Page 50 of The Spotted Cottage By the Sea
Sheila sat back, her cheeks growing hot.
He rubbed his chin and added in a soft voice, “I don’t know how we make peace with betrayal, and not just the cheating. He was supposed to believe in you. Support you.”
“I could’ve dealt with him being angry about my music, honestly. I was desperate to make things work, but not for myself. I was desperate for our family.” She shook her head and let out a huff. “I am stillso angryat him for my girls. They deserve better than the father he’s become. I don’t think I’ll ever make peace with that.”
Russell was quiet, studying her. His eyes locked onto hers. “You won’t be sad forever.”
Her eyes flashed with tears and she had to look away – down at her empty plate, out through the window. She picked up her water and took a sip. The feeling passed.
She nodded toward his cheesecake. “Are you going to eat that or what?”
Twenty-one
That. That was it. The moment his heart was irrevocably gone.
“I’m just kidding,” she said with a laugh.
He pushed the plate toward her. “Please. It’s yours.”
Whatever she wanted. It was hers.
Twenty-two
The next morning, Patty didn’t torture her too much about her evening out.
“You had a nice time, then?” she asked, her eyes and hands busy with the pepperoni rolls she was making for lunch.
Though Sheila had hoped Patty would slow down now that she didn’t have to do all the chores on her own, it only emboldened her to cook and bake more. Reggie tried to keep up, stopping by with various roasts and creations he’d made, but he had no chance with Patty. She’d become a machine.
“It was very nice, yes,” Sheila said, slipping into a seat at the kitchen table. “The restaurant was fantastic.”
Patty looked up for a brief flash. “We should go sometime.”
“I’d love to.”
Eliza stopped down and said hello before getting a plate of food and disappearing. She told them she wasthisclose to finishing the online shop and she couldn’t stop for pleasantries.
Sheila wasn’t sure if the novelty of having a celebrity neighbor was wearing off, or if they were both just busy, but she would take it.
She ate the elaborate breakfast Patty prepared, a large Belgian waffle loaded with whipped cream and strawberries, and avoided bringing up anything having to do with Russell.
When he’d dropped her off the night before, he’d asked if she was ready to take him on as a client.
“I have to warn you,” he’d said. “I’m one of those terrible people who has papers and folders and accounts everywhere.”
“It’s nothing I can’t handle,” she assured him.
At the time, she had still been all warm and relaxed from their night out. She’d felt seen by him, so seen that she’d almost burst into tears.
Now, in the cold light of morning, she was embarrassed by all she’d told him – about her marriage, about howweakshe’d been. How weak and bitter she still was.
Regardless, she needed the money. Once she was finished with breakfast, she pulled her coat on and slipped outside.
The wind gusted and blustered, blasting her hair and making a mockery of her jacket. Sheila pulled the sides of it tight across her chest as she walked up the hill to Russell’s place.
She got some relief from the wind when she entered the thicket of trees between their properties. Russell’s house was barely visible, and she used it as a guide through the smattering of pines and Madrona trees. It only took a minute or two for her to emerge on the other side, with Russell’s dark two-story home towering over her.
It was smaller than she’d imagined – larger than Patty’s cottage for sure, but not the multi-winged mansion she’d expected of a Hollywood star – and the next neighbor’s house was in full view, only thirty feet away.
