Chapter 16
About two weeks into our arrangement, Mother Nature threw us a curve.
The National Weather Service reported a nor’easter building somewhere off the coast and headed our way. In addition to the strong winds it would bring, the storm was expected to dump about a foot of snow up and down the Jersey Shore.
I’d been through storms like this before, though never with the Sunny Side Bed-and-Breakfast under my sole charge.
So, I wasn’t exactly shocked when my iPhone rang with an incoming FaceTime from my parents.
Reminding myself I had everything under control, I sank onto the sofa in the lobby and accepted the video call.
Since my folks had left for Arizona, we’d been messaging pretty much every day, and we’d spoken once or twice.
Even so, when I saw their faces for the first time in almost three weeks, I felt a huge wave of affection.
I missed them. Of course I did. But as we said our greetings and adjusted our framing, I also realized that recently, with everything going on here, I’d barely spared them a thought.
Is that bad? I wondered. Or just normal?
Regardless, I’d have to sort through those feelings later. Our small talk was winding down, and the conversation was turning to bigger issues.
“The news says you’ve got some snow headed your way,” said Dad. “Sounds a little flaky to me,” he added with a wink. “Get it?”
I rewarded his attempt at humor with a good-natured groan. I also filed the joke away to share later with Xander.
“Don’t worry,” I assured my father. “I’m on top of it.”
“You’ll want to make sure your car has a full tank of gas,” he said.
“I already filled up,” I said.
“If the power goes out,” said Mom, “there are candles—”
“In the housekeeping closet,” I finished for her. “Got ’em. I also put fresh batteries in the flashlights and made sure there’s plenty of firewood.”
My mother and father exchanged a look. I couldn’t tell if they were proud of my efficiency or surprised by it—and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that either.
“I’m also handling the issue with the roof,” I said carefully, watching for their reactions.
I didn’t like to think that they’d known about the problem and deliberately kept it from me in some misguided effort to protect me.
But then again, they hadn’t confided in me about Dad’s declining health or their retirement plans. Not until they’d absolutely had to.
When their eyes went wide, something inside my chest loosened. Clearly, this was news to them.
“The roof?” asked Dad, his eyebrows shooting up. “What’s wrong with the roof?”
“A little dampness seeped in a couple of weeks ago during a heavy rainstorm,” I said.
“Oh, no!” said Mom, turning to Dad. “And now, there’s all that snow coming. Maybe we should go back home.”
“No!” I said quickly. “No, no, no. Please don’t come home.” Enough people already knew Xander’s secret. The last thing I needed was for my parents to return and find out I was running a hideout for mermen on the lam.
“Do you think we could still get a flight?” Dad asked Mom, ignoring me.
“We could check online,” Mom said to him—and only to him.
It was as if I wasn’t even part of the conversation anymore. I was shut out, just like I’d been shut out of those other important discussions.
As they continued their one-on-one convo, I recalled that incredibly awkward talk we’d had about the future—theirs, mine, and the Sunny Side’s.
We’d all agreed to this test period with me running the B and B while they were away.
Only, judging by the way they were acting now, I couldn’t help wondering…
Is it a test they’re expecting me to fail?
Maybe I was wrong, but I was getting the distinct impression that my parents didn’t see me as the next owner of the family business at all.
They didn’t see me as a capable young woman who could run this place on her own.
Instead, they still saw me as that scared little girl who’d run away from her responsibilities, chased her impossible dreams, and almost drowned.
Anger started to rumble like thunder in my gut. Anger at my folks, yes. But mostly, anger at myself. Because the hard truth was that, in too many ways—ways I was only now beginning to realize—I’d been living these last ten years of my life a lot like a scared little girl.
“We could call the airlines,” my mother was saying to my father. “Maybe if we flew into Philadelphia—”
“Stop,” I said loudly, getting their attention.
“Just stop. Please.” As my parents turned back to their webcam, clearly thrown by my outburst, I sat up straighter.
“I’m sure flights into the whole area are already grounded.
And besides, everything with the roof is fine. Like I already said, I’m handling it.”
And I was—or Xander was, at my request. He was out there right now in that gray knit cap, doing some quick patch work on the roof. Enough—fingers crossed—to get us safely through the approaching storm.
Normally, I would have gone on to explain that to my parents.
After all, I wasn’t in the habit of keeping things from them.
But now, I thought twice—and not just because there was so much about the new handyman that I simply couldn’t tell them.
My temper, I noted, was already rising. I didn’t want to get into a fight.
“I have to go,” I said. “I want to hit the grocery store and pick up some more nonperishables and bottled water. And I still need to salt the driveway and the sidewalks and double-check the weather stripping in the windows.”
After I made them promise they’d stay put in Phoenix, we said our goodbyes and hung up.
Then, I tried to ignore the tempest of emotion still spinning up inside me. With the nor’easter coming, I could only deal with one bad storm at a time.
* * *
“Hey,” I said a few hours later. Having completed all my errands and chores, I pulled my sweater coat tighter around me as I stepped out onto the back deck.
“Hello,” returned Xander. He was submerged nearly to his shoulders in the fully functioning hot tub. With the roof work done, he was letting his hair down and unwinding—literally—in the Jacuzzi.
It was strange how quickly I’d gotten used to that, used to his daily transformation into something otherworldly. But as Xander smiled his familiar smile at me, I wondered if maybe it wasn’t so strange after all.
I stepped closer and sat on the edge of the spa, letting the steam coming off the water warm me.
I was technically on Xander Watch, although, at this point, I didn’t think much caution was necessary.
It hadn’t started to snow yet, but the wind was already picking up, and like Xander and me, most people had finished their storm prep and were already sheltering in place.
Aside from essential workers, there was practically no one out on the roads.
“Thanks for all your help today,” I told Xander. I really did appreciate his hard work and know-how.
“The patches should hold through the storm,” he said, nodding. “But eventually, this place is going to need a new roof.”
I nodded back, the way I would have with any contractor. Except, well…Xander wasn’t just any contractor, was he?
“Did you really learn roof repair just from reading my dad’s DIY manuals?” I asked.
He shrugged. “The concepts aren’t that hard to grasp, especially if you have a natural interest in that kind of stuff,” he said. “And like I told you before, I’ve always been curious about things on this side of the portal.”
“Still,” I said, “you’re a quick study. You must have done really well in school.”
“Because I’m part fish?” he asked with a grin.
I grinned back. “Uh-oh,” I said. “Did you read that in my father’s joke book?”
“Yes!” he said. “More silly misinformation. The book implied a relationship between being smart and living in schools. But, in fact, the smartest, most evolved fish don’t school at all.”
I laughed. “Good to know,” I said.
And suddenly, I wanted to know more.
“So…does your father ever tell jokes?” I asked.
“Oh, no,” said Xander, shaking his head vehemently.
“He just tells everyone what to do.” He thought about this, and his grin became a frown.
“He especially enjoys telling me what to do. You see, he disapproves of me spending so much time on your side of the portal, away from home. He thinks that my absence is irresponsible. That I’m irresponsible. ”
“Then he doesn’t know you,” I said quickly. “He doesn’t know you at all. My God, you risked your own life to keep the merpeople safe. Not to mention everything you’ve done for the Sunny Side. And…for me.” I smiled. “Xander, you’re the most responsible person I know.”
He raised his brows. “Person?” he asked, flicking his fish tail in the water.
I laughed. “You know what I mean.”
“I do.”
As we sat there smiling at each other, the first snowflakes began to fall, melting away as they reached the steam rising from the hot tub.
Reminded of my father’s latest joke, I was about to comment on the “flaky” situation—I was interested to see what Xander would do with that—when I heard the front door of the Sunny Side open and close.
Abruptly, I stopped smiling. My body, which had become loose and pliant, went rigid.
“Stay here,” I told Xander, getting to my feet. Apparently, Xander Watch was still necessary.
* * *
Back inside, I walked through the kitchen, hoping to hell those three seamen hadn’t decided to seek shelter from the storm here. With a deep breath, I pushed open the swinging door, and—
“Yoo-hoo?” called a familiar voice.
Rita. It was only Rita.
Exhaling a sigh of relief, I headed into the lobby. “Hey!” I said by way of greeting. I raised my eyebrows. “Everything okay?”
She nodded quickly. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she said. “I just closed the shop. My mom came over earlier to ride out the storm with us. She’s with Mavis now. Anyway,” she added, “I was taking stock for reorders today, and I thought you might like this.” She held out a paperback.
“Another romance?” I asked.
“A monster romance,” she said meaningfully, thrusting the book into my hands. “It’s a very popular subgenre right now. And this is one of my best sellers.”
I peered down at the cover. When I’d let her in on Xander’s secret, I had not anticipated this. “The Kraken’s Virgin Bride?” I asked, reading the title.
This time, the illustration on the front depicted…
well, I supposed it was a kraken. A very sexy kraken.
He had a head full of long, thin tentacles—not red hair.
But other than that, he looked an awful lot like Xander from the waist up: handsome and muscular and undeniably alluring.
Instead of legs or a merman tail, his lower body was comprised of a network of longer, thicker tentacles, two of which were wrapped around a human woman. His virgin bride, I presumed.
I found this cover art more intriguing than I wanted to let on. My gaze unintentionally lingered there, and I felt heat color my cheeks—something that was happening way too often these days. Was there a way to stop yourself from blushing? Maybe I should google it.
“Who knows how long we’ll be snowed in,” Rita was saying. “You might need extra reading material. And if the power goes out, you can always read by candlelight.” She paused. “Or, you know, maybe do other things by candlelight.”
I looked up at her sharply. “Stop trying to put ideas into my head.”
She shrugged. “I assumed the ideas were already there,” she said. “I’m just trying to help them along.”
“Stop,” I said, thwacking her playfully with the book. “You know I can’t sleep with Xander.”
“Maybe not in his merman shape,” she said. “But he’s got a penis between those legs, doesn’t he?”
That was all it took to make me remember—in exquisite detail—the sight of Xander stretched out naked on the beach.
My throat felt suddenly dry. “Yes, he’s got a penis,” I said.
I swallowed. “I’m not saying I can’t physically sleep with him.
What I mean is, I can’t ethically sleep with him. He works for me, Rita.”
My friend scrunched up her face in thought, scrutinizing me. “But does he?” she asked. “Does he really?”
“I mean…yes?” But my reply came out more like a question.
“It sounds to me like you’re making excuses,” she said.
I shook my head stubbornly. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
Rita sighed. “I’m talking about how there’s more to life than the Sunny Side,” she said.
I was about to argue with her. A few days ago, I probably would have.
But recently, well…it was looking more and more like she had a point.
As a teenager, I’d gone swimming in the ocean—and nearly drowned—all because I’d wanted to escape the Sunny Side Bed-and-Breakfast. Now, here I was, practically married to the B and B.
It wasn’t exactly the adventurous life I’d once dreamed about.
“It wouldn’t kill you to step out of your comfort zone once in a while,” Rita continued. “You know, experience something different.” She grinned. “And Xander is definitely different.”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to put him in an uncomfortable position,” I said.
“Chapter eighteen,” said Rita with a wink, pointing at the monster romance. “There’s a position that sounds very comfortable.”
“Rita,” I said firmly. “You have got to let this go. I’m not going to compromise our professional relationship. I’m not that thirsty. And besides,” I added, my voice becoming more forceful, “You shouldn’t be talking like this. Xander isn’t just…just…just some hot piece of tail.”
Rita blinked. And blinked again.
“Oooh,” she said. She was looking at me strangely.
I crinkled my brow at her. “What?”
After a beat, she just shook her head and smiled. “Nothing.”