CHAPTER 8
Emma kept stealing glances at Todd while she drove to the rest stop. It was hard to believe she’d just been thinking about him and now there he was in the flesh. Of course, it wasn’t as if he’d come there to see her, but after the way things between them had ended, she never imagined she’d see him again.
It had been thirteen years, she thought. Thirteen long years since they’d seen each other. A lot had happened since then.
Emma had still been living with her mother back then, moving from place to place, changing schools twice or three times a year, and spending her summers working at the inn and trying to piece together enough of what she’d gleaned in the classroom to keep from being held back the next school year. She’d eventually graduated, gone to college, and been in and out of some bad relationships, but on the outside, she really hadn’t changed all that much. Todd, on the other hand, looked like a completely different person.
He’d been a skinny teenager with thick glasses back then, a shy boy who’d struggled to keep up with her as they roamed the backwoods, climbing trees and jumping streams. Now Todd was a head taller, the glasses were gone, and she could tell there was muscle under the old sweatshirt he was wearing. As Emma watched him from the corner of her eye, she wondered if his memories of her were as fond as the ones she had of him.
“I still can’t believe you own the old inn,” he said.
“Yeah, there’d been some hints over the years, but I never thought Gran was serious about leaving it to me. It felt like winning the lottery.”
“When I saw it from the trail, it was as if I’d just left. The outside looks exactly the way I remembered it.”
“There have been a few changes,” she said, “but you’re right. The building is pretty much the same as when your family was here last.”
He cleared his throat, looking shamefaced.
“I’m sorry you never heard from me. Things got pretty hairy after my dad died. He didn’t believe in life insurance and we didn’t have much in savings. I pretty much became the man of the house.”
“Forget about it.” She glanced at him. “It was a long time ago.”
“It wasn’t really my choice,” he added hastily. “I wanted to write, but my mother wouldn’t let me.”
Emma smirked. If there was one thing she’d learned from her Gran, it was that you don’t blame others for your bad behavior.
“What did she do? Lock up all the pens and paper?”
She’d said it without thinking and it surprised her to hear how much venom there was in her voice.
“No, but she asked me not to,” he said. “What else could I do?”
“Oh, I don’t know. What does the man of the house usually do?”
Todd’s face clouded. “I said I was sorry.”
“I know.” Emma softened. “I guess I was just a little more upset about it than I thought. Apology accepted.”
There followed a few minutes of uncomfortable silence. Emma felt sorry for giving Todd a hard time, but it wasn’t as if her life had been any easier back then. Had it never occurred to him that sharing their experiences might have helped them both? Still, she thought, it wasn’t her place to criticize, especially now, when he’d just lost his dog.
She began scanning the woods on either side of them.
“What does this dog of yours look like, anyway?”
“He’s small, with kind of wiry white fur, and he’s got a tan patch over one eye, but if he’s been running around in the mud, you might not be able to tell.”
“Any particular breed?”
“Nope. Just a mutt.”
The turnoff for the rest stop was ahead on the right. As Emma drove into the parking lot, her truck’s headlights swept across the only other vehicle there—an old Jeep Cherokee covered in road grime. It had to be at least fifteen years old, she thought, feeling a bit let down. Todd must not be doing so well.
“Is that yours?” she said.
“Yeah.”
Emma pulled into the space next to the Jeep and looked around. The rest stop had a wide grassy area that sloped sharply downward about fifty feet from the parking lot. There were bathrooms off to the left and a couple of picnic tables on either side of the concrete path that divided the space down the middle. If there was a dog out there, however, she didn’t see any evidence of him.
“Where were you guys when he got away?”
“Right here,” Todd said. “I hadn’t even stopped before Archie opened the window and took off.”
Emma looked at him. “He opened the window by himself ?”
“Yeah. I thought maybe it was an accident at first, but now I wonder if it was something he learned from Uncle Bertie.”
“Wait a minute. Is this the Uncle Bertie who was a circus clown?”
Todd laughed. “Did I tell you about him?”
“Oh, my gosh. I used to think that was the coolest thing I’d ever heard of. For years, I wanted to join the circus like your uncle did. Is he still performing?”
“No,” Todd said. “He died last week. That’s how I got Archie.”
“Oh, Todd.” Emma put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
She paused for a moment.
“Wait a minute. You mean Archie’s still alive? He must be ancient.”
“No, this is a different Archie. Uncle Bertie had a whole series of dogs with that name.”
“And they were all circus dogs?”
“Pretty much. This last one mostly did kids’ birthday parties, but he knows a lot of tricks.”
“Well, even a smart dog can get lost in the woods,” she said, reaching over and grabbing the flashlight from her glove box. “Come on. Let’s go take a look.”
They searched the rest stop for twenty minutes while the dusk deepened and the rain intensified. Todd and Emma yelled themselves hoarse calling for the little dog, but Archie either couldn’t hear them or didn’t want to be found. When the two of them finally turned and trudged back to the truck, the only sound they heard was the squelching of their shoes.
Todd looked dispirited. “Do you mind if we wait a few more minutes? He might still turn up.”
“Okay,” she said. “But let’s get back in the truck. My teeth are starting to chatter.”
Emma started the engine and turned on the heat. It didn’t take long before the windows began to fog up.
“I’ll fix that,” he said.
Todd stripped off his wet sweatshirt, revealing a T-shirt underneath that clung to him like a second skin. As he started wiping down the glass, Emma tried not to stare.
“I can have housekeeping launder that when we get back, if you’d like.”
He shrugged. “That’s okay. I’ve got plenty of dry clothes in the Jeep.”
As Todd worked his way across the windshield, she kept her eyes on the trail that had led him to the inn. There was no sign of anything even remotely resembling a small white dog out there, but at least it distracted her from ogling Todd.
I’ve been alone too long, Emma thought. I’m becoming shameless.
“You see something?” he said, following her gaze.
Emma shook her head. “Nope. I don’t see anything.”
Todd sat back and tossed his sweatshirt onto the floor. Between the effort of looking for Archie and clearing the windows, he’d begun to sweat, and in the close confines of the truck’s cab, Emma found the effect intoxicating. There was something she still found very attractive about Todd, she realized, and bit her lip. He wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, either, which was encouraging. What was it he’d said about his mother bugging him to get married?
Whoa, slow down, girl! Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
“Why don’t we head back?” she said. “Maybe someone’s seen him up at the inn.”
“Maybe.” Todd was still watching the woods. “The inside seemed a lot different, but maybe I’m just misremembering.”
It took her a second to figure out that he was talking about the inn. He doesn’t want to give up yet, she thought. He’s stalling for time.
“You’re right,” she said. “When business started going downhill about eight years ago, Gran decided to come up with a theme that would attract new customers. She and Clifton liked the idea of tying it in with the age of the building—”
“Hence the Victorian stuff.”
“Right. The antiques, the stained glass, all the period pieces you see in the lobby, are in the rooms, too. And everything just clicked when she discovered that the place was haunted.”
Todd’s head swiveled. “Haunted? You’re kidding.”
“Nope. Gran and Clifton did some digging into the history of the inn and found out about it. We’ve had people come from all over the world hoping to encounter one of our ghosts.”
“And do they?”
“Who knows?” She shrugged. “I’ve never encountered one myself.”
“So the new theme worked.”
Emma paused, thinking about her current financial struggles.
“More or less. I worry sometimes that we’re dependent upon a pretty limited clientele, but they’re loyal and it’s hard trying to differentiate yourself from the big chains.”
He looked back out the window.
“I can imagine.”
“So,” Emma said, “what are you doing with yourself these days?”
Todd hesitated, looking uncomfortable.
“I’m in a period of transition at the moment,” he said. “I left my old job a few months ago and now I work at home part-time.”
Emma nodded. Well, that settles it, she thought. A period of transition? Working part-time from home? Todd was definitely down on his luck. She sighed. Why am I always attracted to the losers?
Todd set his hand on the door.
“I’d better let you get back to work. I’ll get the Jeep warmed up and follow you in a few minutes.”
As the door clicked open, he shook his head.
“I keep thinking that Archie must have seen a squirrel,” he said. “Why else would a dog just take off like that?”
Emma shrugged. “Maybe he saw a ghost.”