Play & Book Excerpts
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The Sea Glass Cottage
(HQN)
© 2020 RaeAnne Thayne
A weird mix of conflicting emotions churned in her chest at the sight of her aunt. She hadn’t seen her in person since she found Olivia’s journals shortly after finding her mom’s. She’d been dreading this moment, not sure what to say or how to act.
She had always admired Olivia. Her aunt always seemed so cool, so put together, as if she had everything figured out. She worked for some big health business in Seattle and also ran a start-up of her own. She traveled to exciting places; she had a great apartment and super nice friends.
All this time, she thought her aunt loved her. Olivia always sent fun gifts on birthdays and holidays, texted her funny memes she found, used to call her up sometimes, just because. Caitlin had even gone up to stay with her a few times and Olivia had taken her to cool restaurants and clothes stores that weren’t like anything they had here in Cape Sanctuary.
She had loved her right back. In a way, they were more like sisters separated by about fourteen years, since Olivia’s actual mother was Caitlin’s mom, too, in every way that mattered.
Then Caitlin had read her aunt’s diary and discovered everything was a lie. Her aunt didn’t love her. She despised her.
Since then, Caitlin couldn’t shake a terrible sense of betrayal, as if a best friend had humiliated her, stabbed her in the back in front of the entire school.
Olivia didn’t look sharp or put together now, she thought with a small-minded sense of satisfaction she was immediately ashamed of. Right now, her aunt’s eyes looked bloodshot and her hair was in a messy bun that looked more messy than bun. She wore yoga pants and an oversize sweater, and her face was pale and tired looking.
Olivia’s eyes widened when she spotted her and Mimi inside the room. “Oh. You’re still here,” she whispered, with a careful look at the bed where Mimi was sleeping. “The nurse at information who gave me the room number thought Mom might be in surgery already. I’m glad I checked here first.”
Hospital information ought to know where its patients were, Caitlin thought grumpily. She closed her notebook to hide the names there. Her quest to find her father was none of Olivia’s business.
“We’re still here. The anesthesiologist is on his way. You didn’t have to come. I told you that on the phone. I can handle things.”
She cringed inside as she heard her own tone. She sounded like a cranky three-year-old who insisted on crossing the street by herself, without holding a grown-up’s hand.
All of her interactions with Olivia were like this lately. She wanted to sound cool and polite and detached. Instead, she suspected she usually came across petulant and childish.
The words she had read in her aunt’s journal seemed burned into her brain, flashing there like glaring neon signs.
Whiny.
Brat.
Annoying.
Needy.
That had been hard enough. Who would possibly want to read that about themselves?
Worse, though, had been discovering Olivia’s love-hate relationship with Natalie. Olivia’s own sister and Caitlin’s mother.
Her resentment had come across loud and clear on the pages of that journal. She had written about Natalie throwing her life away by having Caitlin, about the terrible choices she was making, about how she could never stay out of trouble.
Okay, Caitlin knew she should never have even looked at the pages of that diary. It had been a serious invasion of Olivia’s privacy. How would she feel if somebody read her teenage diary sometime in the future and judged her for the things she’d written?
In her defense, Caitlin was on a quest to find her dad and had thought maybe her aunt’s diary from that time when Natalie had still been alive might provide valuable information that might help her.
Instead, all she had discovered was exactly how much her aunt had resented her.
She had always admired Olivia. Her aunt always seemed so cool, so put together, as if she had everything figured out. She worked for some big health business in Seattle and also ran a start-up of her own. She traveled to exciting places; she had a great apartment and super nice friends.
All this time, she thought her aunt loved her. Olivia always sent fun gifts on birthdays and holidays, texted her funny memes she found, used to call her up sometimes, just because. Caitlin had even gone up to stay with her a few times and Olivia had taken her to cool restaurants and clothes stores that weren’t like anything they had here in Cape Sanctuary.
She had loved her right back. In a way, they were more like sisters separated by about fourteen years, since Olivia’s actual mother was Caitlin’s mom, too, in every way that mattered.
Then Caitlin had read her aunt’s diary and discovered everything was a lie. Her aunt didn’t love her. She despised her.
Since then, Caitlin couldn’t shake a terrible sense of betrayal, as if a best friend had humiliated her, stabbed her in the back in front of the entire school.
Olivia didn’t look sharp or put together now, she thought with a small-minded sense of satisfaction she was immediately ashamed of. Right now, her aunt’s eyes looked bloodshot and her hair was in a messy bun that looked more messy than bun. She wore yoga pants and an oversize sweater, and her face was pale and tired looking.
Olivia’s eyes widened when she spotted her and Mimi inside the room. “Oh. You’re still here,” she whispered, with a careful look at the bed where Mimi was sleeping. “The nurse at information who gave me the room number thought Mom might be in surgery already. I’m glad I checked here first.”
Hospital information ought to know where its patients were, Caitlin thought grumpily. She closed her notebook to hide the names there. Her quest to find her father was none of Olivia’s business.
“We’re still here. The anesthesiologist is on his way. You didn’t have to come. I told you that on the phone. I can handle things.”
She cringed inside as she heard her own tone. She sounded like a cranky three-year-old who insisted on crossing the street by herself, without holding a grown-up’s hand.
All of her interactions with Olivia were like this lately. She wanted to sound cool and polite and detached. Instead, she suspected she usually came across petulant and childish.
The words she had read in her aunt’s journal seemed burned into her brain, flashing there like glaring neon signs.
Whiny.
Brat.
Annoying.
Needy.
That had been hard enough. Who would possibly want to read that about themselves?
Worse, though, had been discovering Olivia’s love-hate relationship with Natalie. Olivia’s own sister and Caitlin’s mother.
Her resentment had come across loud and clear on the pages of that journal. She had written about Natalie throwing her life away by having Caitlin, about the terrible choices she was making, about how she could never stay out of trouble.
Okay, Caitlin knew she should never have even looked at the pages of that diary. It had been a serious invasion of Olivia’s privacy. How would she feel if somebody read her teenage diary sometime in the future and judged her for the things she’d written?
In her defense, Caitlin was on a quest to find her dad and had thought maybe her aunt’s diary from that time when Natalie had still been alive might provide valuable information that might help her.
Instead, all she had discovered was exactly how much her aunt had resented her.
Photo Credit: Jared Thayne
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New York Times bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne finds inspiration in the beautiful northern Utah mountains where she lives with her family.
Her books have won numerous honors, including six RITA Award nominations from Romance Writers of America and Career Achievement and Romance Pioneer awards from RT Book Reviews. She loves to hear from readers and can be reached through her website. |
