Making Waves (Mythological Lovers) (12 page)

On our way to dinner, Mom grilled me about my boyfriend, how long he’d been living with me, if he planned to remain a surf instructor all of his life, and whether or not I would ever move home. I power walked to the hostess and informed her of our reservation, abruptly ending the game of twenty questions.

Mom resumed it at the table.

“He looked Italian in your photograph. Is he Italian?”

“Yes and no...”

“Have you met his parents?” she asked, as the waitress arrived with the wine.

“His dad’s a difficult guy. They don’t get along, and his mom was murdered when he was a child.”

“Oh.” Mom frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

I raised my wine for a sip, needing it to make it through Mom’s questioning.

“Are you being safe?”

Wine went down the wrong hole, choking me. “Mom!” I sputtered. Coughing into a napkin with tears in my eyes, I struggled to clear my airway. “What kind of question is that?”

“A good one,” she replied, appearing very stern.

Technically, we were practicing safe sex. We were a mated, monogamous couple, the very equivalent of marriage in the paranormal community. And while making a baby was a normal, acceptable activity for married couples, I became reluctant to express our intentions to my mother. I directed the conversation to another topic instead. “Mom, did you really come all of this way to quiz me like we’re on Jeopardy?”

“Well, no... I’m sorry. I rarely see you, you never visit home, and I never know what’s going on in your life anymore.”

Leaving sex with my boyfriend behind, I told mom about my work at the aquatics department, my recovered sea turtle Kai, and I promised to show her photos I took while snorkeling off the owner’s personal island.

“I love snorkeling,” she sighed. “How is the view here?”

“Magnificent. If I ask Teo, I’m sure he’ll let me and Dante bring you back.” A smile tugged the corners of my lips. “Didn’t you tell me how much you wanted to learn to skimboard one day? He’s amazing at it.”

Mom pursed her lips thoughtfully. I didn’t need to read her mind to know she thought time learning to skimboard was a chance to examine my man.

Later, after dinner, the two of us settled on the sofa together beneath a blanket to watch a movie. The long flight had exhausted her, and my hectic schedule wore me thin. My mother’s hugs were the best comfort after a hellish week. When her head drooped, I sent her off to my bed and remained on the sofa.

I awakened in the morning to the smell of fresh bread in the oven. Mom always arrived with expectations of feeding me well, so I kept a mix of fresh ingredients and frozen dough.

“Okay, I have a day planner and a resort schedule right here for you. I can’t stay long, because I told my department manager I’d be there to oversee cleaning the tanks today and then we have a show this afternoon.”

“They
are
working you too much,” she accused.

“Well...” I poured myself a cup of milk while my mother sipped her coffee. “It’s getting me out of student loan debt and it’s only for a summer.”

“You should have attended college at home.”

“I wanted to spend the time with Daddy, you know that.”

Mom’s expression softened. “You are right. Pay me no mind, Alessa. I worry about you missing the best years of your adulthood.”

Like you once did?
I wondered.
Did my existence lead you to feel robbed of a full life?

“Mom, I live rent-free on a resort. I swim with dolphins. My boss pays me to play with turtles.”

“All right. All right. You have a dream job, I only wish it was closer to home is all.”

“I’ll come home during the winter break, Mom, I promise.”

“I’ll hold you to it.”

I chugged my milk and scurried into the bedroom to collect clothes for the day. In passing, I kissed the top of her head. “I am fine, so don’t worry about me.”

She may have believed me if I didn’t puke promptly after stepping out of the shower. Most of it hit the toilet bowl.

“Baby, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Mom. I think the milk went bad. Dante doesn’t drink it and it takes forever for me to use up a gallon.”

I washed the sour taste from my mouth and emerged. Mom wasted no time; she touched my brow and felt my lymph nodes, reminding me of when I was a child claiming to be too ill for school.

“You don’t feel warm. Does it hurt anywhere?”

“It was probably something I ate last night.” I smiled wearily.

My mother remained unconvinced by my thread-thin excuse. “I ate the exact same thing as you and I’m fine.”

“Just a bug then, Mom.” The flimsy explanation fell through when I bolted for the toilet again.

“Alessa, honey, have you had your period this month?”

“Er...”

“Maybe you should take a pregnancy test.”

“Mom!”

“Look, sweetie, I’m not judging. I’m just pointing out a possibility. Do you want me to run up to the store and grab you one?”

“No, that’s all right. I have a box.”

My mother arched a brow but didn’t say anything. A lie came to mind, but I kept my mouth shut. I hated fibbing to her. Once I’d shut her out of the bathroom, I endured the longest sixty second wait of my life. To be dramatic, I prayed to every god I could recall by name, from the god of Christianity to Zeus and the sea god Poseidon. I tried not to leave anyone out, an equal-opportunity wish maker.

Finally, I opened my eyes and peeked at the stick. Two pink lines, a clear pregnancy result, darkened across the tiny white window. Where had that been last week when I tested twice?

“Well?” Mom demanded.

I sagged against the bathroom sink and exhaled a deep, relieved sigh. Tears stung my eyes within moments and trickled down my cheeks. We’d made it in time, with months to spare. Time enough to prove to his father our mating could be successful after all. Time enough to save Dante from the rear guard.

My mother knocked again and threatened to pick the lock, so I saved her the trouble and opened the door. Without a word, I showed her the positive test then set it down.

“Oh, honey...” Happiness warred with concern on her freckled face. “Are you okay with this?”

“I am, Mom. I really am. I wanted to save this for after you met Dante but... I love him and we’re getting married. I mean, we talked about it.”

She squealed and threw her arms around me. We hugged and bounced in place together for a few seconds before she finally let me go.

“You have to go tell him,” Mom said. “Can you call in sick?”

“I have to check on a few things but I’ll take off early and— crap. Dante has a tour group booked today. Do you think you can keep the news between us so I can tell him after dinner?”

“I can do that,” she confirmed. “Besides, it’ll give me a chance to size my future son-in-law up.”

Eyeing my mother up and down, I sighed. “He’s worried you’ll hate him, so please take it easy. Try not to scare him away.”

“When have I ever scared any of your boyfriends?” Mom scoffed.

“Alexi Papadopoulos comes to mind.”

“Yes, well...”

I kissed her cheek and grinned. “He was a loser anyway. You go have fun and I’ll pick you up here for dinner at six.”

Everything about today was going to be great. I laced my hands over my belly and dreamed of the life growing within. Would it be a little boy with his father’s bright smile or a girl with my stormy gray eyes?

As tempting as it was to tell Pam and Julia, my pregnancy remained a secret to share with Dante alone. I floated throughout the work day from one task to the next and even smiled in the face of Castlebury’s attitude.

“Something’s gone wrong with my printer.”

“Can’t you have David fix it?”

“David is unavailable. You, however, are standing about.”

I glanced at the laundry list of tasks on my desk, from equipment orders to time clock corrections for the floor staff.
I’m going to kill this bastard with kindness.
“Sure. I’ll be in to fix your printer in a second.”

“Excellent.”

“Douche,” I muttered after he left. The man was always jamming up his printer, but he couldn’t be bothered to learn how to open the machine and fix it on his own. It wasn’t even a difficult repair.

I handled several reports then headed over to Castlebury’s office. His voice reached me through the door, causing me to slow and linger. A peek through the cracked opening revealed the man at his desk, phone to his ear.

“I have a fully equipped boat ready to head out on the water,” Castlebury said into the phone. “Yes, yes. Of course. Acquire the specialty gear as discussed and we shall be good to go. No. No. Multiple harpoons will be necessary.”  

What the heck is he planning? Probably something that’ll wind up making me pull ridiculous hours.
The last time Victor went out on his boat he came back with wild specimens that didn’t adapt well to confinement and (inspired) Teo’s rule about acquiring our animals through channels authorized by him only.

“You’ll be handsomely paid for your time, I assure you. When we’re done, we’ll both be rich men...” His eyes raised to me from the computer screen as he hung the phone up. “Something I can help you with, Miss Kokinos?”

“Your printer, Victor. You asked me to come fix your printer.”

I did it hastily, hoping to be in and out before he could initiate small talk.

“Employee productivity has taken a dramatic decline this summer,” Castlebury murmured from his desk chair. “What do you plan to do about it?”

“Maybe an employee appreciation luncheon? Reward the ones who perform up to standards to inspire everyone else?”

Doctor Castlebury’s brows raised. “Excellent idea, Miss Kokinos. Perhaps during the week while most staff members are available? Wednesday would be suitable.”

“Really?” My mouth dropped, but I quickly recovered. “Oh, yes. Yes. Definitely. I’ll get on arranging that. Um... my mom is in town, so I wondered if I can take off early and have the rest of the week with her. I’ll come in Wednesday for the party.”

Victor dismissed me with a hand wave then faced the computer. The printer beeped and clicked, creating electronic sounds as it cranked out sheets of printed text. “As much time as you need.”

“Thank you, Victor.”

Before the alien wearing my boss’ skin could emerge and eat me, I scurried from the room and tracked down Pam in the employee lounge.

“Castlebury is being nice today,” I whispered. “Any idea what’s up?”

“No idea. His usual fishing trip, I think. He scheduled off a week soon.”

“I think he’s treasure hunting or something. He was talking to someone on the phone about boats, gear, harpoons, and getting rich. Thankfully he’s not Nick Cage, so we don’t have anything to worry about here.”

Pam snorted. “Well, good luck to him then. Maybe if he finds gold he’ll quit.”

After we shared a laugh at Castlebury’s expense, I typed up a quick flyer about the party and posted copies to our employee bulletin boards.

Mom caught the afternoon performance in the tank. I spotted her through the glass and waggled my fingers in her direction. She gave a thumbs up for my new tail and snapped photo after photo. As much as I lived for mystifying the audience, I couldn’t wait for the damned summer to end.

I puked in the trash can in the women’s changing room when I caught a whiff of someone reheating fried chicken in the microwave. The girls fussed over me but accepted my food poisoning excuse. I cleaned myself up and met Mom outside by the fish tanks.

“Ready for dinner? I got us a table at the Mediterranean restaurant.”

“Ooh, I loved that place last time I flew over. Still, I’m more interested in your young man.”

“Mom,” I whined.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’m just excited to meet him, is all.” Her attention drifted to a middle-aged man studying the adjacent tank. I admired the muscular blond with her in passing, then we strolled arm-in-arm down the flora-lined paths through the resort grounds. I pointed out my favorite shops, some of the resident animals, and chatted about Dante.

“So what about his family? Do they live on the island, too?”

“His grandfather runs a little hut on the beach with the best fresh fish.”

“We’ll have to try it out while I’m here.”

At the restaurant, I gave my name to the hostess and she said Dante was already waiting for us. She led the way inside the air conditioned building to a table toward the back beside the windows overlooking the ocean. At our approach, Dante rose to his feet.

Five years of friendship had taught me Dante’s wardrobe only consisted of shorts and obnoxiously bright shirts, but the sight of him in a suit stole my breath away. The perfect cut had been tailored to his broad shoulders with an inseam suitable to his impressive height, and he wore Italian leather shoes to round out the immaculate charcoal-colored suit. My eyes darted to the silk tie beneath his pristine, starched white collar. The blue matched his eyes, overlaid with a white diamond pattern grid.

I’d recognize Teo’s trinity knot anywhere. He’d worked his billionaire dragon magic and transformed my humble surfer into an elegant gentleman. Somehow, I managed to blink away the tears springing to my eyes.

“Mom, this is Dante. Dante, my mom.” I wiped my sweaty hands against my skirt a few times, petrified. I snuck a glance at her, only to find my fears were unjustified. Mom’s mouth opened and closed wordlessly.

“It is my pleasure to meet you, Ms. Kokinos. I have waited a long time for this day.” Dante bowed courteously then offered his hand.

Won over by either his good looks or impeccable display of manners, Mom pushed his hand aside and hugged him. “Please, call me Pelagia. My daughter informed me about the marriage plans in the making, which means you’ll be family soon.” Mom glanced over her shoulder and winked at me.

Way to be subtle, Mom.

“Yes, there are plans.” He squeezed her back, relief evident on his face. Once Mom stepped back, she gazed over him again and nodded her head in approval. “I’ve made arrangements for a small ceremony this week.”

He what?!

“Good.” My mother smiled, oblivious to my wide-eyed confusion behind her.