Seaside was supposed to be the perfect escape…
“You said I could paint if I wanted to, right?” No doubt about it, every room in the cottage was going to need a fresh coat.
“By all means. I’ll even throw in some brushes and rollers,” Georgia adds, a hopeful expression appearing on her face. “It’s my own fault for not checking, but I had no idea it was this—”
“It’s okay. Really. I don’t mind. Plus, it’ll help pass the time until I’m able to find a job.”
When I first suspected Paul was up to no good, I’d started putting away a little bit of my paycheck each week. Nothing too alarming for him to notice in our bank account, but my gut told me I needed to start thinking about the future…a future without him in it. As heartbreaking as it was to accept, the two of us just didn’t belong together anymore.
I hadn’t minded picking up an extra shift or two—we were always under staffed on the weekends—so the extra money couldn’t have come at a better time. And even though Paul repeatedly denied he was doing anything wrong, I knew better. Coming home hours after he’d gotten off work. Spending his time in the city on his days off rather than at home. I wasn’t born yesterday, and I certainly wasn’t born underneath a rock.
“And this old thing. Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Georgia walks over to the mattress and lifts the corner of it as soon as we walk into the bedroom. “I’m so ashamed. I just never realized.”
“I brought along an air mattress, just in case,” I quickly share with her. “It’s no big deal.”
I was a little leery sleeping on a used mattress anyway, and I knew an air mattress would suffice for now. Believe me, I’d done my homework and a lot of prepping for this trip.
“Ahh, good thinking,” she says and places her hand on my forearm. “Smart girl. Yeah, we can slide this old thing out next to the road for the trash folks to pick up. It’s seen better days, for sure.”
Dumb girl, was more like. Naïve, depressed, insecure…I could go on. If she only knew how long it’d taken me to find the courage to leave.
Welcome to Summers in Seaside, a small town located along the Oregon Coast and home of the Seaside Festival. This series returns in July of 2023, with brand new stories filled with sun, sand and summer adventures that will tug at your heart strings.
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