November on Long Island was unpredictable. Kind of like a woman.
One minute she was giving you attitude, the next she was warm and charming. The ever-changing weather showed that Mother Nature could be one moody customer. Within a week she could bring rain, sun, gale-force winds, warm temperatures, frost or snow. It was a far cry from the sunshine and warmth he’d left behind in Hawaii, but with each strike of his foot on the pavement, with each mile behind him, Dan Gallo was glad he’d come home.
Avoiding his life hadn’t done anything to help the anger that still swirled inside him, at least not yet. There was a chance he’d start to settle once he established a new routine, but even when that happened, he wasn’t going to tell anyone where he was. He’d left a string of pissed-off people since he’d gone off the grid, but Dan didn’t really care. Angel Harbor, where he’d spent the first twenty-two years of his life before leaving for law school, was the perfect place to hide in plain sight. He was staying at the family house where his sister lived with her husband and kids. She was thrilled that he was going to be around for the holidays and gave him the small guest cottage to use for as long as he wanted.
The main house was a grand lady. An old Victorian with gingerbread trim, it was located just outside of town up a long hill that gave the upper floors spectacular water views. His cottage, while not big, was roomy enough and suited him fine. Compact and recently renovated, it had a bedroom, a living room, and a dining area with a small kitchen. It was the perfect place for Dan to get his head on straight and plan his next move.
Whatever that might be.
Long Island was steeped in stereotypes. Sure, there were McMansions where there used to be open space, and it was too crowded for its own good, but it really did have a lot to offer. With stunning and varied coastlines, history, agriculture, and great downtowns, at its core, the region was really just a bunch of small communities connected by their presence on a long skinny stretch of sand that jutted out into the Atlantic Ocean. Weighing all that, he didn’t know why he hadn’t come home sooner. The big plus? He’d been gone a long time, and no one really recognized him. If someone did, his current situation often made the person uncomfortable enough to leave him alone. Mostly, he could be anonymous here. Something that definitely appealed.
Pulling back his stride to take the hill, he turned onto Main Street and allowed the peacefulness of the view to seep in. Only a small breakfast place and the local deli were open this early, and the smell of bacon and eggs frying on a griddle wafted toward him. He’d already run three miles in the sleepy neighborhoods around his sister’s house, enough to justify an egg sandwich from his favorite deli.
Turning toward the park, he figured he’d do a lap on the paths along the harbor to assuage any guilt that might crop up once he indulged in a breakfast that he’d thought about far too often when he was away from Long Island. Sure, he could get an egg sandwich anywhere, but not like this one. It was the little things about home he’d missed most. He’d learned the hard way that a good life was a collection of small experiences. While big and flashy might impress in the short term, the millions of tiny details about an experience were what mattered.
Maybe it was his age. Once he passed fifty, Dan’s tolerance for nonsense dropped to zero. He liked things simple and uncomplicated. It was one of the reasons he’d sold his apartment in New York, and bought the house in Hawaii. The constant crush of people, the endless busyness, exhausted him. His beach house on Oahu was peaceful and quiet, but the solitude brought him no peace.
His reputation was as an enigma, a mystery man who only showed up when a book or a woman necessitated his presence, and his agent played it up. His latest author photos were black and white art shots that had him shadowed and sinister-looking.
As he ran, he observed his fellow early risers. He nodded to a pair of elderly women who were walking almost as fast as he was running. Their pace was impressive as they power walked