Her house was a little over two thousand square feet, not counting the finished basement.
She had the average-sized first-floor setup.
Open kitchen to a large family room and dining room that overlooked the water in the distance. She was higher up and had to walk down to her little beach.
She had an office on the first floor that she only used when she was live with her readers so she never gave away her location.
Her sunroom was her favorite spot in the house with the half bath close by. She hardly left that spot if she could avoid it.
Upstairs were three bedrooms and two full baths.
Simple and good enough for her.
“The view is spectacular,” he said. “I don’t know if I’d ever leave this spot.”
They’d stopped to look out of the glass doors in her family room.
“I spend most of my time in my sunroom,” she said. “Close enough to the kitchen and half bath.”
They walked to that room. “Do you sit in that lounge chair to write?”
“Do the butt indentations give it away?” she asked, moving over and rubbing her hand on it. Why hadn’t she noticed that before?
“Maybe just a little,” he said. “I can see why you’re a hermit living here.”
“If I was going to not leave my house, I wanted it to be a place that felt better than the outside world. Or one where I could still see a little of what was going on.”
“Can you see any neighbors?” he asked, walking out to her deck. It could be accessed from the sunroom or her family room.
She followed him out there. “Not right now,” she said. “In the winter, when the leaves are all gone, you can see the houses and if they are outside hear them, but they aren’t on top of you either.”
“I don’t enjoy having a lot of neighbors either, but I’ve got them. None on top of me, but close enough.”
“I bet you live in a mansion,” she said, laughing.
He shrugged. “No,” he said. “But I’ve got space.”
“Did you have any plans today?”
He’d checked out of The Retreat today and came over. She felt bad that they spent so little time together yesterday, butshe had an obligation to her readers to get online with the time already set.
Then once that was done, she ran to the store to stock up on food so she didn’t look like a complete loser in his mind.
After that, she marched around looking for dust in all the places she never thought to clean just because she didn’t spend time in those rooms.
When three o’clock arrived, she was exhausted but still drove to The Retreat. They had dinner again in his room and spent more time talking.
“No,” he said. “I don’t.”
“I didn’t make any plans,” she said. “We could find all sorts of things to do on the island, but I also know you might not want to be seen either. We don’t know what or where this is going and do you want that knowledge out?”
“Not really,” he said. “I hope you understand.”
She laughed. “If anyone can understand, it’s me. I don’t need my picture or face linked to you to just have you stop coming around.”
“I don’t plan on that,” he said. “But it does bring up another point.”
“If I’ll go see you?” she asked. Emma knew this would come up.
