Page 31 of A Spot of Tea
Steam rose from the coffee mug and Sheila stared at it. There was a time when she would’ve given anything for her ex-husband to say even a curt “not bad” about one of her songs.
She’d been through enough therapy to be able to say, without bitterness, that he was too small of a man to let her be anything, win anything, achieve anything.
Russell, on the other hand, not only wanted the world to see her, he wanted to shout her name from the rooftops.
Water pulled to her eyes. Her nose was hot.
“Thank you.” She looked up, locking onto his clear blue eyes. “I’m happy about the song.”
“But it’s not all you’d hoped it would be?”
She smiled and the tears passed. “It’s more than I hoped it would be, because you’re so happy for me. That’s what matters.”
Russell sighed and pulled her in for another hug. “I’m fine being happier for you than you are. I’ll hold this spot until you’re ready for it.”
“Perfect.” Sheila pecked him on the cheek and picked up her coffee mug. “What’s the bad news?”
“It’s the sea pen, of course.” He picked up a danish and took a bite. “Oh, these are great. Why did she reject them?”
Sheila shrugged. “You know Eliza. The apricots weren’t arranged right.”
He laughed and took another bite. “We’ve got a problem with the lodge.”
“Ah.”
The property Russell and the whale rehabilitation team had secured for the sea pen site was an old fishing lodge. Renovations have been underway to make lodgings for the veterinarian team and staff, and they’d hit problems every step of the way.
“What went wrong now?”
“They found asbestos in the walls. The contractor said we should just tear it down to the studs at this point.”
She groaned. “I’m sorry, honey. That’s going to take forever, isn’t it?”
“Nah, it’s okay!” he said brightly “It’s a relief in some ways. We were trying hard to retrofit everything, but now I can make sure it’s all perfect. They’re getting to work right away. I thought we could fly over today and check on the progress.”
“That sounds lovely.” She paused. “You know, I take back what I said. I love having a personal pilot take us on trips whenever we feel like it.”
“Fame and fortune have already gotten to your head,” he said, arms crossed over his chest.
Sheila winked at him. “I tried to warn you.”
They walked out to the dock to meet Joey, the calm sea framing their view.
“I offered to pay for fuel so Joey can practice flying or have fun, whatever he wants to do,” Russell said.
“That’s nice.”
“Last weekend, he and Eliza apparently went all the way out to Portland and—”
Sheila cut him off. “Excuse me. What?”
“Did Eliza not tell you about it?”
Her eyes could not get any wider. “No! How could you hide this from me?”
“I didn’t hide anything!” He put his hands up. “I thought you knew.”
“This is more interesting to me than both the asbestos and the song put together, and you wait untilnowto mention it?”
