CHAPTER 49
Oh, she knew it was coming, but she hated it all the same. She wasn’t skilled enough in interacting with people to truly know how to lie—not well at least, she was sure—but she also guessed too large of a pause was suspicious as well.
So instead, she simply repeated back as if slightly confused, “Have I seen them?”
It was enough. The sheepishness came right back and he looked embarrassed enough to die. “Oh Lord, Daria, please forgive me. I know how silly this sounds. I…”
Anything more died off and he looked so uncomfortable that she actually felt bad about not agreeing to it, for she knew how un-crazy it truly was.
“Mr. Wilson, please, I wish you wouldn’t beat yourself up about it. I think the world is still full of enough mysteries that nothing is truly crazy.”
His smile said he considered her to be being gracious only but that he was touched all the same. “Thank you, Daria. You are too kind.”
Probably not kind enough, she thought, for a kind man would tell him he wasn’t crazy at all. “It’s nothing.”
The food was done and he now stood there awkward as if he could not decide whether to sit again or go.
“Can I…can I come again?” he asked. “As friends, of course.”
And he looked so pitiful she could hardly say no. “As friends,” she agreed.
“Next Friday?”
She found herself nodding, wondering if there would be more talk of mermaids then.