Page 24 of The Spotted Cottage By the Sea
He took a deep breath. “I will. Soon. What do you think? Burgers?”
The cries carried over the water, louder now.
It was the most gut-wrenching sound Sheila had ever heard. “Please, Dad. She needs to go back to her mom.”
He put a hand on her shoulder and tried to steer her away. “Ice cream, too?”
She wiggled away. “It’s not my birthday until Mom comes home.”
“Don’t act like that,” he said. “Not today. Cut me some slack, Sheila.”
“It’s not my birthday!” she screamed, stomping her foot.
His smile faded and he let out a sigh. Without a word, he turned and walked back into the trees.
For the first time since her mother left, Sheila cried. Her sobs rang out in waves, racking her little body until she was dizzy.
She sat down at the water’s edge, and when she looked up, the little whale was there again, watching her.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
Sheila sat there until it grew dark, then returned as soon as the sun rose the next morning, then the next, and the next. She named the little whale Lottie after Charlotte Caffey from The Go-Go’s and did what she could to help her – singing to her, frantically trying to undo her father’s net. It proved impossible for her little hands.
“IpromiseI’ll get you back to your mom,” she whispered on what would be their last evening together.
Her father refused to talk to her about Lottie, ignoring her pleas, even when the man with the crane showed up. Even as he loaded Lottie into his truck, even as he drove away.
Her dad told her they needed the money. He told her Lottie would be taken care of. He said it was final and he would never talk about it again.
Sheila’s mother came back a month later, but it was too late. Too late for Sheila’s birthday, too late to save Lottie. Too late for everything.
Her mom stayed for the weekend, then told them she had to go. It would be another six months before she stopped by again.
Sheila never told her about Lottie. She never toldanyoneabout her, or the promise she’d made – and failed to keep.
After her father passed away, Sheila was the only one left with that memory. Until a few months ago, she’d assumed Lottie was dead.
In a twist of fate, she was brought in as the lead accountant for a local theme park, Marine Magic Funland. It was there she got to know the accounts person, the janitor, the security guards, and even the whale trainers. It was there she saw a lone orca in a small tank, with a small black freckle on her chin.
“You’re not going to believe it,” the trainer said, beaming, “but Lottie’s the sweetest whale I’ve ever met.”
In that moment, it all hit her, square in the chest. The way a mother whale’s cry carried over the water, the way the saltwater stung the cuts on her hands from digging at the ropes on the net.
Maybe it was the seed for her frenzy. That moment, looking back at the whale trainer. “I believe you,” Sheila had said, gripping a hand on the edge of the tank. “I do.”
Twelve
Selling their furniture to internet strangers wasn’t Eliza’s idea of a good time, but it had to be done.
“Oh! There. A black truck just pulled up.” Her roommate Cora turned from the window. “Did he tell you what kind of car he’d be driving?”
Eliza shook her head. “I forgot to ask.”
It wasn’t an area she was experienced in. It was borne from necessity: Cora’s shopping problem. Her best friend was a dear and lovely person, but she just couldn’t get this vice under control.
She’d finally admitted to Eliza she’d been taking their rent and “reallocating” it for the past few months.
“How bad is it this time, Cora?” Eliza had asked.
