one time, i trusted a stranger ‘cause i heard his sweet song. it was gently enticin’ me, though there was somethin’ wrong. when i turned, he was gone.
isla cruz. 30 years old, living in aurora vista, innkeeper at the seafoam inn, aunt and guardian, somerton girl. ♡
for: anyone! @somertonstarter
where: the skating rink in the winter market, evergreen docks
“Oh, you put that phone away,” Isla said, drawing out the first word in warning. The edge of heat in her voice didn’t reach her eyes, though, and the ten year old she was threatening just kept on laughing wildly and filming. Now, she supposed all she could do was pray that her niece didn’t have TikTok, but the chances of that in the year 2020 seemed so, so small.
Once upon a time, Isla donned her ice skates three or four times a year right here in Somerton, but once upon a time had been over a decade ago. The closest she’d gotten to the rink since graduating high school was driving Ruby to and from her lessons at Empire Skate of Mind. For the edification of everyone around, she proved just how long it had been when she bumped shoulders with someone coming the opposite way and fell headfirst, straight into them. “Oh my god– I'm so sorry!” She ruined the apology, somewhat, by starting to laugh at herself and her (typical) incredible luck. “Are you okay?”
for: @vanceamy
where: the art room at grant elementary
when: monday, dec. 14th, 3pm
“Knock knock,” Isla announced as she stepped into Amy’s classroom, hands outstretched to show the plate of pastries under plastic wrap she’d brought along with her. This was becoming a common occurrence for Isla’s friends and loved ones, especially considering they were spending more and more of their time indoors with the cold weather setting in. That automatically meant it was time to preheat the oven and figure out what she had in the cupboards.
Today that meant fluffy cinnamon rolls with rich, cream cheese icing, half of which were sitting on the counter at home, ready to be devoured after Isla finished up at the school. If she was going to share her oven’s bounty with someone other than Ruby, Amy Vance was always high up on her list. “Happy parent-teacher conferences! Blink twice if you’re being held here against your will and need a butt-load of calories and sugar.”
Location: On an empty street somewhere; @somertonstarter
As a fully grown adult, James probably should have known by now how to tie his fucking SHOELACES but that really didn’t stop him. There were probably a lot of things he probably should have known how to do as an adult but that was what happened when his body had grown up but his brain still seemed to think that he was five years old. There was nothing more embarrassing than tripping over and falling flat on his face in public but it was even MORE embarrassing when the reason he’d fallen over was because he was too lazy to actually tie up his shoelaces and decided that he would be fine. Evidently he was not fine.
“For fuck’s sake,” James grumbled to himself as he sat back up, checking out his hands which were now grazed from where he’d slammed them on the ground in an attempt to save himself from the inevitable. Luckily it was fairly quiet on this street but of course there had to be somebody watching him. A shit eating grin appeared on his lips for a moment. “What’s the point in having a witness to my tomfoolery if you didn’t even FILM it so I can go viral on Tik Tok?”
After a decade in a big city – and more than a handful of escapades to other, even bigger cities – people-watching was a habit, hobby, and skill that Isla hoped she never lost. As long as they got back up again (and to quote one of her favorite shows) she could watch strangers falling off of bikes or getting clotheslined all day long, she didn’t give a shit about strangers while they were still strangers. Still, she never failed to give a sad smile and even if he wasn’t exactly a stranger, the same went for Jamie. “Google Earth, always taking pics,” she quoted, holding out her hand for the man to take if he could. “You’ll be viral by Christmas. Can I make one recommendation? Work on your parkour, bud.”
It’s rude to be on her her laptop when she’s with company – a fact her lil stepbro reminds her weekly at family dinner – but her company isn’t here yet and patience has never been one of Robin’s virtues so why not get some work done while she waits, right? What Aiden doesn’t know, won’t hurt him.
Photoshop open, project loaded, wifi connected – now to find some background noise. But when Netflix loads instead of the quintessential ta-dum she is met with silence. Her brows furrow as she minimizes her work e-mail to investigate the problem. A message.
She reads it once. Then again before popping out an earbud to announce to the room, “dude, what the fuck? Netflix is raising their fee again?” Perhaps not earth shattering news but nevertheless the frowns (pouts, really) at the screen. “Eighteen bucks for premium, they’re really trying to get my ex to kick me off his account, huh? Unbelievable.” Well that settles it, she’s definitely getting cheesy fries.
*
As Robin broke the news, Isla tried to remember whose Netflix account they were using in her household right now. Was it her cousin’s? Arianna’s? Shit, was it her ex’s? “In our time of need? I’m not here for this, that’s corporate greed,” she joked (mostly), leaning over to peak at her bandmate’s screen and the Netflix notice. She shook her head and tsk’ed at whatever Netflix gods there were, mentally running through her expenses. “Disney Plus isn’t going anywhere, so I guess it’s goodbye to... oh god, no. Not Hulu. The shitty Christmas rom-coms on Amazon Prime are nothing compared to the ones on Hulu.”
Seeing her daughter smiling and having fun with her friend made Phoebes heart feel full. There was a time she worried if her daughter would ever have that. When she was younger the other moms didn’t feel comfortable with their kids hanging out with Daisy or over at their house because of Phoebe’s age. She felt like an outcast with the other parents. She saw they way they looked at her and heard their whispers about how irresponsible she was to get pregnant at eighteen and how they couldn’t trust someone like that to look after their kids. It got a little better once she and Daisy both got older, but the judgement was still there. So when Isla and her niece moved in next door and she and Daisy ended up in the same class she couldn’t have been more relieved. Daisy got a built in best friend and Phoebe gained ally she could face the bitchy PTA moms with, no longer having to face school events alone.
“Daisy’s the same way. I swear she can finish a book in one night. She definitely didn’t get that from me. If I’m being embarrassingly honest I don’t think I’ve ever made it to the end of one single book in my life. I always got bored and abandoned them halfway through. I swear kids are smarter these days. I mean don’t even get me started on the new way they are teaching them math. Has Ruby showed you the homework they have this week? I felt so dumb trying to help Daisy with it. Math was already hard enough to learn the first time and now they had to go and switch up the way they are teaching it to our kids.”
*
The last few Raisinets left in Isla’s hand when her friend mentioned the new math homework went shooting out over the floor like a grenade had gone off; her hands having gone flying as she went to hide her face in shame. Add another thing onto the list of things she had to do before leaving if she didn’t want the staff at one of their favorite spots to hate her. How could Ruby ever forgive her? “I cannot possibly handle another week of this. I barely got past fractions in the fourth grade, how do they expect me to understand this? Seriously, though, Ruby has had to explain it to me a dozen different times.”
A part of Isla believed that was true; that she couldn’t handle what they expected of her. Little moments when she realized that she wasn’t the only one who felt in over her head sometimes made that part of her quiet, and her friendship with Phoebe eased those anxieties. She always had the feeling that they were in it together, and after the last couple of years she and Ruby had had? Isla considered that priceless. She moved toward the next corner of the shop that the kids ran off to, sticking a packet of candy buttons into the basket hanging off of the crook of her arm. “I’m already ready for it to be summer, is that bad? I love the snow and the decorations and the holiday plans, but... I could use a break and a barbecue.”
Contrary to popular belief and the go-to job description, Lowell doesn’t spend most of his days fighting fire. On any given day the majority of their calls are medical-based, and the rest of their time is spent around the firehouse or doing public outreach. Lowell loves the days where he gets to go out to schools and show off the trucks and hoses and equipment to tiny humans. When he gets to teach them all about stop, drop, and roll and fire safety.
But teaching and disseminating info on fire safety just doesn’t stop in primary school, which is why Lowell and a few others from the rescue squad are out in the community. Lowell’s got an armful of fliers on holiday and tree safety as he enters the next business on the block. Usually he asks to hang a few near the entrance and exits of shops, leave a few at check-out counters, and sometimes even offers what he still has on hand to anyone immediately upon sight in the store.
And with one person in his cross-hairs, Lowell walks up and holds out his hand – both fliers offered – and smiles. “Somerton Fire & Rescue just want to remind you of ways to ensure you have safe holidays and hopefully won’t need to call us for any emergencies.”
*
Seeing Lowell Channing generally meant one of only a few things for Isla: A - they were about to play the hell out of a hit from the ‘80s, B - a baby was being born in the lobby or an old-timer guest was having chest pains, or C - something (usually the inn’s kitchen) was on fire again. It wasn’t information she would give out freely, but any time she got to see him without someone being in imminent danger counted as a personal win. That was how to set herself up for success, right? Just make her goals incredibly attainable?
“Leave a few of ‘em, honestly. I don’t remember starting so many fires here as a kid, but they’re happening... too often with this chick in charge,” she joked, pointing her thumb toward herself with her free hand after taking the flyers. She looked thoughtful for a moment, a couple of choice memories of adolescent arson playing in her mind. “Okay, maybe I do remember starting some fires here. It must be the Seafoam, though, I swear I never set Philadelphia on fire.”
“One time, I trusted a stranger ‘cause I heard his sweet song.
And it was gently enticin' me, though there was somethin' wrong.
But when I turned, he was gone.”
“Jesus Was A Crossmaker”, performed by Cass Elliot
Phoebe had just finished up her Saturday classes. Usually she would stay for an hour after to get her own skating in, but she promised Daisy she would take her to get a treat after practice. Phoebe loved that her daughter was interested in taking figure skating classes, but she could sometimes get upset when Phoebe would spend a little extra time helping some of the other kids in her beginners group class. It had been the two of them for so long that sometimes Daisy had a hard time sharing her with other kids. So Phoebe promised her that after practice they would spend the rest of the afternoon together doing something fun, and of course Daisy wanted candy.
Phoebe was standing at the front of the store, sucking on a lollipop as she watched Daisy run around filling a clear plastic bag with candy. “I’m going to regret this later” she said to the person standing nearby. “There’s nothing worse than a 10 year old with a sugar high.”
*
“You’re telling me,” Isla agreed, turning to eye her niece slamming the lid of one of the barrels of sour gummy candies shut like a maniac. Isla popped one of the chocolate-covered raisins in her hand into her mouth, fully enjoying the madness. A snort of a laugh left her at the sight of Rubes, running after Daisy when they were done with the sour gummies and shrieking when she found what looked like the every flavor jelly beans from Harry Potter. It was always a relief to see her just being a kid and Daisy always that out of her. As far as Isla was concerned, moving next door to Phoebe and Daisy had been an actual godsend.
“I got talked into making a deal with the kid - a trip to Sweet Surrender for every five books she reads. She pulled out The Lion, The Witch, & the Wardrobe, Little Women, Gulliver’s Travels... Not exactly Junie B. Jones. It took me three months when I was a kid, y’know? It’s been three weeks. I don’t know where she finds the time.”
full name: isla jane cruz
pronouns: she/her
nicknames: lala, cruz
age: thirty years old
hometown: somerton, maine
sexuality: bisexual, biromantic
occupation: innkeeper at the seafoam inn, former radio show host
specialty: marathon stress baking, decorating for christmas too early
hobbies: singing with her cover band, loitering at groovy baby records, podcasts
full bio: click here!
connections: click here!
BIOGRAPHY
tw: family deaths, plane crash, mental illness
– isla’s family has been in somerton for generations! they’ve owned the seafoam inn since the forties and once upon a time, it was the heart of evergreen dock. she was raised primarily by her grandmother and great-grandmother right inside the seafoam. it’s where she learned to cook and bake and play piano; where she joked with the rest of the town that it was haunted, but never really believed it.
– that was until isla was fourteen years old and they lost both of her grandmothers within a year of each other. that’s when the light went out in isla’s mothers eyes, and isla and her older sister lucy were left to finish raising themselves. they grew up too early and it made isla bitter for a long time, but lucy was always an angel; even in the middle of their worst years.
– things were never the same in the seafoam, but they managed to keep the doors open. isla and lucy worked shifts to cover for their mother when they needed, but isla never planned on working there longer than a couple of afternoons a week when she was in high school. for the most part, she tried to stay away from it. no one would’ve guessed after that time that isla would be taking control 15 years later.
– isla still got in trouble, got her heartbroken, and made a name for herself as the girl that did the funny morning announcements. lucy was one of the popular girls, gorgeous and lovely to everyone who looked her way, but isla wasn’t exactly known for being graceful or poised. she was better known for singing in the cafeteria, getting into trouble for loitering in the choir room after school, and coordinating their senior skip day.
– when isla graduated, she left somerton and her family behind for almost ten years. she moved to philadelphia and studied communications at upenn, where she hosted her own college radio show on the 24/7 student station. she developed a taste for having complete control over something so creative, and when she graduated from university, stayed in philadelphia to take a radio internship.
– after three years in philadelphia, isla landed her own radio show in the worst timeslot they had to offer - midnight to 6am. she planned on spending years working toward a better timeslot, but when one of her late night sketches went viral after a couple of years doing overnights, she caught the attention of one of the rival radio and her dream became a reality. she found herself with her own office and a real radio show with her name in lights (alongside her co-host’s).
– isla had been in philadelphia for nine years when she her sister asked her to watch her daughter, ruby, in somerton for two weeks while lucy and her husband went to the maldives for their make-up honeymoon. isla had always been the fun aunt, bringing presents and stories of her adventures a couple of times a year, and agreed in an instant. it was meant to be just another adventure.
– that’s when isla got the worst call of her life: lucy and her husband had chartered a private flight to another island and the plane went down, leaving no survivors. isla took custody of ruby that day, with no one from her father’s family in the country and isla’s mother suffering from a memory disorder that was rapidly worsening at the time. soon after, isla fell to obligation and took control of the seafoam as well, ending her career in radio.
– it’s been three years since ruby’s parents died, and her and isla’s lives are slowly starting to stabilize. isla tries her hardest to set the right example for ruby and prove to her that they can still live their lives and go after their dreams. isla’s currently working on renovating and revitalizing the seafoam inn (hopefully in time to resurrect the seafoam inn christmas party) and maybe even starting her own podcast. will either work? only time will tell.
if you read all of this, thank you! it turned out so long, omg. if you’re down to plot, i’ll be around in the next few days to plot and start threads! you can im me here or on discord, where i’m magdalena#5478 ♡
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