Chapter Fifteen
Cade
The morning after I kissed Lena, I walk along Mermaid Bay’s beach from the pier toward the lighthouse, my thoughts a jumble.
Lena. Mermaid Bay. Dad. The family business. My goals. My pride.
With each step, I hope for clarity. But each step brings none.
The beach is made up of coarse sand and smooth bits of sea glass.
The storm has passed and the morning is bright, sunny, and cold.
A few people are walking the beach but they are few and far between.
This walk is the last thing I plan to do before leaving.
There will be no lattes for me this morning. No eel pie. No rotgut shots or riddles.
But instead of getting in my car first thing and heading south on Highway 101, I’m walking the beach. I don’t even realize why until I see it—the bottle I threw into the ocean when Lena left me at the lighthouse last night. It’s laying there half-buried in the sand.
I pick it up, amazed that it hasn’t been broken. That note I penned inside is still dry. I don’t need to take it out to remember the words I wrote.
This is a sign.
My thoughts are no longer jumbled. All is clear. I turn and head toward the Mermaid Café, bottle in one hand, cell phone in the other. My father isn’t expecting my call. Nor is he expecting what I have to say. “I quit.”
“You can’t quit a family business.” Dad’s voice is loud enough that I imagine the seagull in front of me is startled into flight by it. “This is your heritage. Your legacy.”
“It’s yours,” I counter. “It always has been.” I glance back toward the boardwalk, toward old buildings with brick fronts and ancient awnings. “I’m a different man. And I can’t be involved with the business if I can’t do things my way. Not yours.”
“Something’s changed,” Dad says at a lower volume. “You’ve finally become your own man.”
“Yes.” Hopefully, I can grow into being a man Lena can love and be proud of. I’m not sure who that is yet. I only know that man doesn’t work for Delaney Development.
“It’s about time.” Dad’s answer surprises me. But his next words shock me even more. “I’m proud of you, son. And I’m sure whatever you do next will make you proud of yourself, too.”
“I hope so.” I say goodbye and hang up, already heading toward Lena and the Mermaid Café, tucking the sandy bottle into my jacket pocket.
“Here’s Trouble,” Marina says when I enter the small coffee shop.
Lena is behind the counter with Keira. They glance at me. Lena with sorrow. Keira with curiosity.
I step to the counter to place my order. “Vanilla latte, please. And I’d like to request Lena join me at a table outside.” In that bracing wind that makes me feel alive.
No one says a word. Keira rings me up while Lena makes my coffee.
After I pay, I wait at one of the two tables outside, listening to the ocean’s steady pounding. The bottle from my tour sits on the table in front of me.
Lena brings my latte to me in a plain ceramic mug. My foam is plain. Heartless in decoration. “Didn’t I tell you last night to throw that bottle into the ocean?”
“You told me and I did throw it away,” I reassure her. “And then it washed ashore this morning. I found it on the beach.”
Lena stares at the bottle, then at the stretch of shore I’ve just walked. “That’s odd.”
“It is.” I pat the bench next to me. “Sit for a minute.”
Lena hesitates.
“Please,” I add, barely able to hold everything I want to say inside me.
Lena sits next to me but not close. She’s being careful with her heart and I…
Well, I’ve decided not to be so careful with mine. “I’d like you to open the bottle and read the note inside.”
Her brow furrows slightly. “I shouldn’t.” The wind tugs at the strands of her dark brown hair that aren’t captured in a braid.
“I want you to read my note.” I hand her the bottle.
After reluctantly accepting it, Lena removes the cork and draws the rolled slip of paper out. She takes a moment to read it.
I know what it says, reciting the words in my mind as she reads silently.
You don’t have to be a man cast in your father’s image. You can follow your heart. All you need is a sign.
“This bottle is our sign. As soon as I saw it, everything became clear to me.” I take Lena’s free hand and kiss her knuckles. “You can follow your heart, too.”
“I don’t date,” Lena says in a faraway tone, she’s looking out toward the western horizon at the end of the pier, toward large, rolling waves set against a blue sky.
“I don’t want to date either,” I tell her. “But I want to get to know you better before we get married.”
Lena sags away from me, eyes wide. “You’re rushing things.”
I can’t let her doubts grow. “You feel it, too, don’t you? We’re like the fisherman and the mermaid. Except this time, we can have our happily-ever-after. If we’re brave enough to admit we know ourselves well enough to recognize love when the tide rolls in with it.”
Lena shakes her head. “Have you given up remaking Mermaid Bay into a soulless, modern playground?”
“Yes.” I inch closer, taking note of the disbelief in her blue eyes and rush to reassure her. “I gave my father my resignation this morning. I want to stay here with you and help protect this place. I want to get better at riddles and be a part of the Mermaid Bay Legacy Tour.”
“Wait. You quit? But…what will you do?” Trust Lena to cut right to the chase.
“I’m not sure,” I admit. “I never had a chance to choose my own path in life, my own career, one that interests me. I want a new challenge. I might try woodworking. Or dabble in antique collection. I think I could make a good coffee barista. If you’re hiring.”
Lena softens, leans against me, gives me hope. “Isn’t it funny how life works? Last night, I was in a bad place, worried that I’d let Mermaid Bay down.”
“Never,” I interject.
She smiles at me. “And this morning, I awoke with a new perspective. I was just talking to Keira about buying the Mermaid Café. I’m ready for a new challenge.”
“To find a business that needs you.” I nod, understanding, because I feel like I know the parts of Lena that matter. “The way the Mermaid Café needed you.”
“Exactly.” Lena sighs, taking my hand in hers.
“That might be the Barnacle Diner. But nothing can be decided until Dee is better. She had a stroke and…I don’t want to seem like I’m taking advantage.
But the idea of a new challenge is…” She turns to me and lays her palm on my cheek.
“The idea of you and a new business challenge appeals to me.”
“I’m very good at brokering deals.” I slide my arm around Lena’s shoulders, no longer surprised at the way we fit.
“Both personal and professional. Dee is probably worried about her business. It’s neighborly to tell her we’ll help fill in the gaps whether she’s of a mind to consider selling or not. ”
Lena stares into my eyes. Hers are as blue as the cloudless sky, as blue as the promise of a trouble-free future. “But Cade… I have to ask… Are we kidding ourselves? Can we really meet one day and think—”
“Absolutely.” I draw Lena into my lap. “We’re old enough to know what we want in life.
” I gather her close. “We both want meaningful challenges but with a solid home base. And by home base, I mean emotionally. I want someone by my side who supports me but calls me out when I cross a line, like when I act like Trouble.”
Lena snuggles closer. “Marina is never giving up on your nickname.”
“I don’t mind it.” Not anymore. I brush strands of hair from her face. “I’m a not-so-poor, widowed man with no future prospects but I’m falling for a kindhearted mermaid along with this town. I’m eager to learn more about you and my new hometown.”
“I’m so glad,” Lena whispers.
The wind gusted stronger and the waves crashed on the shore. But here on the patio of the Mermaid Café, we’re content to be together in this moment. Everything we’ve gone through has brought us to this. To a future ahead of us, bright and full of promise.
“It’s odd to say I’m falling in love with you.” Lena smiles and leans forward to kiss my cheek. “But I am.”
“Me, too.” I kiss her then, ever so briefly as if feels like we have more to say to each other, starting with, “I bet my point total is beyond twenty now.”
“Oh, honey.” Her smile is brighter than the sun. “I expect you to reach one hundred soon.”
“Challenge accepted.” And I kiss her again.
The End
If you enjoyed this mid-life romantic comedy set in Mermaid Bay and want to read the next installment. Turn the page to learn about other series Melinda writes, including an excerpt from the next Mermaid Bay book.