Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
Somehow, Pearl managed to get through her quick interview with the hospital’s human resources department to set up her work placement for the summer, but the whole time she was going through paperwork and talking about her duties, all she could think about was Phineas and that she had finally told him to ask her out.
Maybe it was the fact that he didn’t want her to leave when faced with life-altering news. That she could be there and support him through it meant the world to her.
That’s what she always wanted, that’s how she viewed love.
True love.
Friendship and support, on top of attraction.
And she was definitely attracted to Phineas.
The way his scales felt rough yet smooth under her touch. The kindness in his big yellow eyes. His strong arms wrapped around her, which made her body melt. She dreamt of what it would feel like to kiss him, to be with him. It made her body ache in a jittery, exciting way.
No one else had ever made her body thrum with heady anticipation the way he did.
She’d been asked out by other men and monsters before, but she turned them all down.
Her heart, her love, belonged to the sweet soul in the swamp.
After she left the hospital, she sat on a bench by the water fountain and quickly sent a text to Mercedes.
Pearl: I did it. It told Phineas to ask me out on a date. I told him I care for him.
Mer: You did? I’m proud of you. How did it go?
Pearl: He is going to ask me out.
Mer: Squee! Do you know when?
Pearl: No idea.
Mer: :(
Pearl: There’s no need for sad emoji face. It’s going to happen.
Mer: I hope so, because you two pining for each other has got to stop.
Pearl: It’s a bit much, isn’t it?
Mer: No, you’re both totes adorable. It’s just, you both need your happily ever after.
Pearl: I’m going out to dinner with him tonight.
Mer: I thought he hasn’t asked you out on a date?
Pearl: He hasn’t.
Mer: But dinner?
Pearl: It’s a long story. I’ll tell you about it later, but I wanted you what had happened.
Mer: Okay. I’m happy for you. Keep me posted. Now I have to stop Vlad the Inhaler Jr. from pestering Foam Fatale in the kitchen. Talk later. XO.
Pearl chuckled to herself over the antics of Room with a Tomb’s enchanted vacuum and dishwasher.
She slipped her phone back into her pocket and then made her way home.
Tonight might not be a date, but she still wanted to look her best. The next problem was how she was going to explain it to her mother.
Her mother would be thrilled that Pearl was pursuing Phineas, that wasn’t the problem, but she had to work out how to tell her she was going out to dinner with Phineas and it wasn’t a date, but as support because someone had waltzed into town claiming to be Phineas’ long-lost brother.
Mom would be completely overprotective of Phineas, but on the flip side, Pearl couldn’t lie to her either. Pearl didn’t lie, it physically made her unwell and that stemmed from her unicorn side.
Beings that were so pure of heart and drawn to those of the same nature.
Pearl opened the door to Monster Catch Bait and Tackle and found her mother in the shop puttering around, which meant Finn was out, and that was good. He didn’t need to hear this.
“Pearl, how did your interview go?” Mom asked, rearranging a bunch of fishing poles.
“Great. I start next week. They’re happy to work with my school so I can get credit for the placement.”
“Oh good. I didn’t have any doubt they would.” Mom picked up some boxes of fishing lures and dusted under them before setting the boxes back down.
Pearl was always amused by her mother’s incessant need to clean Finn’s shop.
It wasn’t dirty at all.
Finn was a stickler for things being neat and tidy, but her mother just couldn’t seem to sit still.
“Mom, I’m sure the counter is clean.”
“Now it is,” Mom remarked, wiping down another section. “It smelled like fish in here when I walked in this morning.”
Pearl chuckled softly. “It is a fishing shop.”
“We don’t sell the fish here though. Speaking of fish, what would you like for dinner tonight? I do have some fresh trout.”
“I don’t need dinner tonight. I’m going out to Coat.”
“I thought it wasn’t open yet?” Mom asked, continuing her unnecessary cleaning.
“It’s not, but we met someone who knows the owner.”
“We?”
“Yes.”
Mom paused her cleaning, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “You’re going out to dinner? May I ask with whom?”
“Phineas.”
Her mother’s eyes lit up. “That’s wonderful.”
“It’s not a date,” Pearl said quickly.
Not yet, anyways. She kept that thought to herself. If she gave any inkling to her mother that she and Phineas would have a date in the near future, her mother wouldn’t stop planning it.
“Well, if it’s not a date then what is it?”
“A friendly dinner?”
Mom frowned and crossed her arms. “I don’t believe that. I can read you like a book, Pearl, and I know you can’t lie, so tell me.”
“There’s nothing to tell. It’s a friendly dinner—”
“A bistro, new in town, not open, and you both know someone who knows the owner? It seems suspicious.”
“It’s not.” Pearl sighed in defeat. “Phineas needs my help.”
“With what?” Mom asked, that motherly concern Pearl was so familiar with lacing her voice. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong, it’s just…there’s another gill man in town and he’s claiming to be Phineas’ brother.”
It all came out. There was no point in hiding it from her mother, who was a witch and could draw out the truth.
Mom’s face paled and she sat down on the little stool that Finn kept behind the counter at the bait shop. “I see.”
“Do you know something about this?”
Mom wrung her hands together. “I might.”
Pearl was stunned. “Mom, why didn’t you tell him?”
“Because his mother thought her eldest son was dead.”
Pearl’s eyes widened. “What?”
“I don’t know the whole story, but there was a storm in the south when Phineas was a baby and his older brother Pierre was about seven or eight.
Pierre was swept away and they never found his body.
It broke the Lafontaines. And the fact that most of what they owned was destroyed, she didn’t even have a picture of him anymore.
They were going to tell Phineas when he got older, and then they were murdered.
” Mom brushed away tears. “I wasn’t even sure if it was true, and Phineas’ mother Petra made me swear never to tell him.
They were fearful of their past catching up to them. ”
“Well, it seems like it was true,” Pearl said quietly.
Her heart was aching for the Lafontaine family.
She knew that monsters had to hide before the Great Revelation.
Even Finn talked about how he had to sort of be hidden and his father had to stayed shifted in his human form for a long time, hiding his long horselike ears.
Finn could shift, but as a kid couldn’t hold it for long.
Whereas she and her mother could go through town freely. Although, there was still a bit of danger involving her unicorn form running free in the wrong places during the full moon. There were people, like Mercedes’ family in Tallowfield, who would still do harm to monsters.
Just like what happened to the Lafontaines when they accidentally stayed too long in Tallowfield.
“How is Phineas taking the news?” Mom asked.
“I think skeptically.”
“He’s wary of strangers, for the most part. Although, he took a shine to Margaid right away.”
“I think it’s because this stranger knew his name and he wasn’t introduced.”
“That would make sense. So, you’re going to dinner with Phineas as moral support?” Mom asked.
Pearl nodded. “I am.”
“Well, that’s nice.”
Pearl cocked an eyebrow. “You sound disappointed.”
“I always live in hope—”
“Mom, I told him how I felt.” The words tumbled out. There was no use hiding it.
Her mom beamed, her eyes twinkling. “That’s wonderful. I’m glad to hear it. He cares for you too.”
Heat flushed in Pearl’s cheeks. “I hope so.”
“I guess I’m on my own, unless Margaid is working late in town, and then I suppose it’s just me and Finn for dinner. I’m relieved you’re going to be there for Phineas. Especially if this gill man is really his brother.”
“I’m glad you understand and don’t let Finn know what’s going on. Not yet. I think this is something that Phineas will want to talk to the others about.”
“Of course. My lips are sealed, but if anything strange happens, I’m only a phone call away. I don’t usually like putting hexes on people, but I will to protect my family and Phineas is family.”
Pearl smiled tenderly at her very protective mother. “We could always send Mercedes in to put a curse on him, or at least cause something to explode.”
Mom giggled. “True.”