Page 28 of The Spotted Cottage By the Sea
She looked up. “I will.”
For the first time in months, she felt excited. An adventure on San Juan Island? Why hadn’t she thought of that before?
Thirteen
After one call to Patty, Eliza was on her way, grinning ear to ear. Sheila stood outside in her slippers to wave as she backed out of the driveway.
She couldn’t believe how quickly Eliza’s mood had transformed. Sheila hadn’t seen her so happy in, well, years.
It wasn’t fair. Sheila used to think the hardest part of raising kids was when they were little. She was wrong. When they were small, she could solve their problems and ease their pains. When they got older, all she could do was watch, listen, and worry.
Eliza hadn’t had an easy road. She struggled after the divorce, and though she’d deny it, her damaged relationship with her dad played a big part in her decision to drop out of school.
Sheila couldn’t think about it without getting upset. Brian had decided the girls didn’t need him as much as he needed to run off and find himself. It made her want to call and yell at him again.
When Cora had suggested moving in with Eliza, it was a blessing at first. Cora had known Eliza from childhood; she knew her moods and her tendency to overthink and spiral. She’d drag her out of bed to go dancing or decorate her room with Christmas lights when she was feeling down.
Recently, though, things had taken a turn. As generous as Cora was, she was wildly irresponsible. Her spending was out of control, and poor Eliza couldn’t tell her no, even when Cora was stealing the rent to fund her lifestyle.
It’s hard to abandon the ones we love, even when they’re hurting us. Maybe especially so. Sheila knew that as well as anyone, so she didn’t blame Eliza, but she thought it would be good for them to have a break.
Even better, they’d all get to live together at the cottage. Sheila couldn’t wait to join them.
There was just one thing she had to do first.
It wasn’t anything responsible; nothing she should be doing, like figuring out if she could rent the house or looking for a job.
Nothing to do with the adult responsibilities she was ignoring and everything to do with a promise she’d made as a nine-year-old girl.
Sheila walked inside and locked the door behind her. She needed to make sure she was alone. She’d buried this part of her so deep that she’d never even told Brian about it.
She got to the kitchen, stopped at the counter, and laughed out loud. If Brian knew about this, he’d thinkshewas having a midlife crisis.
But maybe it was her turn! Maybe letting this secret haunt her forever wasn’t an option. When she’d found out Lottie was alive, it felt like something had physically hit her in the chest. She started dreaming of her, hearing the cries in her sleep.
Then when she heard about Tokitae, it was more than a punch. She was the whale from the news clipping, the last believed living captive resident orca.
Her death had been a tragedy, and to Sheila it was even more. It was a sign. Sheilahadto do something. She couldn’t let Lottie suffer the same fate, dying alone in a tank miles and miles from home, impossibly far from her family.
After being assigned to work on the Marine Magic Funland account, Sheila had dug deep and quickly discovered no one knew the truth about Lottie.
They knew her name, but they thought she’d been caught in international waters. No one knew she was one of the endangered southern resident whales. No one knew her family was still alive out there, waiting for her.
Sheila learned everything she could about the business – how it was suffering and wouldn’t survive three more years with their current revenue and expenses, how they’d brought in two new partners to little relief, how Lottie’s tank was leaking, how the roller coasters needed substantial service, and how they were down to one security guard for overnights.
Oh yes, she’d learneda lotin her time there, like the guard going on vacation that weekend. He’d loudly complained that the security cameras didn’t work, that no one appreciated him, and they’d better hope nothing happened while he was gone.
Sheila walked out to her car, got the pink box, and carried it inside the house. After locking the door, she opened it and stared at the contents, all just as she’d left them.
She’d never committed a burglary before. She’d never even stolen candy from the store as a kid. This wasn’t going to be easy.
Sheila was a humble woman. She knew she couldn’t steal a whale, but she had to find a way to help. She was the only person left who could prove who Lottie really was – prove to everyone that this orca belonged back in the ocean with her family.
Her plan was too mad to speak aloud to another human being, but Sheila wasn’t going to let that stop her. She looked at the contents of the box one more time before snapping it shut.
It was now or never.
She waited until dark, then drove to a shopping mall half a mile from Marine Magic Funland. She parked her car in the far end of the lot, then took the bakery box out of her trunk and disappeared into the woods.
