Love Imagines (Sully Point, Book 6)

This is
a work of fiction.

Names, characters, businesses, places, events and
incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a
fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual
events is purely coincidental.

Chapter 1

Rose Carter drove along winding back roads on her
way to Sully Point. She'd put the top down on the white convertible and pinned
her long, strawberry blonde hair up in a bun to keep it out of her face. It had
been ages since she'd taken a ride in her car, just to enjoy herself.

The day was bright and sunny, and the sky opened
up above her head in a pale blue with a few clouds that looked like fluffy
cotton. Rose felt herself relaxing with every mile away from Philadelphia and
the hospital. Her job there as an emergency room doctor had been rewarding and
also stress-inducing. When the hospital had told her she needed time away, and
put her on forced leave, she knew she had to take some time to evaluate her
life.

But not today, she decided. Today was for relaxing
in the open air, watching the countryside as she passed by, and feeling like
her again. She put in a disc by Adele and sang along with the music as it
blared loudly from the speakers.

Around noon, she pulled into a restaurant with
ocean views. A deck surrounded the restaurant on three sides and sat out over
the water. Rose took one look and decided to eat there at the outdoor tables.
She parked the car and took a moment to unpin her hair and brush it out over
her shoulders, and then let it fall down her back. As she walked up the steps
to the main entrance, she noticed a man watching her from the parking lot.
She'd seen him drive in about the same time as she had, and he seemed to be
interested in looking at her.

She smiled at the thought. Usually she was too
busy to notice any looks that came her way, or she was covered in blood and
bodily fluids and was getting no looks at all. It felt pleasant to get the kind of
male appreciation that was coming her way now.

The hostess seated her out on the deck, and Rose
ordered seltzer water with lime. As she waited on her drink, she thought about
the lack of men in her life. True, there were male doctors and other men she
worked with at the hospital. But there had been no one who appealed to her...in
over a year, she realized. Work had become such an obsession, she'd let go of
anything else beyond it. This, she admitted, was not really a healthy
lifestyle.

The waitress came back with her drink, and she
ordered the blackened mahi mahi topped with a citrus sauce. As she sipped her
drink, she looked up to see the man from the parking lot staring at her again. He
was two tables away, and smiled at her when she noticed him. It was a nice
smile, she thought. And it was located on quite a good-looking face. A face
that almost looked familiar. It took a minute for her to place the rugged
looks, the blond hair that spilled across his forehead, and the piercing blue
eyes. He was an actor she'd seen in a couple of action movies...a movie star!
She was delighted at the idea and grinned back at him.

To her surprise, he got up and came over to her
table.

"May I sit down?" he asked.

"Yes, go right ahead," she replied.

He sat in the seat across from her. "Let me
introduce myself. I'm Ben Sterling."

She shook the hand he extended across the table.
"I'm Rose Carter. I recognized you but couldn't quite place you."

He nodded. "Yes, that's me. I've played the second
lead in a couple of movies, but my first lead role is in the movie I just
finished. I'm actually dreading getting more recognition. It seems to me that
the actors who become more well-known have very little privacy."

"Is your name Benjamin or just Ben?"

"Benjamin, but my stage name is Ben."

"I have a sister who's an actress. Beth Carter."

He raised his eyebrows. "So you do know about the
fame thing. She's a lovely woman and an excellent actress. L.A. is all abuzz
with talk of her first movie coming out. Her husband is why I'm on the road
today."

The waitress came with their meals, having
adjusted to seeing Ben sitting with Rose. She placed the mahi mahi and Ben's
swordfish on the table. They both busied themselves with fixing their baked
potatoes with butter and sour cream. Rose took a bite of her fish and was
pleased at the smooth blending of flavors.

"This is delicious," she said.

"Mine too," Ben replied.

"What did you mean when you said that about Beth's
husband?"

"He offered me a role in the next play they are
doing for summer stock. I'm on my way to Sully Point to take him up on the
offer."

Rose almost choked on her last bite. She coughed
and took a sip of her water. "Sully Point? You're going there?"

"That's where the Playhouse is that Mr.
Christopher runs during part of the year. He's an amazing director. I can't
wait to work with him."

"I wasn't putting that together with Sully Point.
That's where I'm headed, too."

"You are?"

She nodded. "Yes. I'm taking an extended vacation
and visiting with my family who all live there."

They ate some more in silence, until Ben said, "A
model, right? You work as a model?"

She was startled. "A model? What makes you say
that?"

"You're gorgeous for one thing. That face, that
hair, that body..."

"I see," she said with what she hoped was a
repressive look.

"I have an eye. My second love after acting is
photography. I'm hoping to get some nature shots of the area around Sully Point,
the water, the beaches and cliffs. I would love for you to let me include you
in some of the photographs I plan to take."

Rose opened her mouth to tell him she was a
doctor, then paused and shut it. Really, she thought, why should she? She was
here for a break. What more of a break could she get than to be someone totally
different than her everyday life?

After a minute, she smiled at him. "Sure, why not?
It could be fun."

"Fantastic!" he said.

They finished their meal chatting about the movie
business and photography. Ben had a good sense of humor, and had her laughing
over some of his behind-the-scenes escapades. They decided to forego dessert
and get back on the road.

When they walked out to the parking lot, Ben
followed Rose to her car.

"Great convertible," he said, while she put her
hair up.

"I love it. Haven't had a lot of chances to take
it out recently so this drive has been a treat." She noticed standing next to
him that he was six feet tall. She liked that, because of her own five feet,
eight inches height.

"I left my car in L.A. and just rented one in the
city to bring out here. I'd been visiting friends there when the offer came in
for Sully Point."

Rose grinned at him. "I'll try not to leave you in
the dust in my speed mobile here."

He laughed and she liked how his eyes filled with
enjoyment. She'd always been a sucker for blue eyes, and his were just
stunning.

"Rose?"

She realized he'd been asking her something and
she'd been too involved with staring at him to hear.

"Sorry, I got distracted. What did you say?"

"I said I'll follow you there."

"I don't know the way any better than you. It's
only my second time there, but you can follow me if you want, and can keep up."

Ben shook his head. "I probably can't, but I'll
give it a shot."

They left the parking lot and she saw him
following her in her rear-view mirror. He wasn't what she would have expected
of an actor. Beth had told her a few stories about her experiences in the
business, and she knew that some actors were full of themselves and some were
serious jerks. But Ben wasn't like that. He seemed like a normal guy, very
self-confident but not irritating about it. During their lunch he had talked
more about photography than he had about acting and movies.

Thinking about that led her back to the modeling
question. Was she really going to let him take pictures of her? She laughed out
loud suddenly. This was a much more fun topic to make a decision about than
worrying over life and death in the E.R. She needed some fun, and spending time
with Ben fit the bill perfectly.

* * * *

Ben watched the white convertible and mused over
the woman in the car ahead of him. She was beautiful, but he saw beautiful
women all the time in his business. What was it about her that made him want to
see her again, and often?

She seemed grounded. Like there was an essential honesty to her, a wholesomeness within her. The sparkle in her big brown eyes, the curve of her rosy
lips as she smiled...all right, yes, he admitted to himself...he was attracted
by her looks. But it was more than that. There were some shadows in her eyes,
and a pensive look on her face at times, as if she was thinking of something
difficult to deal with. Yet, she could relax and get past that. He'd seen it in
their conversation. He wanted to be the one to help her relax, to forget her
troubles. And she was refreshingly not self-centered like every other model
he'd ever met. She seemed unaware of how gorgeous she was as they had talked.

Ben knew how unusual Rose was after just one
conversation. At age thirty-two, and after years in the movie business, he was
tired of phony people. He'd stopped dating eight months before, on his
birthday, making a commitment to himself that he would only date women who felt
'real' to him. Rose was the first one in eight months to match the label of
'real.'

* * * *

As she stopped at a light on Main Street in Sully
Point, Rose saw Ben pull up beside her. He had the window down and called out
to her.

"I'm supposed to head to the Playhouse on the
square. How can I get in touch with you?"

"I'll be staying upstairs from the Bakery." She
pointed to the corner and the Bakery sign.

He nodded. "I'll stop by and get your number
later." Then he waved, turned the corner and was gone.

She made her turn into the parking lot behind the
Bakery and parked. Carrying two suitcases, she went up the stairs. Her sister,
Beth, had given her the key to the apartment when she'd been in Sully Point for
Beth's wedding. It was during that visit that she'd decided to return for her
sabbatical. Now she was back with all her clothes, a few books and some music,
along with her laptop computer. Her place in Philly had been a rented furnished
apartment, so she had nothing more to move.

There had been some talk of her staying in Cody
Grainger's houseboat, something Rose had been looking forward to, but it hadn't
come to pass. The boat had been damaged in a storm and Cody had decided the
interior needed updating as well as the exterior. The Bakery apartment was the
next best idea.

Rose unlocked the door and went into the
apartment. It smelled fresh and clean, and she was sure that either Beth, or
Maggie, her other sister, had freshened it up that day. After carrying the
suitcases into the bedroom, she headed for the kitchen. As she had suspected,
the fridge was stocked with drinks, fresh veggies for salad, eggs and some
fruit.

She opened a bottle of water and sipped it as she
looked into other cabinets at what was available for food. There were cookies
fresh from the Bakery on the counter, and she found they were her
favorite—chocolate chip.

After finishing three cookies, and then shutting
the container firmly, she went back downstairs to open the trunk of the car and
bring up the rest of her things. She had just started to unpack when there was
a knocking on the door. When she opened it, she found Ben standing there with a
six-pack of beer.

"I just bought these, chilled. Feel like a beer?"
he asked as he stepped into the apartment.

She smiled at him. "Sounds just about perfect. I may even
have something to munch on. Let me check the cabinets."

He followed her into the yellow and orange
kitchen. "You've already been to the store?"

"No, my sisters stocked the place for me. They're
both living here now, plus, my parents. Here we are. How about some mixed
nuts to go with that beer?"

"Just the thing." He took the bottle opener from her and
opened a beer for each of them. "Is the bottle okay? Or do you want a glass?"

"Bottle is fine with me," Rose said. She poured
the nuts into a bowl, and then they went into the living room. He sat on the
green velvet sofa and she sat in the white brocade chair across from him,
setting the nuts on the coffee table.

"This is a cool place," he said.

"How is yours? Where are you staying?" she asked.