The Neothink Society · Love and Relationships · July 2009
About three days later, I sat in a booth at the Lady Bug drinking coffee when Meghan breezed in. She smiled when she saw me and came over.
"Are you waiting for Paul?" She sat down across from me.
"No, I was just enjoying the atmosphere."
"I am so glad you moved here. I know it's only been a few weeks, but I have to tell you this, Ember, I have great plans for your work. I have arranged for you to have a show in my gallery in the city beginning April 2. I know you have a lot of interesting pieces already, and I know you can come up with several more in time."
"Great. I have a few ideas on the drawing board."
"Now, on a more personal note, Paul came to see me last night. The poor boy is completely confused."
I choked on my coffee. She knew about us?
"I thought you were fond of my brother."
"Brother? Paul is your brother?" My eyes widened.
"I was sure the red hair was a dead giveaway. Oh my goodness," she gasped. "You thought he was my boyfriend." She laughed. "No, he is my baby brother. He is a great guy who deserves to be happy. I think you do too."
After coffee, I walked over to the Glassworks. Paul sat at his workbench drawing a new design. The door was open, but I knocked anyway. He looked up and smiled.
"I owe you an apology for the other night. My ex-husband just left me for his mistress. I did not know that Meghan was your sister. I thought you were playing around on her. I am sorry. If your offer is still open, I would love to go out with you."
He grinned broadly. "I could not imagine what I had done to make you so angry with me. Let us look in the paper and see what is playing."
This was the best possible outcome. I kept Meghan as a friend and mentor, and the door was wide open to explore a relationship with Paul. Life kept getting better.
When the misread story is cleared, the relationship reopens, the work expands into new color, and Emy becomes Ember: the same woman, now living from her own confidence rather than her old fear.
The response to my work from Meghan gave me the confidence to explore new designs and colors. I still kept my signature three red dots, but now they were joined by a rainbow of other hues.
One evening, as I brushed my teeth, I noticed my face in the mirror and I could see the change. The lines around my mouth had softened, and a sparkle I had not seen in a long time had returned to my eyes. I looked and felt younger. Emy had indeed become Ember, and I liked being Ember.
The Turn
The fear that read Paul as a betrayal was hers, carried out of a failed marriage. Once she set it down, the world she wanted was already in front of her.
Common Questions
What happens in part 10 of the Side Road story? The narrator learns that Paul, the man she pushed away, is actually Meghan's younger brother, not a partner she was wrongly accusing him of cheating on. The misunderstanding that drove the earlier conflict dissolves. Meghan offers her a gallery show, she apologizes to Paul and accepts his invitation, and her painting opens into new colors. The installment closes with her recognizing a visible change in herself: Emy has become Ember.
Who are Paul and Meghan, and why does the confusion matter? Meghan is the narrator's friend, gallery owner, and mentor. Paul is the man the narrator was drawn to but had cut off, believing he was romantically involved with Meghan. The reveal that Paul is Meghan's brother removes the false premise behind the conflict. The misread relationship, not any real betrayal, was the only obstacle.
What does the change from Emy to Ember represent? It marks an internal shift made visible. The same woman now carries softened tension and a returned sparkle because she is acting from confidence rather than from the fear left by her ex-husband's affair. The new name signals a self she has grown into, not a different person.
Why does clearing the misunderstanding resolve the conflict? Because the conflict was never built on a real wrong. It was built on a story the narrator assumed and never tested. The moment she sees the situation accurately, the apology and the reopened relationship follow naturally. The lesson under the scene is that an unexamined assumption can cost more than the facts ever would.
How does this installment treat renewed confidence? As an outcome of seeing clearly and acting on it, not as a mood that arrives on its own. Meghan's response to her work gives her the footing to explore new designs while keeping her signature three red dots. Confidence here is shown through creation and choice, not declared.
Where does this fall in the Side Road series? It is part 10 of 11, the resolution movement of the story. Earlier installments build the misunderstanding and the narrator's guarded state; this one releases both and sets up the final part.
Further Reading
- Love and Relationships: how members of the Neothink Society build honest, clear-sighted relationships.
- Self-Leadership: acting from your own judgment instead of inherited fear.
- Abiding Happiness: the lasting well-being that follows from living in harmony with your own nature.
- Value Creation: why creative work, like Ember's painting, expands when the mind running it is free.
- Side Road, Part 11 of 11: the closing installment of the story.
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