Chapter 5

Esther’s heart crashed against her ribs as she pulled on some yoga pants and a ratty old NYU sweatshirt, trying to parse the day’s events without crying hysterically. One look in the antiqued white bathroom mirror, her luxurious rainbow locks now gone, replaced with her shoulder-length brown hair, her legs just the way she’d left them in the pool back at the Y, told her this was not some nightmare.

This was real. She really was a mermaid and there was a hot, gruff Australian guy in her living room who was a merman.

A merman.

As Nina said, this was some fucknuttery. She had a million questions, a million thoughts, but for right now, she was just happy not to be flopping around like some literal fish out of water. Her limbs were intact, and if she’d learned anything being a mediator, she’d learned to tackle one item at a time.

That meant food in her stomach, and a good Tucker Pearson interrogation—she needed answers. She’d think about the heightened-emotions thing and how Tucker had known her uncle later.

If Tucker had been her uncle’s friend, she’d like to know. Maybe he had some perspective on who he really had been.

Pulling her hair up into a messy bun, she reached for the tap—then realized she was too afraid to wash her hands. She almost felt like those rubber things you got in your cereal when you were a kid, and when you put them in water they expanded. She did not want to take a chance she’d expand again. So, she wiped them with a Wet-Nap and popped the bathroom door open, forcing herself to go back out into the kitchen, where Marty and Wanda were heating up some food for her, chatting the entire time like this was a dinner party rather than a paranormal crisis.

She had to trust that they were telling her the truth about this OOPS hotline they ran. Anyone could have a website with lots of glitter and a toll-free number. That didn’t mean they knew what they were talking about—or even what they were doing. But that website had some pretty wild tales, and instructions, and people to call if you needed paranormal help. So she’d gone with it.

She only knew that for the moment, these women were all she had, and after that crazy display in the living room earlier, where she’d sat terrified and awed at the same time, she’d rather have them here with this Tucker Pearson than not here at all.

If nothing else, they were clearly capable of taking care of themselves, and while Tuck was a big guy, these women were formidable foes, especially with Nina as their head-savage-in-charge-of-all-eviscerations.

That comforted her in a way that only a day ago it might have actually frightened her.

As words like vampires and pods and fins swirled around in her head, Esther let Marty sit her down at her small dining room and place a napkin in her lap.

Wanda scurried in with a bowl of steaming-hot soup and a sandwich and set it in front of her with a smile. “Eat. It’ll help. It always helps me,” she said on a tinkle of laughter, rubbing her belly.

Nina pulled out a chair next to her and cupped her chin in her hand as she peered at Esther. “So, I guess that’s not a tuna sandwich, huh? Would be considered like eating your friends?”

Marty and Wanda both gasped their dismay from the kitchen counter where they sat on stools. “Nina—too soon!” Marty chirped.

But Esther found herself chuckling as she took a bite of sandwich and waved it under Nina’s nose. “You know what, Nina?”

Nina’s eyes glittered as she cocked her head. “What’s that, Little Mermaid?”

“You’re fucking funny. Just thought you should know.”

“See, you bunch of sensitive fucking Nancys? Chicken of the Sea thinks I’m funny.”

As she took another bite of her sandwich—an egg salad, rich and creamy, served on soft, doughy bread—she eyed Nina. “So, you do this often?”

“Do what often?” she asked, scrolling her phone.

“Help damsels in distress.”

“We’ve helped a couple dudes, too. This accident shit happens more than you think.”

“Really? Like to who or what?”

Nina looked up from her phone and sighed. “Like demons and cougar-shifters and bear-shifters and the Goddess of Love, familiars and dragons, and a princess in a real-live fairytale.”

Sipping her soup, Esther digested that bit of information. Trying to keep her responses cool and levelheaded, because again, there was no denying what she’d seen in her living room. “But no mermaids yet?”

“Nope. To date, besides our dragon buddies, you’re the freakiest thing we’ve come across. Well, I dunno, maybe you tie with Jeannie our genie. That was fucked up and just as sparkly.”

Esther held her sandwich mid-air. “A genie? Like Barbra Eden, blink-your-eyes genie?”

Nina chuckled and nodded. “Just like that, only with evil djinn and shit. Also, I have a familiar named Calamity. She’s off in the realm, visiting her familiar friends for a week.”

“What’s a familiar?”

“A pain in the ass. A loveable one, but still a boil on my damn butt.”

Esther’s mouth sagged open, a question in her eyes.

“She’s a talking cat, who, when I was turned half witch, showed up to ‘guide me’ in the fucking witch world. She’s mine forever—except for this week, because she’s—”

“In another realm,” Esther repeated.

Nina nodded and grinned. “Exactly.”

“Do I want to ask what this realm is, or means, or even where it is?”

Her deadpan expression gave Esther a moment of pause. “You probably don’t.”

“So, this genie…” That fascinated her even more than vampires and dragons.

“What about her?”

“Pictures or it didn’t happen,” Esther taunted teasingly.

“I don’t have a pic of Jeannie on my phone, though I do have a kid because of her. But you wanna see a fucking baby-dragon?”

“Like a Game of Thrones dragon? Shut up!” Esther crowed, her eyes going wide when Nina showed her a picture of the most angelic little girl with wings, sitting next to a full-on dragon. “You could have Photoshopped those. I call bullshit.”

“Was what you saw earlier bullshit?”

Esther wrinkled her nose and rethought her words. “Okay, you win that round.”

Tucker, who’d stood quietly in the corner by the pantry while they chatted, scrolling his phone, cleared his throat, his face still quite serious. “Ladies? I hate to interfere in a good gab, but my sister will be here at any moment—”

Esther’s doorbell rang again, making Mooky bark, but Nina grabbed him, cradling him close, and held her palm up at Tucker. “You wait there, Sharkbait. I’ll answer the door.”

Tucker didn’t fight her on it. Instead, he swept his hand toward the door and backed off, leaning against the pantry and crossing his long legs at the ankles.

“Why is your sister coming here?” Esther asked, wiping her mouth and pushing away from the table to approach Tuck. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to meet another merperson right now.

His dark eyebrow rose as he tucked his phone in the back pocket of his tight jeans. “I thought it might be helpful to speak with an actual mermaid. As with human men and women, our differences can be vast. You’ll like her. Everyone likes her. She’s smart and tough. Look, I’m just doing what I promised. I thought Jessica might be able to help.”

“Are you in the market for a medal?” Esther quipped, smoothing her hair back, feeling self-conscious of her messy appearance.

If his sister looked anything like he did, she’d probably hit the gene pool lottery jackpot, too.

Tucker looked down at her, his eyes amused, but his sharp jaw twitched. “No. But I wouldn’t turn down a tiara.”

“Tuck?” a soft, lyrical voice called out as a sultry dark-haired woman, lovely and composed, walked into Esther’s entryway, arms hooked with a good-looking gentleman who had a very ugly black eye. She pulled a black fringed wrap from around her shoulders and put it over her forearm. “What’s going on?”

Tuck smiled at her with clear affection and held out an arm, crossing the room and pulling the tall, delicate woman close, planting a kiss on her sharp cheekbone. “Jessica? This is Esther Sanchez. A brand-new mermaid.”

Jessica blinked, then she blinked again, looking from the beautifully dressed man to Tucker, her wide dark eyes fringed with thick lashes. “Sorry?” she responded in the same light Aussie accent as her brother.

“He said, Esther’s a mermaid and it’s all his fucking fault.” Nina held out her hand to a dazed Jessica, who took it with great hesitation. But Nina pumped her hand up and down anyway. “Nina Statleon, by the way. Nice to meet ya.”

Tucker held up a hand. “First, this is Chester Morning, Jessica’s boyfriend. He works in IT for my family’s company. Good to see you, man,” he said, bumping shoulders with him.

“Yeah, you too, buddy. This whole thing,” he spun a lean finger around in the air, “sucks. Sorry it’s happening to you.”

Tucker nodded. “What happened to the eye?” He pointed at Chester’s very blackened eye.

“Went a round with an underwater pier. Never saw it coming,” he joked charmingly.

“Hah!” Tucker laughed out loud, slapping his friend on the shoulder.

Pushing her short dark hair behind her ear, revealing a large silver hoop earring, Jessica looked to Tuck in confusion. “Stop bromancing and explain. I don’t understand. How can she be a brand-new mermaid…?”

Chester cleared his throat and rocked back on his heels, trying not to smirk at Tucker.

And that’s when a light bulb must have turned on in Jessica’s head. “Oh, Tuck…you didn’t? Did you? Say you didn’t! Without protection? With a human?”

“Oh, he fucking did, lady. Yes, he did,” Nina crowed, looking to Mooky and rubbing noses with him. “He did, didn’t he, Mook? He’s been a very bad boy.”

Feeling incredibly awkward around this woman, dressed in a slim red wrap dress and gleaming black heels with a statement necklace in silver, Esther wiped her palms on her yoga pants, feeling frumpy and disheveled. Still, she stepped closer, held out her hand and introduced herself.

“I’m Esther Williams Sanchez. The brand-spanking-new mermaid. It’s nice to meet you both.”

Chester saluted her with a smile, his handsome face bright and open as he clearly fought laughter.

“You too,” Jessica murmured, sending signals of distress to her brother with her eyes as she took Esther’s hand and patted it. “How did this happen? Are you all right, Esther?”

Chester snorted then covered his mouth with his hand and looked at the painting on the wall beside the entryway, studying it as though it were a van Gogh.

Esther sighed and scratched her head. “Well, we had a hinky moment or two when I didn’t think I was ever going to have legs again, but I’m okay, I guess. As okay as anyone can be when they have no idea mermaids really exist, but someone turns them into a mermaid and proves them totally wrong.”

“She’s cheeky,” Tucker commented, rolling his tongue along the inside of his mouth as he crossed his thick arms across his chest. “Very cheeky.”

Jessica held up a hand to shush her brother, obviously annoyed with him. “How are we going to tell Father about this, Tucker? Aren’t you in deep enough already?” Her eyes sought his, but almost as quickly, she looked back to Esther. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be insensitive, but Tucker’s not exactly on the best of terms with our father right now. Of course, that’s not your fault at all, Esther.”

Sucking in his cheeks, he seemed to dismiss the idea of his father. “Are either one of us ever on the best of terms with Father?”

Jessica’s eyes glittered as though she were amused. “The tyrant. And I maintain to this day, he’s a sexist pig. He’ll never leave the ways of old behind.”

He gave her a lopsided grin. “I’ll deal with Father. Right now, I just need your help with Esther, Jess,” Tucker said, thus sweeping her comment entirely under the proverbial rug.

Esther didn’t want to pry into his private affairs, so she chose to leave the comment about his father alone. Though, she had to wonder what their beef was about.

Yet, Jessica didn’t feel quite the same way Tucker did, as evidenced by her next comment. “But you do know you’ll have to speak to him—tell him about Esther, don’t you? We have to integrate her into the pod, Tucker. You can’t just leave her hanging out to dry, and you can’t integrate her without telling Father. This isn’t a small event.”

Chester turned around after giving her painting a good, long study and looked to his friend. “She’s right, Tuck. You know she is.”

“Are you going to be in some kind of trouble for doing this to me? It was an accident. I’ll tell your father that, if you’d like,” Esther offered, looking to the siblings.

At those words, Chester nudged Tucker with his elbow and chuckled, low and husky. “An accident, eh, mate?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call this an accident, Esther,” Jessica said, pushing her hair from her face with nails painted in a shimmering black polish. “Well, maybe his scales sticking out was a mishap, but that’s the only part of this that’s an accident. I don’t mean to be indelicate here, but he did sleep with you while knowing the risks.”

Esther’s mouth fell open, but she managed to sputter, “Sleep with me? He didn’t sleep with me! I’ve known him for all of an hour at best. We just officially met!”

Jessica’s smile turned cynical, and so did Chester’s as he put an arm around her. “You two aren’t going to try to use that line of denial when you tell Father, are you? He’s been around the block a time or two. I don’t think he’s going to fall for it, Tucker.”

“Hold the fuck on, lady. She didn’t sleep with your bro. She brushed up against him at a GD funeral. That’s how this happened,” Nina said as she stared down at Jessica with angry eyes.

“Who the hell are you?” Chester asked, straightening his square shoulders and taking a step in front of Jessica.

“Ooooh, wait. Hold on!” Marty cautioned, moving into the living room, her finger in the air. “Cute shoes, by the way,” she complimented Jessica.

“Thanks!” Jessica replied with a smile and motioned to Marty’s neck. “Love your scarf!”

Marty pointed a finger in the direction of the kitchen and looked at Nina, who slinked off—then turned back to Tucker and lifted her chin, a smirk on her lips. “Didn’t you say heightened emotion can make your scales stick out? I think I know what that means. You weren’t sad at her uncle’s funeral. He was horndoggin’ you, Esther!”

Esther blanched uncomfortably. Under normal circumstances, she’d be all sorts of flattered. He was definitely very sexy. But Tucker didn’t just think she was attractive, he’d turned her into his mermaid bitch because he couldn’t keep his scales to himself. No bueno.

“Horndogging?” she squeaked, because she didn’t know what else to do but play dumb.

Chester nodded his sleek head. “Definitely horndoggin’.” And then he laughed.

Tucker closed his eyes and sighed a ragged sigh. “She’s right, Jess. Sort of. We did not sleep together, and we did just meet. The truth is, I did think Esther was quite attractive, and when we brushed up against each other at her uncle’s funeral, one of my scales errantly popped out on my wrist—”

“Her uncle’s funeral?” Jessica asked in disbelief, her eyes darting from her brother to Esther.

“I told you I was going to attend Gomez’s funeral, Jessica,” Tucker reminded her, as if they had some kind of secret about the event.

She nodded her head in understanding, her shiny hair glistening under the recessed lights. “You did, and I totally understand. It was such a tragedy. I would have gone, too, if it hadn’t been for that grueling schedule Father’s put us on.”

You know, she hadn’t once stopped to wonder why Tucker had attended her uncle’s funeral. She’d been too caught up in the “OMG, I have a tail” business.

But now she was suspicious. “So, why were you at my uncle’s funeral anyway, Tucker Pearson? How did you know him? I think it was pretty evident from the low attendance, he didn’t have a lot of friends. Were you his friend?”

“I’d never met him in my life,” Tucker said with stark honesty, his gaze steady.

Esther scratched her head again before putting her hands on her hips. “Is it a mermaid thing? To just randomly go to strangers’ funerals then? Should I make sure I keep my black tail and fins handy at all times so we can funeral crash with the pod?”

Jessica smiled as she winked at Esther. “Oh, she is cheeky. I like that in a girl. Also, Esther, I’m so sorry for your loss. We valued your uncle greatly.”

Her dumbfounded look made Tucker respond. “No. It’s not a mermaid thing, Esther. Your uncle did some work for us in his capacity as a scientist. He’d done so for years.”

Okay, so? Something was off in his tone, his vibe, his everything, and she wanted to know what. “Is this where you’re being intentionally vague or you’re hiding something? Because I don’t get it.” She looked at Tucker and the two newcomers, waiting for an answer.

Tucker’s sexy lips thinned. “Your uncle tested our water for us.”

“Like your special mermaid water? The water you swim in? Your pool water? Your dog’s water?”

Tucker barked a laugh, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “I don’t have a dog. I have two cats. Freckle and Fran.”

She lifted her chin and wrinkled her nose. “Okay, so this is the part where you’re being intentionally vague, and even obtuse.”

“No. I’m just telling you I don’t have a dog. Though, I love them. Freckle and Fran were part of a stray’s litter. Their mother was killed just before I found them.”

She melted on the inside a little. That he was a nice guy with a kind heart was beside the point. “What water did my uncle test for you?”

“My company’s water, of course,” Tucker responded, as though she should know. “My family owns H2O-Yo.”

The bottled water? No way.

Marty piped in then, her eyes aglow. “Shut the front door! I’m Marty Flaherty—owner of Bobbie-Sue! My husband, Keegan, owns Pack Cosmetics. You provided bottled water for our convention just last year,” she gushed.

“I knew you looked familiar!” Jessica said, her excitement evident as she clapped her hands together in glee.

“Of course she does,” Tucker chided teasingly. “What brand of makeup don’t you have? Better be careful, or Father’s going to cut you off.”

“Amen,” Chester breathed.

She made a face at Tucker before looking back to Marty. “We must chat about that new moisturizer you’ve come out with, Marty! I can’t tell you how amazing it is on my skin. I mean, mermaid, right? Dry skin for days! It’s so creamy. How do you get it—”

“Hey!” Esther finally yelped. “Business Owners of America—mermaid here! I don’t want to interfere with your meeting of the ultra-successful minds, but I have a tail and fins I don’t know the first thing about! So could you table the discussion on dry skin until after we help me figure this out?”

Marty shook her finger in admonishment. “You won’t be saying that when your skin’s dry and flaky because you spend so much dang time in the—”

“Shut the fuck up, you two hens!” Nina scolded, pushing her way between Jessica and Marty and heading straight for Tucker. “Stop with the yapping and let’s get to the point. I want to go the fuck home, and I can’t do that because I made a promise to Fins over here that I’d stay until she feels comfortable. I don’t break my promises, ever. Now what the hell is next, and how do we teach her how to be a mermaid?”

Esther jumped up from behind Nina’s shoulder and said, “Yeah! What she said. What do I do next?”

Jessica’s face fell. Her perfect features instantly sympathetic, she reached for Esther’s arm. “I’m so sorry, Esther. My deepest apologies. Of course I’ll help you get settled with the changes your body is going through and explain the ways of our pod.”

“I’ll help, too, if I can,” Chester offered with a handsome smile.

Esther breathed a small sigh of relief before she looked to Tucker again. “Thank you. But first things first, why did you go to my uncle’s funeral if you didn’t even know him?” That was just plain curious. Lots of subcontractors died, but their business ties usually sent a fruit basket or flowers, they didn’t attend their funerals.

“Out of respect. I never met your uncle in person, or his assistant, Armand, but we communicated via email quite frequently,” Tucker provided, again, without embellishment.

And another thing… “Okay, but why did you come here to see me? Was it because you felt guilty for turning me into one of your people at the funeral?”

Now he stared her down, dead on. “I had no idea that had happened, Esther. That’s the truth.”

“Okay, so why did you come here? To pay your respects? Because I’m going to be honest. My uncle was as reclusive with me as he was with everyone else. I hardly knew him, and I don’t know anything about his death.”

Tucker didn’t even blink when he said, “I came because I wanted to ask you some questions about him.”

“Tucker! Stop. Stop right now,” Jessica intervened, putting a hand on her brother’s arm. “He just died, for goodness sake, and whether Esther was close with him or not isn’t really the point. She has enough on her plate, thanks to you.”

And Chester apparently agreed. “Let this be, Tucker,” he said, his warning clear. “It’s the wrong time.”

Wanda, who’d somehow managed to fall asleep during this latest interaction, sat up straight, shaking off the nap she’d been taking on the chair in the living room.

When Tucker didn’t acquiesce, Jessica said once more, “Please. Let this be for now.”

But Esther didn’t mind a bit. Now, she was curious. What could he want to know about her uncle if he’d only shared emails with him?

“No, no. It’s okay, Jessica. I don’t mind answering questions, for all the good it’ll do you. I don’t know much about my uncle Gomez.”

Tucker nodded his head in curt fashion. “Good enough. Then can you possibly answer this—why did your uncle take his own life? And why did he do it after he approved the testing on our newest brand of water—water that made hundreds of people sick and killed an innocent old man?”