CHAPTER 7
A…mermaid?
She could almost laugh at the absurdity of it. A mermaid? It was as likely to be Poseidon himself for as crazy as that sounded.
Then he was gone under the water.
She stared stupidly for a second, not moving, not even thinking. He’d come back, wouldn’t he? her heart cried out. He wouldn’t just leave her like that, right?
And sure enough, his white hair popped up some hundred feet away and he turned back to look at her, as if wondering where she could possibly be.
She couldn’t help but smile. She wouldn’t be that fast even if she rowed with all her might.
But she took the oars and started up again, and he waited until she got close before diving back under once more.
They did that at least three times. Him going, him waiting, him diving again. And it seemed he was leading her back to her own lighthouse—or really to the dock in the small cove.
Perhaps she shouldn’t be surprised. Dolphins seemed quite intelligent too when she watched them play, and this creature had the face of a man so perhaps he also had the intelligence of one.
But still, as they rounded the jetty of rocks to her dock, it seemed so strange. How would he know it was here or what it was for? Had he been watching her? Or was he smart enough that he actually understood what lighthouses and docks and boats all were?
He lingered near the dock, and as she pulled close and tied down her boat, he just watched her. He hardly looked curious, but she also supposed she couldn’t assume his face would show emotions the same as a human’s would.
He seemed to be waiting for something, but she wasn’t sure what. He couldn’t associate her with food, right? Surely, she would have heard of mermaids if the fishermen were feeding them for fun. Or was he waiting for some kind of thanks for saving her life—if he was the one that had?
But when she stepped off the boat, he seemed to nod in…satisfaction, as if that was what he had been waiting for. Did he not like her in small boats after last night?
Well, maybe that was fair; there was a small part of her at the moment that didn’t either.
“Thank you,” she said, nodding herself.
There was a slight ghost of a smile on his lips. It was so…warm that she felt ridiculous for ever doubting for a second that he expressed emotions just the same.
Good Lord, he was beautiful—perfection—like a statue come to life. Chiseled jaw, striking eyes, and his body—she stopped herself. She was a lady. Ladies did not appreciate naked torsos.
“Can I get you something?” she asked.
He smiled and said something that she guessed had to do with him not understanding the language.
She frowned before trying to make a gesture for eating, but she only realized once she was doing it that she was miming an imaginary spoon that he likely did not know. Frowning more, she tried again, pretending instead to bite down on the air in front of her like there was an imaginary cob of corn.
He laughed, and the sound was beautiful.
Not quite like a human’s, but clearly a laugh all the same.
It was musical, magical, like the ocean dancing over rocks.
He put out his hands as if to say that that wasn’t necessary.
She hoped he knew she was talking about food and not something about either of them.
“Did you save me?” she tried again, knowing it was probably pointless.
But she was sure she had seen him last night.
If he had been trying to hold up the captain, maybe he had saved the others too.
“The boat flipped,” she said. She pointed to her boat, then tried to cup her hand, and tip it to represent it flipping.
And then pointed to herself and made a leaning forward motion as if she was falling.
“And then I fell out. And then something”—here she pretended to fake swim and smacked her head—“then something hit me and I blacked out.” She closed her eyes now and slightly slumped.
“And then I woke up on a beach.” She didn’t know how to gesture that at all so she pointed down the way and made a motion that she hoped said long and flat.
But his eyes clearly told her he had no idea what she was saying, which was fair. She wasn’t good at communicating even when she had words. She highly doubted she was any clearer without them.
But she knew one thing. She wanted to see him again. She pointed down at him and he gestured to himself as if in question before nodding. She nodded as well and then pointed to the dock. “Tomorrow.”
The corner of her lip dipped again as she thought, but then she pointed to the horizon where the sun rose and moving her fingers, tried to make a shining sun rise. “Tomorrow morning.” She pointed to him and then the dock. “Can I see you again? Can you come here?”
There was a pause and then a nod. He said something in response, but she, of course, could not understand a word of it. She assumed she must sound as incomprehensible to him, but if she had to guess, she could think he was agreeing.
Or at least, she really hoped he was.
Then he pointed to her and then the lighthouse, and saying something, he seemed to shoo her toward it. Did he want her to go? But why? Was he annoyed at her ineptitude and had only saved her out of charity?
Well, that was probably true. They didn’t know each other and saving a stranger was only done through good will. Still, she would never shoo any of the men she had saved.
But then, like he could read the hurt on her face, he swam a bit closer—the closest she realized he had been since he had put her on the boat or held her hand.
In fact, for most of this exchange, he had stayed at least a dozen feet away as if he were still wary of her.
But now, his expression turned soft, and he gestured to the sky and made what she guessed was meant to be churning clouds, rain, and lightning, complete with ‘boom’ sound effects.
She was blushing. She knew she was blushing, but my God, he was adorable.
“Is it going to rain?” Did he really think so? It was overcast certainly, but it didn’t look like rain at all.
But, well, she sighed; she needed to go anyway. Darkness would be coming soon and she’d need to light the light and…and she didn’t want to go. No, she wanted to reach out and touch him—though she wasn’t quite sure why as she had never had with anyone else in her whole life.
But he felt different. Just from his eyes, they looked so kind, so different as opposed to the townspeople’s normal judgment, that she didn’t want him to ever leave.
But since he seemed to want her to go in the lighthouse, she reluctantly obliged, turning to look over her shoulder often until she finally lost sight of him, knowing damn well in her heart that she might never see him again.