Chapter Four Mercer #2
“If I weren’t here, I’d say yes, you should take him.
But I got to him very quickly, and see the way my tentacle is wrapped around him?
I’ve been using an old kraken technique that has saved hundreds of swimmers and sailors since time immemorial.
The tentacle compression on the diaphragm and lower lungs forces water out.
And he threw up and is speaking normally—if a little bit scratchily.
That’s to be expected. That was scary, wasn’t it?
” I stroke back his wet curls, and I can’t help but let my finger stroke down his cheek.
“You’re being so brave. So, brave in fact,” I lift my whistle off my neck and place it over Zack’s head, “that I’m going to name you an honorary kraken for fearlessness in the face of the mighty ocean—or lake.
And this whistle will make you a lifeguard-in-training.
If you come down to the lake early in the morning before my shift, I’ll give you swimming lessons, okay? No one swims quite like a kraken.”
I don’t know what made me do it. I like kids well enough, but I don’t usually engage with them much. This exchange is my version of totally mushy. Downright soggy, no pun intended.
But Zack turns around and beams at me with wide eyes, looking almost like the happy child who scrambled joyfully onto the sand this morning.
“You mean it?” he asks, clutching the silver whistle.
“I mean it. Tentacle promise.” I hold up the tip of one tentacle. “Shake on it.”
Zack grabs me (a little too hard) and shakes. “Whoa. You’re like a superhero.”
“Sort of,” I smile.
“You are... You are simply wonderful. I can never thank you enough. I can never repay you. I owe you... You have no idea what I owe you. I could never, ever repay... He’s my whole world,” Zack’s mother smiles through fresh tears, and then plants an enthusiastic kiss on me, right on the lips.
Holding me by the shoulder. Her son, in between us, clinging to her, his little head now resting on me.
Everything...
Happens.
Inside.
Everything that I’ve never felt but heard about, knew was real, but never dreamed about.
The part of an ancient brain that speaks of mates and sons like they’re the only treasures that matter, that knows love and desire, and feels the future in someone’s touch.
Two touches. The little hand still wrapped around my tentacle, and her lips caressing mine for longer than they needed to.
Lonely past. The chaotic present. The beautiful future. It’s all wrapped up in these two.
“Oh! Oh, I’m so... I didn’t mean to,” she gasps.
“Mommy!” Zack giggles, wide-eyed.
“Uh. Well. I’m very glad you did. I mean, I’m glad to help! I mean... I’m Mercer.”
“Madelyn. And this is Zack.”
“Hi!” Zack chirps, then giggles again. “You kissed him, Mommy!”
Madelyn looks extraordinarily flustered by that. “I know, Zack,” she says in that clipped voice mothers the world over use when they need their offspring to chill out. “You do that when someone saves your baby’s life.”
“Oh.” Zack leans up and pecks me on the chin.
I melt.
Literally, all the tension goes out of my tentacles, and I practically dissolve, sinking down several feet until I’m burrowing in the sand. Madelyn finally notices my tentacle was crushed to her cleavage as it pulls away, leaving a series of round marks from my suckers.
She’s such a pretty shade of pink and peach when she blushes.
“Uh. Here. Let me just help me get your things,” I say to cover up the fact that this kid just stole my heart right out of my chest. “You gotta go home and rest for me, Zack, but I hope I see you here tomorrow.”
“Mommy has to work,” he whispers.
“I can make time for swimming lessons,” Madelyn says, still blushing, but nodding in a serious fashion. “How early should we be here?”
“Seven?”
“That sounds fine. We’re early risers,” she says, folding up her chair with one hand, Zack still clutched in her arm, his little legs wrapping over her like a koala clinging to its mother.
I don’t mean to pry into her personal life, but I pick up her phone along with the other scattered sand toys and towels, and I see the texts on her screen as the motion awakens the phone.
Linda: This is an emergency, so I’m using Mom’s phone, like you said, Your Highness.
Or should I say Your Bitchiness? Mom says if you block me, you’re being a negligent parent.
You’re a single mother in a house you can’t afford, in a town full of monsters and freaks.
I can get custody any time I want. I won’t even have to take care of him.
Mom wants him. Unblock me now, or things get ugly.
My heart starts to hammer. Rage fills me.
“I’ll take that—and don’t worry. I’ll never look at my phone again while we’re at the beach. I’ll have it with me, of course, in case of emergencies, but I won’t use it,” Madelyn whispers guiltily.
“Good plan. Uh. If your husband wants to ask me any questions about the incident, or if he would feel better going to the hospital—”
“Zack’s dad isn’t around,” she says, face suddenly tight, voice even tighter. “It’s just us.”
“We just moved here today ago,” Zack pipes up.
“He means yesterday,” Madelyn continues to gather things, working with one arm, with fluidity and grace that amazes me.
Shaking out the beach towel, finding the sippy cup, gathering toys faster than I can process what things to grab.
I know I need to return to my duties, but I’m also mesmerized by what Madelyn can do with one free arm.
I suddenly feel like my eight tentacles and two arms are not enough to keep pace with this single mother.
“Please... Do you have to report this or anything?” she suddenly blurts.
“What? No! No, no. This sort of thing happens quite often. It’s why lifeguards exist. To be fair, the winds are strong today. I’m sure Allison allowed Zack to sit on the board for a second, and then the wind picked up, and they were out at waist height before you could catch it.”
“I really can’t thank you. I don’t even know,” Madelyn trails off, hugs Zack more tightly to her chest, and clears her throat. “I don’t even know what krakens would like as a thank-you gift. I guess a card would get soggy?”
“Just you two being okay is present enough. Although, I’m new in town, too. I only moved here a few weeks ago. Having a friendly face to see while I give Zack some swimming lessons will be reward enough.”
“Would you like to come to dinner in a few days, once I get the kitchen unpacked?” Madelyn blurts.
I blink.
Zack nods. “We’re growing a pizza garden.”
“Ha. It’s not ready yet, sweetie,” Madelyn gives a nervous laugh.
“I love pizza.”
“Krakens eat pizza? Oh, God. Forgive me. I’m rattled. I probably sound so ignorant.”
“I eat everything you eat. I do everything you do.” I look at her a little longer than I should. “I just do it with eight tentacles in the mix. It can come in very handy.”
Madelyn nods, blushes, and backs away. “See you tomorrow, then.”
“Tomorrow at seven!”