Nick liked him because he was a great attorney with a stellar reputation. He was also part of a large agency in Los Angeles with offices in New York and Miami. It was so prestigious, talent fought to get in.
The other attorney she talked to was Jason Westerfield. His agency’s only office was in Los Angeles. There were four other agents in the firm. He talked to her for a long while, explained what he could do for her, and listened to what she wanted. Really listened. Nick had gone to law school with Jason. He told Isabel Jason was brilliant, and he highly recommended him.
It didn’t take long for her to make a decision. She chose Jason Westerfield. She needed calm in her life, and he fit. He would guide her in her career, but he wouldn’t pressure her to do anything she didn’t want to do.
? ? ?
GETTING BACK TO SILVER SPRINGS TURNED OUT TO BE TRICKY BUT DOABLE. SHE FLEW OUT
of a small airport outside of Boston and landed at an even smaller airport halfway between Savannah and Silver Springs. Kate and Dylan were waiting for her. She fell asleep in the backseat of their car while Dylan talked about the remodel on the house. The events of the last few weeks had been exhausting, but she hadn’t realized just how tired she was until she was back home.
As soon as she caught up on sleep, she went to work. She had made a list of what she wanted to get accomplished before she met with Xavier. Her priority was to get all her songs uploaded. She would have to listen to each song and make necessary changes first, which meant she was going to be kept busy and wouldn’t have time to think about Michael.
She didn’t expect him to call her for at least two weeks. He was giving her time to think, and yet with each day that passed, she became a little more annoyed.
After three full weeks without a word her irritation reached its peak. Was she fooling herself?
Had he moved on, and if so, shouldn’t she do the same thing? Her misery was her own fault. She never should have allowed herself to fall in love with him.
Luckily, there was plenty for her to do. She had talked to Donal Gladstone several times about the progress with Glen MacKenna. He told her he was working with the National Trust, and the negotiations for the donation of the land were going well. He also told her she had become somewhat of a hero in Dunross. According to Gladstone, the people of Dunross were crediting her with ridding them of the Harcus menace. Now that the Harcus duo and Graeme Gibson were behind bars, the entire area was breathing a sigh of relief. Isabel tried to downplay her part in the arrests, but he insisted she was being modest.
“Nonsense,” he told her. “Without you, people here would still be under their thumb. Everyone, especially the tenants of Glen MacKenna, hope you’ll return soon so they can thank you properly.”
She promised she would just as soon as her life settled down, though she didn’t know how long that was going to take.
She finally got around to going to the ophthalmologist for an eye exam and discovered she was nearsighted and didn’t have much depth perception. She picked out a pair of black frames and another pair of tortoiseshell frames. The specialist explained she didn’t have to wear them all the time, just when she wanted to drive . . . or read . . . or see.
When she wasn’t working on her songs, she spent a lot of time on video chats with Damon, Owen, Lexi, and JoAnn. They caught her up on their lives, and she told them all about Scotland, but she didn’t say anything about her relationship with Michael. It was too raw. Besides, she didn’t know what the relationship was.
Despite her determined efforts to forget, Michael was never far from her thoughts. Four full weeks and not one word from him. What was the matter with that man? She knew he loved her. Why was it taking so long for him to realize it?
Maybe he was never going to realize it.
As soon as the thought wiggled its way into her head, she erased it. She had faith in Michael, maybe more than he had in himself. Eventually he would realize he loved her and would come to her.
Meanwhile, she was going to keep busy writing songs.
Late on a Tuesday evening Isabel was working on polishing an old song and changing some of the lyrics. Dylan and Kate had gone out with friends, and she had been at it for hours. As she sat at the piano in the living room singing the new version, she was unaware of the audience behind her. Dylan was leaning against the doorway with his arm around Kate. Her head was on his shoulder, and her eyes were closed as she listened to the captivating melody.
“That was beautiful, Isabel,” Kate said. “I love it.”
Startled by the voice, Isabel spun around. “You do? I thought it was good, but then I started doubting . . .”