Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks Page B

not going on a quest to search for a tribe of cannibals. You’re just going to find out if your curiosity was warranted.”
    They were both silent as they stared at each other. Deanna had a slight smirk on her face, and Theresa felt her pulse quicken as the finality of the decision hit her. My God, I’m actually going to do this. I can’t believe I’m going along with this.
    Still, she gave one last halfhearted attempt at denial.
    “I don’t even know what I would say if I finally met him. . . .”
    “I’m sure you’ll think of something. Now, let me take care of this call. Go get your purse. I’m going to need a credit card number.”
    Theresa’s mind was a whirl as she started back to her desk. Garrett Blake. Wilmington. Island Diving. Happenstance. The words kept rolling through her head, as if she were rehearsing for a part in a play.
    She unlocked the bottom drawer where she kept her purse and paused for a second before going back. But something else had taken hold of her, and in the end she handed Deanna a credit card. The following evening she would leave for Wilmington, North Carolina.
    Deanna told her to take the rest of that day and the following off, and on her way out of the office, Theresa sort of felt as if she had been cornered into something in the same way she had cornered old Mr. Shendakin.
    But unlike Mr. Shendakin, deep down she was pleased about it, and when the plane touched down in Wilmington the following day, Theresa Osborne checked into a hotel, wondering where all this would lead.

Message In A Bottle

CHAPTER 5
    Theresa woke early, as was her custom, and rose from the bed to look out the window. The North Carolina sun was casting golden prisms through an early morning haze, and she slid open the balcony door to freshen the room.
    In the bathroom, she slipped out of her pajamas and started a shower. Stepping into the stall, she thought about how easy it had been to get here. A little less than forty-eight hours ago she had been sitting with Deanna, studying the letters, making phone calls, and searching for Garrett. Once she got home, she had spoken to Ella, who again agreed to watch Harvey and pick up her mail.
    The next day she went to the library and read up on scuba diving. It seemed like the logical thing to do. Her years as a reporter had taught her to take nothing for granted, to make a plan, and to do her best to prepare for anything.
    The plan she finally came up with was simple. She would go to Island Diving and browse around the store, with the hope of getting a look at Garrett Blake. If he turned out to be a seventy-year-old man or a twenty-year-old student, she would simply turn around and go home. But if their instincts were right and he seemed to be approximately her age, she decided she would try to speak with him. That was why she had taken the time to learn something about scuba diving—she wanted to sound as if she knew something about it. And she would probably be able to learn more about him if she could talk to him about something he was interested in, without having to tell him too much about herself. Then she’d have a better grasp on things.
    But after that? That was the part she wasn’t exactly sure about. She didn’t want to tell Garrett the complete truth about why she came—that would sound crazy. Hi, I read your letters to Catherine, and knowing how much you loved her, I just thought you might be the man I’ve been looking for. No, that was out of the question, and the other option didn’t seem much better—Hi, I’m from the Boston Times and I found your letters. Could we do a story on you? That didn’t seem right, either. Nor did any of the other ideas that filtered through her mind.
    But she hadn’t come this far to give up now, despite the fact she didn’t know what to say. Besides, as Deanna had said, if it didn’t work out, she would simply return to Boston.
    She stepped out of the shower, dried off before putting some lotion on her arms