Page 38 of The Spotted Cottage By the Sea
His expression brightened. “Can’t wait.”
Seventeen
Remodeling a tea shop hadn’t been on his bingo card for the year, but Russell couldn’t be happier. It gave him something to do, and he felt like he was becoming part of the community, particularly with Patty shouting at them through the windows and preparing daily lunches.
Both he and Sheila worked under Eliza’s guidance. She was a serious young woman, which he appreciated, and it only made it more fun to break through her focus and get her to laugh.
“This isn’t a comedy!” she barked at him.
“What is it, then? I need more direction,” he said.
“It’s a coming-of-age story.”
Sheila made a face. “For whom?”
“The tea shop, of course,” Eliza said before flitting away and leaving them to their painting.
He stole a glance at Sheila, but her eyes were fixed on her paintbrush, delicately outlining white trim. They’d spent a week and a half doing a deep clean and repainting the walls and ceilings, and now all that was left were the details.
He turned back to his work, painting the edges of the ceiling as “Harness Your Hopes” played in the background.
Sheila crafted their daily playlists, and he had no complaints. For the last two days it had been ‘90’s indie rock, with Heatmiser, The Breeders, and the Pixies on heavy rotation.
Until this point, Sheila had spent much of their time together skillfully steering the conversation away from herself. She had zeroed in on his weak spot – wolves – and asked question after question.
Today, however, he was determined to talk about something else. “Did Patty make you watchGrey’s Anatomylast night?”
“Of course,” Sheila said with a smile. “But I was thinking about Wolf 21.”
Russell looked over at her. “No, you weren’t.”
“I was. Why would he join a rival pack where the alpha female was so vicious?”
Just when he thought she had to be humoring him, she had to go and make a thoughtful comment about Wolf 21.
“Wolves are individuals, just like me or you. They have their own personalities and histories.” It was too late now; he couldn’t stop. He set his paintbrush down. “They make choices about how to live their lives.”
“Right,” she said. “I was reading about Wolf 8 last night during the show – much to Patty’s annoyance.”
He laughed. “I can imagine.”
She smiled, her eyes still focused on the trim. “He was the runt, right? They thought he was going to starve to death or be run off by his brothers.”
“Yeah, but there was more to him than his size. He stood up to a full-grown bear and scared it off. He found a starving mother with eight pups and saved them, raising the pups as his own.”
“One of them was Wolf 21. His step-wolf.”
Russell laughed. She was at least a little interested. “Yes, and Wolf 21 learned everything from Wolf 8. He learned his compassion. He grew to be huge and strong, but even when 21 pinned a rival wolf and they were completely defeated, he never killed them.”
“He raised another wolf’s pups too, didn’t he?”
“He did. He was an extraordinary wolf.”
Russell cleared his throat. If she got him going again, he’d spend the whole day talking about the Yellowstone wolves.
He wasn’t here to talk about wolves, though. There was no such thing as a lone wolf, and he couldn’t be one either.
Russell did the only thing he could think of: he asked her a boring question that people had probably asked her a million times.
