Holding his breath, he waited while the dolphin seemed to ponder his wife’s words. After a moment, she moved closer to Marion and used her snout to push at her hand.
“I promise.” His wife said the words quietly before reaching for the tiny tyke with a tail. Pulling her out of the water, she cuddled the small mermaid to her chest and made soothing noises. The mermaid’s pudgy hand reached up to touch Marion’s cheek. Moving closer, he leaned over his wife’s shoulder and looked into the bright blue eyes of the little mermaid. When she turned her shy smile in his direction and waved her pudgy fingers, he was lost. In one short afternoon his entire life was turned upside down. His home had been destroyed. He saw a mermaid. And now he was a father.
Chapter One
- Meena -
“There goes the neighborhood.” Violet stood on her tiptoes so that she could peek out of the empty tank. Her feet slipped in the soap on the wall and she scrambled to keep from falling.
“You say that every year.” I couldn’t help but snort as my friend looked up sheepishly. Leaning down, I picked up Vi’s push broom and handed it back to her. I tried to not think about the fact this would be the last year she would be working the summer at Flukes. From now on she’d have internships for college every summer. And I’d still be here. Doing the same thing. I couldn’t help the sigh that escaped my mouth. Part of me really wished that I was going to college too, not the one being left behind.
“Well, it’s true every year. They stomp around and glare at everything. None of them do a good job, and we end up having to pick up their slack.” Violet scrubbed at the tank wall with a vengeance, the lather from the soap spraying angrily into the air.
“It’s better than having to do it all ourselves. Mom and Dad really need the help this time of year, and those kids have to work off community-service hours. It’s a win-win situation.” Stopping for a minute, I brushed the loose hair out of my eyes. “Besides, it’s only for a couple of months.”
“Meena. I don’t want to spend my summer vacation with those flukes.” Violet looked at me as if I was crazy. “And this year we don’t even have customers to distract us for the first couple of weeks.” Dad decided to close the sanctuary to tourists so that we could try to get everything back into shape.
“Flukes?” I frowned. When I heard my father’s voice addressing the arrivals, I looked up.
“The outcasts, miscreants, freaks, flukes of society. Their whole lives are flukes. Kind of appropriate that they come here. Flukes.” Violet huffed. I didn’t say anything and she stopped, her eyes widening with apprehension. “I mean…”
I looked away from Violet and bit my lip to keep from laughing. Let Vi sweat it out for a minute. Served her right for picking on the outcasts.
“Meena, I didn’t mean… You know I don’t think…” Dropping her broom, Violet threw herself at my back and wrapped her arms around me. “I love you, Meen!”
Pretending to ignore Violet, I bent over awkwardly and grabbed a handful of suds. Turning quickly, I worked the soap into Violet’s hair and laughed. Squealing, she tried to shove me away from her but only succeeded in sending us both to the ground.
“You stupid fish!” Violet lobbed a handful of bubbles. Puckering my lips, I made a fish-face. Violet laughed and threw more bubbles in my direction. Grabbing the nearby hose, I pointed at Violet. She slid backward on her butt and made sputtering noises.
“Meena! Don’t you dare!” Violet tried to scramble to her feet, but I twisted the dial and water sprayed out in a steady stream. Violet cussed loudly and ran for me with her arms outstretched. Yelping, I tried to back away but slid in the soap. Violet caught me in a giant hug, laughing hysterically as she wrestled for the hose. Once we were both drenched and soapy, we sat on the floor of the tank giggling.
The loud roar of a motorcycle reverberated through the concrete walls, making us look at each other in interest.
“No way.” Violet scrambled to her feet and peeked out of the tank.
“What? Who is it?” Standing on the tips of my toes, I tried to see what Violet was looking at.
“I can’t believe it. Blake Weathering is one of the flukes?” Violet’s eyebrows scrunched together in consideration. “I guess it was that fight in gym class last month.”
“Blake who? What fight?” I watched the motorcycle rider swing his leg over the bike and pull at the clasp of his helmet. He was tall and tan, but it wasn’t until he pulled his helmet off that I understood why my friend was so interested. His dark, unruly hair curled around his ears and even from yards away, I could make out the stubble on his chin and jaw. His mouth was turned down in a disgusted frown as his dark eyes traveled over the worn sign for the sanctuary and took in the rusted gates. Immediately, my hackles went up, angry to see someone openly judge the sanctuary. It didn’t matter how hot he was; judging my family’s hard work pissed me off. When his eyes swung in our direction, Violet grabbed my arm and ducked back down into the tank.
She pursed her lips. “How the mighty have fallen. Blake Weathering sent to do community service. I bet his dad flipped his lid.”
“Why do you keep acting like he’s something special?” I fought the urge to look back over the wall again. There was something about him that caught my attention. Maybe it was the obvious disdain he seemed to have for life. I really hoped it wasn’t just because of his sexy eyes. “Besides, he’s late if he’s supposed to be with the other losers, I mean workers.”
“Oh, come on. That boy is sex on a stick, but that’s not what I’m referring to. His family owns half of the major hotels in the area. His dad is a seriously scary dude, too. He came with Blake to my mom’s clinic when we were in grade school. Blake had broken his arm, but his dad acted like he deserved it.” Violet chewed on her thumbnail for a minute. “Blake is the proverbial badass at school. He’s always in trouble. Then there was that fight at the end of school. He beat the crap out of some dude in the locker room, but no one knows why. Probably just looked at him wrong or something.”
The sound of flip-flops scuffing along the pavement had us both looking up with wide eyes. Blake’s stared down at us, his mouth quirked into a smirk. The pull of his mouth and dark brown eyes seemed to grab my attention and hold it.
“Violet, what did you do to end up here?” His voice rumbled out of his chest in a pleasant way, but his tone set my teeth on edge, immediately breaking the spell I was under. Who did he think he was?
“I didn’t do anything. I help out every summer.” Violet stuck her nose in the air and glared at Blake.
“You actually want to spend your summers here?” Blake’s eyes left Violet’s and turned toward me. His gaze was long and thoughtful, making my skin erupt with goose bumps, desire warring with the anger that seethed just underneath. Violet ground her teeth at his words. “Who’s your friend, Vi?”
“Blake, meet Meena. Meena, meet his royal assness, Blake.” Violet rolled her eyes at him before turning around to grab her push broom from the ground.
Blake groaned good-naturedly and ran a hand through his hair. Something in my gut pulled when he smiled. I liked the look in his eyes, a little more relaxed and amiable, but I stamped out that response. I didn’t like the way he talked about the sanctuary. “C’mon, Vi. I haven’t stolen your dessert in years. You can’t still hold that against me.”
Violet rolled her eyes, but I saw her lips twitch a little. I could understand how that peek of boyishness would make her want to smile. “My mom made that cupcake just for me! It was my birthday.”
“Geez, we were eight.” Blake shook his head and looked back at me. It was almost as if he was memorizing my face. “So what school sent you to this hellhole?”
“My family owns this hellhole.” And with that stupid sentence, I was back to feeling pissed. It was like he slapped me. My cheeks darkened in anger and my back stiffened. “And you’re late.”
I didn’t get the chance to interact with a lot of the other kids my age on the island. I had been homeschooled and at this moment, I was actually glad. What would I have done if I had to spend time with jerks like this? I’d probably be one of the weirdos trying to work off community service. The desire to punch Mr. High-and-Mighty in the jaw was so intense I actually considered it for a split second.
He blinked slowly and frowned. “Talk about putting my foot in my mouth.”
“Take the path down toward the big building. The rest of the miscreants are in there with my dad.” I glared at him, my skin itching with anger. He hadn’t even apologized! My family worked really hard to take care of the animals at Flukes. Sometimes that meant they neglected things like paint and landscaping. Which is probably why his words struck such a wrong chord. But all the animals were well-tended and happy. The cosmetic stuff was what the screwups were here to fix anyway. If they could get the place looking better before the cruise-line people came to inspect them, they had a real shot at scoring a contract.
“Right.” Blake stood up and looked down the path toward the main building. “With the other miscreants. Got it.” His eyes swung back to me and I wondered what he was thinking. There was something thoughtful in his gaze. Not wanting to look like his smile had made things better, I continued to stare at him angrily, not caring if my face was red.
He turned away and headed down the path with a nod of his head. “See you later, Vi. Meena.”
Picking up my broom, I gave it a push against the tank floor before looking after him. I jerked when I realized that he was looking over his shoulder in our direction. Looking back down at the soapy floor, I scrubbed harder. Great. Not only was he a jerk, but he caught me watching him.
“And that was his royal assness.” Violet shook her head and grinned almost apologetically. “He’s hot as hell and just as rude. I guess this summer is going to be a little more interesting than usual.”
I couldn’t help it and looked back toward the main building where they housed the learning tanks and special displays. Interesting was probably an understatement.
Chapter Two
- Meena -
I twisted from side to side in an effort to work the kink out of my back. A loud yawn worked its way out of my chest as I stretched while walking slowly toward the toolshed to put up my shovel and gloves. I’d just spent the last three hours hunched over while cleaning out the bird cages and I wanted nothing more than a long swim at the beach to wash the stink off. It wasn’t that I didn’t love the birds, and I didn’t begrudge them the time it took to clean the cages, but the chemicals irritated my eyes and would cause blisters wherever they touched my skin.
Becca, the bird trainer, waved her thanks before heading for her old pickup truck. I replaced the lock on the shed and eagerly headed toward the quiet little stretch of beach that the tourists weren’t allowed to visit. It was my family’s sanctuary. The one place I could go to be myself. I rubbed the palms of my hands against my eyes as I rounded a corner on the tiny path and ran smack into someone. A large, strong hand grabbed my shoulder to steady me on my feet.