool. I was willing to let it go if you had a good excuse, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

His eyes widened. “The Catch? Six o’clock? I stood you up?”

“Are you a parrot, Aidan? There’s no need to repeat everything I say.”

“I’m sorry,” he replied, “but I have no idea what you’re talking about. Did you ask me out on a date?” His eyebrows wiggled while his mouth slid into a wicked grin.

“No!” she exclaimed, feeling heat rise to her cheeks. “
You
asked
me
out. Don’t tell me you don’t remember.”

He shrugged. “I think I’d remember if I asked you out. Now that you bring the subject up…”

“Stop.” She turned her back on him, feeling weight as heavy as a blanket start to descend upon her. Something was happening again.

“Do you feel all right?” he asked, stepping through the door and touching her shoulder. She spun, and a ripple of electricity shot down her arm. He must have felt it, too, because he hopped back a step.

“Why are you lying to me?” She was unable to stop her lips from pinching together. “I don’t care if you changed your mind or simply decided you weren’t interested after all. Please just tell me the truth.”

“The truth about what?” He chuckled in the way people do when they’re uneasy. Staring at her like a deer in headlights, it struck her that he probably thought she was certifiably insane.

Her cell phone rang, and he put his hand on the door handle looking ready to bolt. “Please wait, Aidan.” Rubbing her throbbing temple, Samantha realized she’d overreacted. “I apologize. I shouldn’t have gone off that way. Let me take this call and then we can talk more. Will you please stay?”

When he nodded, she forced a smile to her lips. Then she took a breath and flipped open the phone to answer. A glance at the caller I.D. revealed a number she wasn’t familiar with, but that wasn’t unusual with all the people she dealt with on a daily basis in the construction business. “Hello. This is Samantha Landers.”

The reception was scratchy and the voice on the other end was garbled. Between clicks and buzzes, it was impossible to know who was calling. All she could understand was someone repeating her name.

“Hello. This is Sam. Who is this? Can you please speak up?” She stepped outside thinking the signal would be clearer, but it didn’t help. When she stepped back inside, more static and mumbled words crackled in her ear. “If you can hear me, will you please call back? We have a terrible connection.”

Suddenly the crackling ceased and the voice came in loud and strong. “Samantha, this is Mom. If you can hear me, I miss you.”

She glared at the phone and then threw it into the nearby chair like it was a lit firecracker. When she clapped a hand over her mouth, Aidan moved forward and searched her face.

“What was it?”

Mouth dry as sawdust, she whispered, “My mother.”

Aidan breathed a sigh of relief. “You had me concerned for a second. The way your eyes bulged, I thought you were talking to the Devil himself. Why’d you toss your phone into the chair?”

Her gaze darted between him and the cell phone. It was obvious he didn’t understand.

“Samantha, you’ve grown pale,” he said. “Tell me what’s wrong. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

When she found her voice, it was small and unsteady. “I think I just
spoke
to a ghost, Aidan. My mother’s been dead for five years.”

CHAPTER NINE

Samantha covered her ears with her hands as static began screeching from the phone. Aidan plucked it from the chair and hit the off button. His face was a blank slate as he handed the phone to her. Afraid to touch it, she asked him to place it on the coffee table, which he did.

After a couple of awkward moments, he said, “Are you sure it was your mother?”

“I’m not sure of anything anymore,” she confessed, feeling her energy drain like water from a sieve.

“I heard you say the connection was bad. You must have misunderstood the caller,” he suggested.

She gazed into his eyes, knowing there was no way she could confide in him, even though she needed someone to talk to. Chances were, if she attempted to explain the weird things that were going on, he’d think she’d gone off the deep end. She was starting to think that about herself.

“Yes, that must have been it,” she agreed limply. “I’m sorry about that. You probably think I’m a nutcase the way I’m behaving.”

Aidan waved a hand in the air. “Nah. Don’t worry about it.” His voice was amenable, but his face held doubt. After another uncomfortable moment of silence, he said, “One thing I’m wondering though. Why did you ask if I have a dog?”

That did it. Samantha was certain the medication prescribed by Dr. Teagan was causing her to experience hallucinations and imagine things that weren’t true. Either that or she was blacking out and having dreams that seeped into her conscious mind once she woke. There were no other explanations. Why else would she believe she was seeing things that didn’t exist, hearing voices that were long gone, and having conversations that never took place?

If Aidan didn’t have a dog and he never asked her to dinner, what else was not true? Was he a real man? Or could he be a figment of her imagination? Had they actually met yesterday? They must have, or he wouldn’t be standing there talking to her. Right? She had no idea.

A burning lump formed in the center of her chest. The only thing she was certain of was that the pills she’d been taking were going down the drain as soon as he left, and she’d face the consequences of that decision later.

She chuckled to sound as normal as possible. “Forgive me, Aidan. I remember now. I met someone else yesterday who had a German shepherd. Guess I got the two of you mixed up.”

“Oh.” He didn’t appear entirely convinced. It was a lame explanation, but it was all she had, and thankfully he asked no more.

She desperately wanted to switch the subject. “Why did you stop by?”

Her question roused him from deep thought. “Oh, right. I came by to thank you for turning on the light in the tower last night. Seeing it lit brought back good memories.”

“What kind of memories?”

“I used to live here when I was a boy. I remember the light from those days.”

“Really?” He hadn’t mentioned that yesterday. Then again, he apparently hadn’t owned a dog yesterday or asked her on a date either.

“Most days, I’d play on the beach with my friends all day and into the night,” he continued. “I loved seeing the lamp flash on at night. It made me happy to know the fishermen and sailors would find their way home from their adventures on the high seas.”

She smiled, picturing a group of kids playing together and telling stories about ships and captains and pirates. “Did you ever get a chance to come inside the lighthouse?”

“No, this is the first time.” He gazed around seeming pleased with the looks of the interior. “Back then my mother warned me to stay out because it was a dangerous place for children.”

Sam’s eyebrow arched. “And you always did as your mother said?”

“Not always,” he admitted with another devilish grin.

“When did you move away from the cove?”

“I was nine when we left.”

“That’s pretty young. You must not remember too much about living here.”

“You’d be surprised at the things I can recall.” His gaze looked beyond her into another time and place, most likely thinking back to those bygone days when children had no responsibilities or worries.

“I don’t recall anything before I was six years old,” she offered, also thinking back.

“My mom always claimed I had the memory of an elephant,” Aidan said, snapping back to reality. “I never understood that comment. I asked her once if she’d ever actually talked to an elephant and asked him what kind of memory he had.” When he laughed, Samantha’s spirit started to lift again. He had an easygoing way about him that was comforting, like potato soup on a cold winter’s day.

“What did she say?”

“She said, yes, as a matter of fact she conversed with elephants on a daily basis, as well as lions, tigers, and bears. My mom was a great storyteller and had a good sense of humor.” His smile was poignant. “Well, I’ve held you up long enough with my rambling. Besides, I need to get to work. Nice talking to you again.”

Work? She was afraid to ask him what kind of work he did for fear he would tell her it was something other than painting. She couldn’t take another blow right now.

“Thanks for stopping by,” she replied, seeing him out the door. Before he’d taken three steps, however, she stopped him. Too many unexplainable things were going on. All of a sudden, she couldn’t bear the thought of being alone that night. “Aidan, if you have no plans, would you care to join me for a walk later this evening? Or for coffee and dessert?”

His eyebrow arched. “What do you have in mind?”

“I haven’t had a chance to explore the village yet. Is there a place where we can get some ice cream?”

“There sure is. Gus’s General Store has an old-fashioned soda fountain with the original bar stools and marble-topped counter. The interior furnishings are all original from the late 1800s, including the tin ceiling, the ceiling fans, and hardwood floors. They serve hand-dipped ice cream and make their own candy.”

“Sounds charming.”

“Why wait until this evening? Do you have any plans this morning that can’t be broken?”

“I was going to take a walk on the beach. That’s all.”

“How about a walk to town instead? I’d be glad to show you around right now, if you’d like.”

“Okay. That would be great, if it’s not too much trouble. But what about your work?”

“It can wait.”

Apparently, he
was
his own boss if the work could wait. She smiled, wanting to forget about pills and hallucinations. She was willing to give Aidan a second chance. “Let me grab my purse.”

Conspicuously leaving her cell phone on the kitchen counter, she locked the door with her stomach flip-flopping, unexpectedly feeling like a teenager going on her first date.

CHAPTER TEN

While strolling the cobblestone walks of downtown Pavee Cove and poking their heads into different shops, Aidan couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d met Samantha before. Before yesterday, that was. It was hard to explain, but there was something about the way her mouth curved into a shy smile, and her blue eyes sparkled when she laughed that was so familiar. Breathtakingly beautiful, it was difficult to keep his gaze off her.

As they walked, she asked a few questions about his life here, but she didn’t reciprocate with any information about herself. With every passing moment, his interest and desire grew, wanting to know all about her.

“What do you do in Portland?” he asked as they ambled down the pier toward fishing boats docked at the harbor.

She inhaled, taking the deep salty air into her lungs, and exhaled before answering. “I flip houses.”

That came as a surprise. With a body and face like hers, he’d expected her to say she was a model, an actress, or maybe a news anchor on television. Of course, he didn’t suppose there was much call for models or actresses in Portland, Maine. But working in the construction business was the last occupation he would have guessed.

“That’s where you buy houses and renovate them to sell for a profit, right?”

“You got it.”

“How long have you been flipping houses?”

“Almost ten years now.”

“So, that means you must be a pretty good handy man. I mean, woman.”

Her thick eyelashes fluttered. “Yes. I know my way around a hammer and a saw.”

He waited for more, but drawing words out of her was about as tough as reeling in fish without bait. The coyness behind her responses only made him determined to persevere and dig deeper. “Do you work alone, or have you got a crew?”

It was subtle, but Aidan saw her face change. Her cheerful expression faded as if a cloud had passed in front of her.

“Let’s sit down,” she said, slipping off her sneakers. Parking herself on the end of the pier, she let her feet dangle into the water and patted the space next to her for him to join her. After a couple of silent minutes had passed, she said, “I had a business partner in Portland. His name was Chad Payton.
Is
Chad Payton,” she corrected.

“Go on.”

“He was the victim of a terrible freak accident three months ago. Lightning struck him when he was on a ladder. I saw it happen. Now he’s in the hospital in a coma. The doctors say he’ll never recover.”

Aidan shook his head. “That’s tragic. I’m so sorry, Samantha. Is that why you’re here, to recover from the shock of it all?”

She nodded and gazed out over the water.

He watched her chest rise and fall with erratic breaths. Then, as if a switch had been flipped, she started to cry. Tears stained her cheeks and she bowed her head, evidently embarrassed. The distress she felt was obvious, and his heart went out to her. Sometimes the touch of another human being helped mend a broken spirit better than medicine or therapy. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and said, “I’m a good listener, if you want to talk.”

After a few quiet moments, she sniffled and wiped the dampness from her cheeks. “The thing is, I think I might be going crazy. Ever since I arrived yesterday, unusual things have been going on. Things that can’t be explained rationally or logically.”

His heart sped up when she cast him a sideways glance. She was a stunning woman. “What kinds of things?” he asked.

Her gaze delved deep. “Yesterday when we first met, I asked if you had a twin in Portland. Do you remember that conversation?”