Page 30 of The Spotted Cottage By the Sea
“Did you understand that? Did you know what they were saying?”
Lottie fell silent, but Sheila could hardly contain her excitement. The last recording was from the L-pod group of whales. Was it possible this was her family? Would it be enough to prove that she was actually a southern resident whale? Would it be enough to convince the failing business to let her go?
“Hang on a second. I need to record you.” Sheila fumbled with her phone. Her hands were cold from nerves, but she managed to hit record.
For thirty seconds, Lottie didn’t make a peep, but just as Sheila started to wonder if she was making it all up in her head, Lottie started calling out again.
This went on for a full minute, ending with an enthusiastic call and Lottie launching herself halfway out of the water.
The sudden motion startled Sheila, and she jumped, dropping her phone into the water with aplop.
Her stomach sank. “No, no, no, no,” she whispered, rushing down the stairs and kneeling near the window, watching as her phone elegantly swooped and sank to the bottom of the tank.
Lottie fell silent, bobbing beneath the surface and watching Sheila through the glass.
After a moment, she dipped low, swimming to the bottom of the tank and delicately grabbing the phone.
Sheila watched, her mouth hanging open, as Lottie swam back to the surface at the trainer’s stage.
She seemed to be waiting for her.
Did she dare getthatclose? What was the chance Lottie would pull her in? Surely she didn’t appreciate a stranger waking her up and tramping around her tank in the middle of the night…
At the same time, Sheila needed that phone. She needed the recording, and she couldn’t leave behind any evidence that she’d been here.
She went back up the stairs and carefully walked onto the stage. It sloped into the pool, with water gently washing up.
Lottie was still waiting, her mouth open, the phone balanced on the edge of her teeth. Sheila took a breath to steady herself. She squatted, then slowly leaned forward and took the phone from Lottie’s mouth.
As soon as she was clear, she jumped back, the blood rushing back to her limbs.
“Thank you,” she said.
Lottie popped up from the water, clicking and squeaking, and Sheila smiled.
She knew she should be more afraid, but the longer she looked at Lottie, the more at ease she felt.
Sheila dropped to her knees, her black jeans absorbing the cold water. “Let’s see if my phone still works. Do you want to hear it again?”
Lottie turned on her side, looking at her, and Sheila laughed. “Okay, let me try.”
Amazingly, after wiping it off on her sleeve, her phone started as if nothing had happened. She played the clip of L-pod again, and Lottie floated only a few inches away, listening.
A booming voice broke Sheila from her awe. “Hey! Get out of there!”
She shoved the phone in her pocket and stood, turning to run and falling instantly, like a character in a children’s cartoon. She hit the concrete hard with her hip, water soaking into her clothes, but she stood again, stumbling, running back to the gate.
She could hear the man yelling, but it didn’t sound like the guard she knew. She wasn’t about to look back and see; she could hear his footsteps gaining on her.
Sheila burst through the fence gate and disappeared into the darkness of the forest, running as fast as her feet would take her.
Fourteen
Patty couldn’t believe her good luck. What had seemed like the end – her little spotted cottage garnering the wrong kind of attention – was only the beginning! First, Sheila announced she was moving in with her, and now Eliza had shown up, looking for a place to stay, too!
To top it all off, the devilishly handsome Russell Westwood showed up at her door that Sunday with a pair of gardening gloves and a wagon filled with little lavender plants.
“You asked for it,” he said when she opened the door. “Here I am. Ready to work.”
