Page 6 of Worth a Shot

She grabbed Cordelia’s bag from the trunk and they hurried inside the cottage, shaking the rain from their coats and hanging them on pegs by the door.

The inside was as tiny as it had seemed in the pictures online – the front of the cottage was a living and dining area squished together, a faded blue sofa against one wall and a lamp with a butterfly-print shade sitting on top of a stack of old books. There was a chipped wooden table with three chairs, and a braided rug on the floor. White eyelet lace curtains hung in the windows, and there was a small fireplace with an armchair beside it. Alison showed Cordelia to her bedroom, then went to make tea. A window over the bed looked out onto a back garden and up to a green field surrounded by low rock walls.

She could practically hear her father’s voice in her ear. “It’s like you’ve stepped into The Secret Garden, Cordie. Now don’t you cry over spilled milk – get up, get out there, and enjoy the day.” But she couldn’t enjoy the day. How could she enjoy anything now? Who was she without a camera?

She took out her phone and texted Liz what had happened. She wasn’t ready to tell Toby yet – she didn’t know what would be worse, him acting like this was some kind of sign or him saying something trite like You keep Dad in your heart, not in a camera.

Before she could put her phone away, it pinged. She checked the screen and her heart dropped. She’d completely forgotten to text her mother.

Toby says you got there ok.

Oof. That was some quality Louise James shade right there.

Sorry Mom, it’s been crazy, Cordelia wrote back. She sighed and added, How’s Gary? How’s the vacation?

She didn’t really care how her mother’s boyfriend was, but Toby was constantly insisting she be nice. She was trying. Not always succeeding, but trying.

Ever since Louise had started dating Gary six months ago, she’d become some kind of zealot about romance. She was constantly nagging Cordelia about her lack of a love life. As if the only possible way to be happy was to be paired up with someone.

And okay, maybe Cordelia had assumed that Dad had been the love of Mom’s life, and when you found the love of your life you didn’t just get over it and start dating an ex-marine you met on an “older singles” website.

Oh it’s wonderful! her mother wrote back and then sent a picture of the two of them on a boat. They were spending a week at Gary’s house in the Florida Keys. Her mother had a faint sunburn on the bridge of her nose and wore a big floppy hat. Gary was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and Ray-Bans, his arm thrown casually around her mother’s shoulders.

You guys look great! Cordelia wrote back, adding the exclamation point as an afterthought. So there, Toby, she thought to herself. I can be nice.

Her mother sent back a red heart emoji and a cat with a kissing face and a rainbow. Cordelia rolled her eyes – Gary had been teaching her about emojis and now she couldn’t have a text conversation without them. Nikki thought it was cute. Toby thought it was funny. Cordelia thought it was weird.

The bathroom was en suite, and Cordelia stripped off her travel-worn clothes, turned on the water, and stepped gratefully into the low porcelain tub wedged between the narrow walls. If she were in New York, she’d take her camera to Leslie Greer over on 58th Street, to the shop where she got all her equipment. If anyone could fix it, Leslie could.

The initial shock was beginning to wear off beneath the soothing rush of hot water – of course it could be fixed. It was just a lens, plus the focus was off. Surely Leslie could handle that. Cordelia could get it sorted out when she got back to the city.

The problem was, that was months away. Cordelia had made an agreement with Alison – she couldn’t break it and run home because of a cracked lens. But there was no way she could spend three months without a camera. Photography was a secondary system of veins and capillaries running straight to her heart. A week without a camera was doable, maybe. But not an entire summer.

She sighed. She really didn’t want to spend the money, especially since she was already dipping into some of the inheritance her father had left her to come on this trip in the first place. But it looked like she was going to have to.

She turned off the tap and wrapped herself in a towel, wiping the steam from the mirror over the sink and staring at her reflection. There were deep shadows under her eyes and her hair hung in a rope over her shoulder. The scattering of freckles across her left cheek seemed stark against her pale skin. Her Andromeda, her father used to call it, because they were patterned in a shape similar to the constellation, curving under her left eye and leaving a trail to her jawline with a little sprinkling upward across her cheek.

She took a calming breath. It was time to make a slightly better impression on her new landlord. As she changed into a pair of sweatpants and an oversized tee, the smell of frying bacon filled the room and Cordelia’s stomach roared. She followed her nose to the kitchen.

It was as snug as the rest of the house, with a window that had the same view as her bedroom, a tiny sink and stove, a humming little fridge, and mint green cabinets lining the walls, the paint peeling in some places.

“Bad news wants food,” Alison said, pointing at the bacon sizzling in a pan on the stove. “That’s another of my gran’s sayings.”

“I’m excited to meet her,” Cordelia said politely.

Alison chuckled. “I’ll warn you right now, she’s a character. Don’t be put off if she’s a bit . . . strange at first.”

“Oh,” Cordelia said. “Okay.”

An electric kettle was heating up on the countertop beside the bacon and Alison had cracked some eggs into a large clear bowl and was whisking them enthusiastically.

“Did the shower help? You look like you’ve got some color back.”

“It did,” Cordelia said. “Thank you so much, I’m so sorry about all that, I – ”

Alison waved the whisk at her. “No need for sorrys, like I said. I lost my dad and my mam when I was just a little girl. I still have a good cry about them sometimes. I understand completely.”

Cordelia was surprised that Alison was being so open with her, but it turned at once to gratitude. Here was a kindred spirit – another child in the horrible Dead Parent Club. “You didn’t have to do this,” she said, gesturing to the stove.