During the long drive home, Erin mostly slept. She was bone weary.
When she and Mike arrived home at dusk on a warm Southern California October evening, Erin noticed three things. First, the flower beds in the front of their home were a disaster. Second, none of the windows in her home looked out at the ocean. She knew she was going to miss the view of the changing sea. Third, she had an extraordinarily vast assortment of clothes hanging in her closet. She had forgotten how many outfits she owned.
Their first morning back home, Erin made eggs for breakfast. She walked out to the driveway and kissed her husband good-bye. He gave her an affectionate pat on her narrow backside.
“Big day for you.”
Erin gave him a brave smile. “Yes. Yes it is.”
Mike pulled out of the driveway. His old BMW that had stayed in Oregon with Erin was in dire need of a run through the car wash. Erin ignored the withering flowers along the front walk. She made her way back inside and closed the door. The house felt very still. She heard a dull, steady tick from the clock and a low hum from the dryer. Erin missed the ocean with its dependable rhythm and varying shades and shapes. She missed the gulls’ cries and the small creak the persimmon red door made every time anyone came or went. Most of all, Erin missed her father.
A small chill went up her bare arms. Padding her way to the laundry room, she pulled the green fleece from the dryer and put it on. It smelled like lavender fabric softener and not like salt and fish. She walked through the house, touching the back of her sofa, straightening the chairs around the dining room table, reacquainting herself with her surroundings and reminding herself this was her home.
In the same way that she had entered the uncharted stretch of time at the Hidden Cottage and accepted that being there was the new normal, she now returned home and accepted this as the new normal. Picking up the phone, Erin dialed the number.
“The Happiest Day. This is Sharlene.”
“Hi, it’s Erin.”
“Erin, how are you? I got your message about your dad passing. I sent flowers. Did you get them?”
“Yes. They were beautiful. Thank you.”
“I hoped you would understand that I couldn’t make it up there for the memorial service.”
“Of course. I didn’t expect you to come. I just wanted you to know the details.”
“How are you doing?”
“I’m tired, but I’m okay. I thought I better call and let you know that I never received the papers I needed to sign to turn over my half of the business.”
Sharlene paused just a moment before saying, “Didn’t you get my e-mail?”
“Which e-mail?”
“Oh, Erin! I feel awful. Are you saying you didn’t see it?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t had any e-mails come from you for quite a few weeks.”
“Oh, no, this isn’t good.”
“Do you want to resend it?”
“No. Let’s meet. Can you be at Café Kate in ten minutes?”
“Okay.” Erin scrambled to put on something other than her green fleece jacket and sweatpants.
Sharlene was already at the outdoor table where they used to always sit. She popped up and gave Erin one of her tiptoe hugs as Erin leaned over trying to compensate for the variance in their heights.
Erin hadn’t expected this sort of reception. For weeks she had anticipated that the next time she and Sharlene met face-to-face it would be in front of a lawyer as they signed final papers.
“It’s so good to see you.” Sharlene sat down and pushed one of the two lattes over to Erin’s side of the table. “Hope you don’t mind. I went ahead and ordered.”
“No, that’s fine. Thanks.”
“I should have called you,” Sharlene said. “I knew I should have called you when you didn’t respond to my e-mail. I just guessed that you were in agreement with what I’d said and were busy with your dad.”
“In agreement?” Erin asked. “About what?”
“Erin, I withdrew my offer to buy your half of the business.”
Erin leaned back. This was significant news. How did she miss that e-mail?
Sharlene leaned forward. Her eyes expressed sincerity. “I wish I’d never suggested that we split up our partnership. I panicked. I was an insensitive idiot. There are stronger terms than that, but I’ll stick with idiot for the moment. Honestly, Erin, I couldn’t sleep at night after I realized what I was trying to do.”
Erin felt numb. She had come to accept the loss of the business over the last few weeks and never expected Sharlene to change her mind. Sharlene was a determined woman. When she had said she was meeting with an attorney, Erin was certain their partnership was being resolved.
“What I told you in the e-mail was that I wouldn’t bother you. I said that if you wanted to call me, then by all means I wanted to talk to you anytime. But I figured that you were taking as long as you needed with your dad, and when you came back, we would figure out how to pick up where we left off.” Sharlene paused, waiting for Erin to respond.
“I don’t know what to say.”
Sharlene’s eyebrows rose. “You’re not thinking about pulling out, are you? I mean, I finally got some full-time help, but I don’t want to go it alone. I want us to work together. We’re such a great team. What are you thinking?”
“I’m not sure what to think. I mean, you were right about being stuck with all the responsibility and needing to make a decision to keep the company going. I understand why you did what you did. I felt like I was the insensitive one who was too caught up in my emergency to recognize the sort of emergency situation I’d put you in. I’m sorry, Sharlene. I’m really sorry.”
“Oh, Erin, I’m sorry, too.”
The two friends reached across the table and gave each other’s hand a squeeze. Erin felt her eyes well with tears. After so many weeks of dealing with loss, she didn’t know how to receive this turnaround.
“I’ll tell you the most difficult part in all this.” Sharlene pulled her hand back and dabbed under each eye with a napkin. “I couldn’t bear the thought of losing your friendship.”
Erin nodded. “I know. I felt the same way.”
Sharlene drew in a deep breath. She fanned her eyes with her hand. “I can’t stop crying. Erin, this is our shared dream. We’re going to go the distance together on this. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
They shook hands just as they had done at this same table several years ago when they first met and decided to start their business together.
“To new beginnings.” Sharlene lifted her latte.
“To new beginnings,” Erin echoed, giving the edge of Sharlene’s paper cup a dull fwap.
Sharlene stopped with her cup suspended in midair. “Oh! I heard an Irish blessing. I was trying to remember it. I know you’re the one who likes to bring out one of your mom’s verses or your dad’s sayings at moments like this. But I found one, and I’ve been saving it for such a moment as this. Here it is. ‘May the strength of three be in our journey.’”
“Ah, the Blessing of the Trinity. Yes, and may it be so.”
“You already know it?”
Erin wished she hadn’t blurted out that it was the Blessing of the Trinity. She loved that Sharlene was thinking of how to keep some of their small traditions going. In an effort to move ahead with a new tradition, Erin said, “How about if we meet like this every week? For the first hour we have to agree not to talk about business at all.”
“Sounds good to me. Sounds very good, actually.”
Every week for the next few months Erin and Sharlene met at Café Kate at three o’clock on Thursday afternoons. The time together was like medicine. Sharlene listened as Erin processed some of the lingering experiences from her time at Hidden Cottage. Then Erin listened as Sharlene talked through the frustrations she had encountered during Erin’s absence. By the third time they met they were back in sync and ready to be done with talking about themselves. They were excited to get going with a
restructuring plan for the future of The Happiest Day.
The plan they came up with was that they would continue to work out of their homes and both take on a full-time assistant. It was a brilliant solution, and as a result the business continued to grow. In December they hired another part-time assistant, and when February rolled around, they gathered everyone at Sharlene’s house to celebrate the two-year anniversary of their business.
Mike and Erin pulled up in front of Sharlene’s a few minutes before the party was scheduled to start. Erin’s cell phone rang. She pulled it from her shoulder bag and checked the number. She didn’t recognize the 503 area code and number, but she went ahead and answered, planning to tell the caller that she would return the call in the morning.
To her surprise, Delores’s nephew was the person phoning.
After leaving several unanswered messages on Delores’s cell phone last fall, Erin had given up hope that she would hear anything more from Delores or her nephew. Then the week after Christmas, Delores’s nephew had left a message for Erin, letting her know that Delores had passed away that afternoon. Erin sent a card and flowers, even though the message indicated there would be no memorial service. Only a small graveside benediction with immediate family. It was clear that Erin and Mike weren’t considered immediate family.
“I’m calling to let you know you’ll be receiving a letter from Delores’s attorney,” the nephew told Erin as she sat in the car next to Mike.
Erin looked at Mike and felt her heart pounding. “Why, may I ask?”
“My aunt left her estate to you.” His announcement was weighted with disappointment.
“Her estate?”
Mike’s eyebrows went up.
“Yes. The cabin on the coast. The place your dad left to her in his will. She signed it over to you.”
For a moment Erin couldn’t speak.
“Hello? Are you still there?”
“Yes, I’m here. Are you sure she left Hidden Cottage to me?”
Mike reached over and gave Erin’s leg a squeeze.
“Of course I’m sure.” The nephew sounded sullen.
“But I . . . I assumed she would pass it on to you.”
“So did I. But that’s how it was with my aunt. She never liked it when people assumed anything. Especially if they assumed things about her.”
“Yes, I know,” Erin said quietly.
“As the executor of her will, I’m calling as a courtesy for the attorney. He needs to know if your address has changed.”
Erin repeated her address, and he hung up.
“Thank you,” Erin said to the sound of a dial tone. She put down her phone and turned to Mike.
“Well?” he asked.
All she could do was nod.
“Delores left Hidden Cottage to you? Really?”
“Yes,” she said in barely a whisper. “Yes!”
In her mind’s eye, Erin could see the view out the front windows of Hidden Cottage. She saw the mysterious, magnificent, vast stretch of the wild Pacific. Above the blustery blue rose an especially charming fleet of clouds, all tumbling together and skittering out across the horizon. She saw herself dancing on the deck with Mike and their children and their grandchildren. She saw the persimmon red door, and she smiled.
Turning to her stunned husband, Erin playfully said,
Her smile is as wide as the ocean,
She lives in the cottage by the sea,
She’s the daughter of Jack O’Riley,
So give her a kiss for me.
And so Mike kissed her. And she kissed him back. They looked at each other and started laughing, laughing as neither of them had laughed in a very long time.
FROM THE AUTHOR’S NOTES
There is a real Hidden Cottage by the Sea and here it is—red door and everything! Friends of ours owned this wonderful hideaway for many years. During the sixteen years our family lived in Portland, Oregon, we enjoyed a number of getaways to Hidden Cottage. When I started writing this book, my husband and I stayed here for three days and listened to the sounds of the ocean along the wild Oregon coast.
Here I am at the red door. It was easy for my imagination to picture Erin standing at this door in her many states of mind and emotions. I could also imagine how a busy woman from the suburbs could easily develop a strong affection for a special place like this.
I love the way this picture gives a sense of the smallness of Hidden Cottage and the ruggedness of the ocean at low tide. There is a distinct beauty to the Northwest and a memorable fragrance that lingers in the air. It’s a blend of Douglas fir and salty sea breezes.
This sampler hangs in the upstairs bedroom at the real Hidden Cottage. When I went there to start working on this book, the sampler gave me the idea of including Irish blessings at the beginning of each chapter. What makes this hand-stitched sampler even more special is that it was lovingly made by my sister Julie, who gave it to our mutual friends, the owners of Hidden Cottage. She stitched it more than thirty-five years ago, and the blessing has remained in that little hideaway all these years.
Tiny kitchen with a view. Here’s what we could see from the kitchen window and what I imagined Erin looking out at as she made her morning Irish breakfast cuppa.
Living room with a view. It was clear as I was writing that if this was Jack’s daily view from his front window, there was no way he wanted to give that up.
Robin would love to keep in touch with you via her Robin’s Nest Newsletter. You can sign up on her website, www.robingunn.com. While you’re there, visit her Online Shop to find out more about her other books with Howard Books. You can also keep up with Robin on her Facebook Public Figure Page, listed as Robin Jones Gunn Author (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robin-Jones-Gunn/110691292261) or on Twitter (@RobinGunn).
COTTAGE BY THE SEA
Reading Group Guide
Discussion Questions
1. A theme throughout the book was the idea of hidden things. What were some things you noticed that were hidden in the beginning of the story and then later revealed? How did those revelations change Erin and the other characters in the story?
2. Looking at each of the key women in this story, what three or four words would you use to describe her life: Erin? Sharlene? Delores? Sierra? Which woman can you most relate to at this point in your journey?
3. How did Erin’s heart toward her father change throughout the book? What do you think led to that growth? Do you think her father’s heart changed? How?
4. Both Erin and Tony received words of healing from their dad. What did he say that impacted them so much? What is the one thing you wish you could hear from your father? Your mother? What is the one thing you would like to say to them? What is the one thing you would like to say to your children? If it is still possible, would you be willing to tell them?
5. Throughout the book Erin’s stress was evidenced by the way she was torn in two directions: caring for her father and investing in her new business venture with Sharlene. Have you ever had a season of life where you felt torn in two directions? What was pulling you, and what was the end result? What and who helped you to make it through that time in life?
6. Looking at the key men in the story, can you describe how each of them changed/grew as the story unfolded: Mike? Jack? Tony? Jordan?
7. How did the “cottage by the sea” tie into the story’s development? How did Jack and Delores describe the cottage before they renovated? In what ways did the cottage’s transformation parallel Erin’s?
8. What role did Erin’s mother play in this story? What older woman has shaped your life? How?
9. “There are no shortcuts in committed love. This is your path. No matter how long or lonely it may be right now, to experience the fullness of love, you must go the distance. Only the strongest and bravest stay on the path. And you, my darling girl, have been given everything you need to be among the strongest and bravest.”
Erin’s mother gave her this advice at a crucial time in life. What thought
s come to mind as you read it? What do you think she means when she says that Erin has been given everything she needs?
10. “It’s not always about what I think it’s about. The older I get, the more convinced I am that God has a hidden objective tucked into every disagreeable situation I encounter. If only I would collect those sparkling gems of truth while I’m in the midst of each difficult relationship or experience, I’d leave this earth a wise and spiritually wealthy woman.”
What were the hidden objectives the Lord had in store for Erin through this story? Looking at this season of your life, what do you think is the hidden objective that God has tucked away for you to glean?
A CONVERSATION WITH ROBIN JONES GUNN
1. On several occasions in the story Erin had a perfect scripture or blessing to apply to what is going on in her life, such as when she reads Psalm 90:17 to mark the first day of business for The Happiest Day. How does your own personal faith influence your everyday life? Do you have a favorite passage of scripture?
I am continually seeing God’s hand at work in everyday situations and I’m always amazed at how his care for us is so deliberate. My faith grows every time I trust God in a new situation and see how he works out all the details. My grandmother kept several journals where she wrote favorite verses and sayings. I inherited those wee books and have learned a lot from what she jotted down. I keep a journal as well and frequently add a new passage of scripture or a memorable moment.
Psalm 139 is my favorite chapter in the Bible and has been since I was in high school. Over the past few years Acts 20:24 has meant a lot to me. “But my life is worth nothing unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the LORD Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about God’s wonderful kindness and love.”
This is exactly what I long to do with every book I write—to tell others about God’s wonderful kindness and love because there is so much to tell!