Page 26 of The Spotted Cottage By the Sea
Eliza found it hard to believe that her parents had met playing in a band. Her mother wasn’tthatkind of cool. She didn’t party. She never broke the rules and she never made mistakes.
“Yeah,” Eliza said, walking back to her room. “She’s the best.”
“Does she ever yell at you?” Cora asked, following. “What about when you dropped out of school?”
Eliza shook her head. “No. It’s not really her style.”
“I guess that’s why you don’t yell at me. Honestly, it’d make me feel better if you did.”
She stopped and smiled. “I’m not going to yell at you. Just get better, okay?”
“I will. Iamgetting better!”
Eliza walked into her bedroom and picked up a box from the floor. Cora grabbed the remaining box and followed her outside. They loaded everything into Eliza’s car without a word.
Eliza turned to the driver’s door and Cora pulled her in for a long hug. “I’m going to miss you.”
She hugged her back. “I’m going to miss you, too. You jerk.”
Cora laughed and pulled away, tears in her eyes. “Thanks for that. Okay, bye. Be good.”
Eliza waved her off and got into the driver’s seat. “Yoube good!”
She’d decided to surprise her mom about moving back home. It made it feel more like a spontaneous idea and less like the sad situation it was.
She felt sad for Cora. She felt sad for herself, working in a dead-end job at a candle store, unable to come up with the back rent to keep their adorable apartment.
No one would guess by looking at her, but she’d once been considered a prodigy. She’d skipped a grade in school and placed nationally in chess competitions. She was deemed gifted in math and had taken college math classes from the time she was fourteen. The University of Chicago had offered her a full scholarship, and she took it, so sure she was going places.
And then what? She dropped out junior year and hadn’t been able to find her way through life since. It felt like the only thing she was good at was failure.
Now she was moving back home at the age of twenty-four. Some prodigy she’d turned out to be.
When she pulled up to the house, she was surprised to see her mom in the driveway, fussing with a pink box in the trunk of her car.
Eliza parked and peered over at her.
“Hey!” Her mom said, shutting the trunk of her car and giving her a hug. “I didn’t know you were coming home this weekend!”
“Yeah.” She let out a breath. “I have some news.”
“Something exciting?”
Eliza pulled back. “Exciting for the guys who just bought our couch, yes.”
Her smile fell. “Oh no, what happened? Is Cora okay?”
“She’s fine. Except for the past six months she’s been taking our rent money and going shopping. We got evicted.”
She gasped. “That’s awful!”
“I know.”
Why couldn’t she ever make her mom proud? Why couldn’t she bring good news, or something fun? Why did she endlessly spin her tires, only sinking lower and lower?
“I’m sorry I’m such a failure,” Eliza added with a sigh.
“You arenota failure!” Her mom said firmly, putting an arm around her. “What about tea? Do you want some tea? Let’s go inside.”
