The Turning Tides (Marina's Tales) (17 page)

I wanted to keep them as far away from humans as possible, but a
disturbing thought
kept
slinking
into
the back of my mind.
If I could manage to stop all mermaid-human contact
,
I would essentially be eliminating my own kind. Would I be doing a disservice to mankind by
preventing
any more muses from being born?

I thought of Edwards’ greed and Evie’s altruism. How much of man’s progress over the centuries– both good and bad– had been helped along by a
hybrid’s magical intervention?
And then there was Nixie
to consider
. If Nerissa hadn’t been forced onto land, she wouldn’t exist. Clearly, human and mermaid destinies were linked, but for the better or worse I couldn’t decide; maybe it wasn’t my place to make that call.

As Evie would say, it was a riddle wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in a mystery.

At least I could look out for Lorelei, Nerissa and Nixie, and do my best to keep them safe. They were my family, and I
was determined
find a way to protect them. My eyes filled with tears when I realized that might mean
avoiding them
. I sat up straight, wiping my cheeks aggressively. I had Ethan now, and that was enough for me. As long as we were together it was all I needed.

I left my studio that afternoon to go to his house.
I pulled up to the harbor to see a pair of long legs sticking out from the open door of Ethan’s blue truck. I parked and stealthily snuck up on him. He was bent over backwards, lying across the bench seat, hard at work on something under the dashboard. His shirt was riding up, exposing his lean and muscled stomach, and my breath caught in my throat. I
stood watching him silently, biting my lip. I was torn between the desire to either tickle his bellybutton or shower it with kisses.

I took a step closer, and he must have heard me, because he craned his neck to see who it was. “Hey,” he beamed up at me, swinging around to sit up behind the wheel.

“What happened?” I asked.

He scooted over and snaked his arm around my waist, drawing me closer, “She wouldn’t start this morning, so I’ve been working on her all day.”

“Her, huh?”

He smiled
sly
ly, “
She
must be female.
She’s
kinda temperamental sometimes…”

“So,” I asked, looking the truck over
with a frown
.
“Are you in love with her?”

“Why?
Are you jealous
?”

I cocked a
n eyebrow at him, “She is kinda
…
old.”

He laughed at me, going in for a kiss.

“So what’s your mother doing?” I finally asked.

He shrugged, “She’s watching some soap opera she likes. She wanted to go out for lunch but the old girl here was acting up,” He patted the door, “I told her
you were coming over and
we could all do something later on today.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“I have absolutely no
clue
… Any ideas?”

“How about we go surfing?”

“I don’t know if I should leave her alone…” he looked up the stairs to the apartment.

I smiled, “She could come with us and work on her tan.”

“Nice try,” he laughed
.
“But I don’t think she’s the beachy type.”

“Not the type?” I asked, with mock incredulity, “And I am?”

He looked at me reproachfully, “You know what I mean… She’s all excited about going shopping with you tomorrow.”

“It’s beautiful weather today…” I added hopefully.

“Yeah,” he sighed, looking out to the water, “It is a perfect day.”

He turned his attention back to the truck, turning the key. It sputtered for a few seconds, and finally roared to life, “Ta Da,” he said with a grin. He revved the engine a little, turned it off and climbed out to stretch his shoulders.

The sun was high in the sky, and the sea was sparkling, winking flirtatiously at me. I looked out across the harbor as Ethan gathered up his tools, wondering out loud, “Have you ever thought about getting a boat like your dad?”

He closed the toolbox, putting it in the back of the truck, “Nope. Never.”

“Why not?” I asked, curious.

“Because it’s not my thing,” he said, returning to me.

“What is your thing?” I asked.

He wrapped his arms around me, “You are.”

“No, seriously,” I said, twisting away from his puckered lips.

He kissed my cheek instead, pausing for a moment before speaking into my ear, “I like to plant things, and
watch
them grow. I like to see how they change, get stronger… develop character. I like to come back months…
years
later, and see something I did, still there, still gro
wing… becoming part of a place…
I like to see things put down roots.”

He had spoken so lyrically, and painted such a beautiful picture that I was rendered speechless. All I could do was turn my face and kiss him for all I was worth, pressing him back up against the truck.

“I love you
!
” I finally gasped, taking his face in my hands, “I love you, I love you, I love you…”

“Well, aren’t you two cute,” Ruby’s voice grated in my ear. I pulled away with a sigh.

“Hello Ruby,” I said politely.

“Playing tonsil hockey out here?” she said with her hands on her hips. She rolled her eyes at Ethan, “Did I hear you get that thing started?”

“Uh… Up and running,” he answered, still reeling from my assault on him.

She frowned at Ethan’s old truck, “I don’t know if I trust it… Maybe Marina can drive us somewhere,” she said sweetly.

I looked over at her, c
hanneling my inner Evie
, “How would you like to come and see what a great surfer your son is?”

She didn’t stand a chance. Before she could think of a reason not to, I had Ethan’s board loaded in the Rover and we were off.

“Nice ride,” Ruby looked around inside the Rover, “The rich Aunt, right?” I had to admit she was right, and it had never bothered
me as much before. I pulled in
to the convenience store
lot
, running
in
to get some drinks and tabloids to keep Ruby occupied. When we got down to the beach by the
cement ship
, the familiar crowd of surfers and girls
were
gathered
there
to enjoy the beautiful afternoon.

“Maybe I shouldn’t go out…” I told Ethan, hanging back.

“It doesn’t matter,” he gave my hand a squeeze, whispering in my ear, “You’re already famous around here.”

I had to admit he was right, and it didn’t have much to do with my surfing. The whole
incident
with Shayla and the movie star in Hawaii was
common knowledge
among the Aptos crowd, and I could already feel the curious eyes focusing on me.

We spread out a blanket for Ruby to sit on, and I looked over to see a gaggle of girls watching the three of us closely. Ethan and I quickly slipped on our wetsuits, promising Ruby we’d be back soon. I noticed that Ruby’s scanty attire fit right in with the crowd.

I paddled out alongside Ethan, feeling the familiar rush of elation that the cold clean water always brought me. We made our way out to the lineup, where
Ethan’s
surfing buddies greeted
him
enthusiastically. I hung back a little.

“Dude! Long time,” a couple of leathery sunbaked guys swam up to greet Ethan with backslaps and fist bumps, telling him tales of the epic waves they’d dominated.

“Hey Marina!” it was Mike, followed by Long, and they
paddled
their boards over to me.

“H
i
,” I nodded
, uneasy
. Aside from Ethan, Mike was one of the first surfer dudes to be nice to me,
and
Long had finally overcome his wariness to accept me.
Now
Long seemed to have adopted his grandfather’s view, seeing me as some
thing
supernatural, and treating me with reverence instead of fear.

I couldn’t decide which was worse.

“Are you gonna shred for us today?” Mike asked, elbowing me good-naturedly.

“Hey!” Ethan
maneuvered
between us, looking down on Mike.

“Chill!” Mike was offended, “I was just wondering
which
Marina we’re gonna surf with today.”

Ethan smiled and conceded the point, making me squirm a little.

The guys took turns on some good sized waves, but I held back,
still
uncomfortable. Finally, I felt a big one building and could no longer contain myself. I got ahead of the wave, and stood up on the best one since we’d come out, whipping back and forth across the face, getting the most I could possibly could get out of it. I paddled back, confronted by Mike’s triumphant smile.

“Boo-yah!” cried Mike, snapping his dreadlocks around, “Now there’s the girl who was tearin’ it up with Kimo! That’s more like it.”

I shrugged
modestly
, but I had to laugh. I
started
surf
ing freely
, relaxing into it, searching out and connecting with Ethan after every wave. I didn’t even care about the attention I was getting from the other surfers.
They clustered around Long and Mike, and I could hear Mike singing my praises to them.

“Check it!” he said
as I passed by them to get to Ethan.
“Told ya she rips
.”

“This never gets old,” Ethan chuckled, with a broad, happy grin.

“Yeah… I miss surfing with you,” I agreed
.
“We should go out more often.”

“No,” he
leaned over to kiss me, speaking in my ear
“I mean seeing you blow everyone away.”

“It’s better to be underestimated,” I
paused, looking at the other surfers
, “Than overestimated.”

We ended up having a wonderful time, and I was glad to see Ethan looking so relaxed and happy. I pulled him aside a few times to point out which waves were going to be good, and I was never wrong. Mike kept teasing me about
getting
my “mojo”
back
, but he was clearly happy I’d gotten over my reluctance to surf with the group. I kept noticing Long watching us when he thought we wer
e
n’t paying attention.

“I hate the way Long looks at me like I’m some kinda… I don’t know… museum
exhibit
,” I complained to Ethan.

He pulled his board close to mine, sneaking over to steal kisses between swells. “
Lately, he’s been
telling
me I should be careful not to let you get away. He keeps warning me not to blow it with you.”

“What?” I asked, surprised, “Why?”

“He says that you’re good luck, and that if we ever break up, I’ll
be cursed
.”

“Whoa
!
” I reeled back, “That’s
kind of
harsh! What did you say?”

“That he’s right.” He pulled me close for a salty kiss with his dark blue eyes wide open, “I know.”

We paddled back to shore to find that Ruby had migrated over to join the group of surfer groupies I recognized from high school. There was Heather, along with her friend Jamie, and several others I recognized as girls that used to hang out with Shayla. They all looked at me indignantly, with hostile eyes and knowing smirks, and I wondered exactly what Ruby had been telling them about me. Obviously, it wasn’t very nice.

“He-ey E-than,” Heather called out in a singsong voice, “Your mom is really cool.”

I skirted around the group, and went to my bag to change with my back to them. Ethan changed alongside me, leaving to go gather Ruby.
I was glad that h
e was perceptive enough to hustle us both off the beach. I much preferred the creatures of the sea to the ones that populated the sand.

“I’m starved!” Ruby proclaimed
.
“Let’s go somewhere to eat.”

Ethan looked at me hopefully, and I agreed. We drove past the little Mexican restaurant where Ethan and I had one of our first dates, and he gave my knee a squeeze.

“Let’s go here,” he said.

Just as before, Ruby could not be pleased. Everything she ordered was either too spicy, or not spicy enough, too hot or too cold. I listened politely, basking in the afterglow of a great day of surfing, and I twined my fingers through Ethan’s, remembering how good it felt.