02 The Moon And The Tide - Marina's Tales (9 page)

Just like the day at the point I somehow knew
what it would do before it happened. Time slowed down and I cut
back and forth across the face, adjusting for the smaller drop. I
jumped off the lip once and turned to reclaim the frothy face just
as it melted into foam. I paddled back to the starting point and
could feel some big swells lining up behind us. This place was
promising.

Ethan paddled up beside me, eyes wide. “Where
did you learn to do that?” he sputtered.

“I told you I got better,” I said, mildly
annoyed that he hadn’t believed me. “Wait...” I closed my eyes for
a few seconds, “The next wave will be even better,” I said as I
moved out to catch it.

This one nearly rivaled the point’s waves in
height but was going to play out even longer. I blocked out
everything else and surfed like the guys at the point did. The
longer wave made it possible to try new things, and I was again
reminded of swimming with the mermaids as the flashing water raced
by. These waves died out with a bunch of foam instead of a
dangerous dash on the rocks. I was relaxed, able to indulge myself
without fear, and it felt really great.

I swam back to Ethan with a satisfied smile
and sat up on the board, catching my breath.

“I like this place.”

“Marina,” he looked serious, “people surf for
years
and never get anywhere near that good.”

“I know,” I said, looking down, “I think I
have an unfair advantage.” I looked up at him with a sly smile and
he started laughing. He came closer to me on his board and leaned
over for a kiss.

“What am I going to do with you?”

“Surf frequently,” I said with a grin.

Even with the less than perfect weather it
was fun being out in the ocean with Ethan. I watched him carefully
and picked up a few more maneuvers. The hours seemed to fly by like
minutes, and I looked up to see the gray skies had grown darker and
more stormy looking. Thick black clouds completely obscured the
sun, and as the wind picked up we agreed that it was time to call
it a day.

“Look!” said Ethan, pointing to a pair of
dolphins swimming past, rolling out of the water. I had a sudden
flash of inspiration.

“Do you want to see something?”

“What?”

“Lorelei showed me...”

Now his blue eyes looked alarmed, “What?”

“It’s not bad,” I said with a smile. I
focused, and called out in mermaid, “
Hey dolphins, come
here!
”

The dolphins suddenly turned and swam
directly towards me. They surfaced on either side of my board and
rolled in the water to look up at me expectantly. I giggled with
delight and reached down to stroke them. It was surprising how soft
they were; their cute faces seemed to smile back at me. I looked up
at Ethan, joyous.

He looked at the dolphins and back at me,
“Time to go,” he said seriously, face stony.

“Ethan, they can understand mermaid... I can
talk to them– and sea lions too!”

He looked pained, “We need to go in.”

I was disappointed as I said goodbye to the
dolphins; we got out of the water just as it began to pour down
rain. We trudged on tired legs up the path to the truck. Stripping
down in the driving rain we dressed as best we could and took
refuge in the cab. Ethan started up the engine and turned the heat
on. I shivered, watching the rain sheet on the windshield. I was
cold, with a hard knot in the pit of my stomach. Ethan always asked
me for honesty, but when I was truthful he never took it very
well.

He was being quiet again and I sighed
heavily, “Too much for one day, huh?” I had expected him to think
talking to sea creatures was as amazing as I did. “I suppose it
would be easier for you to be with someone
normal,”
I spat
out the last word bitterly.

He moved closer to me and started to blot my
hair dry with a towel.

“Oh, you’re not normal... you’re
unbelievable,” he gently toweled off my face as I looked at him
skeptically.

“I just can’t keep up with you. I mean, now
you talk to animals?” He wrapped the towel around me followed by
his arms.

“What are you talking about?”

He sighed, “It feels like everything’s
pulling you away from me. First the surfing, and now...”

“You surf!”

“Yeah, but Kimo was right- you’d probably win
any contest you entered. You’re learning so fast it’s scary. You
are
good enough to surf with the pros.”

I shook my head, “Not me, no way.”

“You could be famous.”

“Are you crazy? I don’t want to draw any
attention to it! What if people found out about me? What if they
found out about Lorelei?”

He was quiet, and I knew he saw my point,
“Well,” he said, dropping his head to press his cheek against my
neck, “I was wrong, I thought Kimo was
only
after you for
your body.”

His warm breath made me shiver again and he
held me closer.

“How do you do it? I mean, how do you always
pick the best waves?”

I thought for a minute, “I don’t really know,
it’s kind of like I just
know
what’s coming up ahead. Like
when you’re driving on familiar roads and you just end up at home
without even thinking...” I wasn’t sure if that analogy made sense,
but I couldn’t think of another way to put it.

“Home?” he asked, straightening up.

“I was talking about driving to Abby’s,” I
said, exasperated. It was aggravating, for he always had his guard
up, watching for the merest sign I might be thinking about going
away with Lorelei.

“I see,” he said, serious.

“It’s not any weirder than seeing the
future,” I added, trying to explain.

“Anything else you haven’t mentioned to me
yet?” he asked.

“I suppose I should confess that I don’t
cook,” I said, tongue in cheek.

“Lucky for you,” he kissed my cheek and slid
behind the wheel, flipping the wipers on, “my dad’s cooking
tonight. Let’s go see what’s for dinner.”

Dutch was definitely an excellent cook; that
we could agree on. We drove home in silence, both of us thinking
about the events of the day. Ethan was always going to worry about
me being drawn back to the mermaids, and as much as I denied it, I
had to admit he had a point.

Something had awakened within me after I
moved to Aptos. I was beginning to crave contact with saltwater
compulsively, like an addict, and when I was surfing I felt an
incredible sense of relief. These feelings came upon me suddenly,
and I figured they were probably genetic. It made perfect sense; I
had inherited all these abilities from my mother, so why shouldn’t
I have a propensity for the sea? Just because I liked to surf
didn’t mean I wanted to give up my life on land. Of that I was
certain.

We pulled up to see Dutch’s car parked out
front.

“Well,” exhaled Ethan, “That was an
interesting day.”

“I had fun,” I said defensively, unhooking my
seat belt and turning to go.

He grabbed me before I could get out,
surprising me again with his sudden intensity. He took me by the
waist and pulled me towards him, embracing me tightly.

“Marina,” he whispered in my ear, “I love
you.” I could feel his voice travel all the way down my spine. He
kissed me and I could taste the saltwater on his lips. How could he
think I would leave him? I returned his kiss, running my hands
through his hair and down his back. He shuddered and pressed into
me harder, taking my breath away.

“I love you too,” I whispered back, kissing
his ear.

“You better take me in now,” he said,
pressing his forehead against mine.

We walked out of the rain and into the warm
house, hand in hand, tired and hungry.

CHAPTER SIX

The City

The next week was stormy and rainy, making
any surfing after school out of the question. I spent the
afternoons in my room, painting feverishly. I started off painting
seascapes, and found myself focusing more and more on the water. I
was trying to capture the motion of the waves, with all their
infinite shades of color. As the canvases started to stack up they
became more and more expressive; jumbles of wild brushstrokes in
shades of blue, white and green, swimming in an angry sea of
pigment.

By Thursday I had to get away from the easel.
Abby coaxed me out to join her for a cup of herbal tea and I gladly
agreed, feeling cold and vaguely irritable. I could see her
evaluating me, trying to understand my moodiness, but it was a
pointless exercise, for even I couldn’t put a name to the restless
malaise that had me in its grip. I curled up on the couch with a
fuzzy blanket, and reminded her that she was invited to go with us
to Evie’s party.

“Tell Evie I appreciate the invitation, but
I’m gonna have to take a pass. Being in the city kinda makes me
nervous… I think I’ll just stay home and spend a quiet evening with
Dutch.” Abby sat on the couch with her legs folded up beneath
her.

“She’ll understand,” I reassured her.

Truth be told, I couldn’t really imagine Abby
and Dutch at one of Evie’s soirees. As a child, I always found her
eclectic groupings highly entertaining, but as I matured I became
aware that everyone had a different sensibility. My father hated
the San Francisco social scene, and could never escape one of her
parties fast enough. I was afraid that Ethan might feel the same
way, and it made me anxious. He was about to meet my beloved Aunt
Evie; next to my dad she was the most important person in the world
to me. I really wanted her to like him.

“Honey?” Abby asked, interrupting my
thoughts. “I can see that you and Ethan are getting very close...
and I just want to let you know that you can talk to me about
anything.” She gave me a knowing look, “I understand what it’s like
to be young and in love for the first time...” She paused,
squeezing her eyes shut with a grimace, “I know I’ve set a terrible
example, but I
do
understand how easy it is to get carried
away...”

Oh God, I thought, Abby’s giving me
the
talk
. She knew we were planning an overnight trip and was
worried about what might happen between Ethan and me. She didn’t
realize that I was way ahead of her. She would have been stunned to
know how many nights we had already spent together, and relieved
that we’d been careful not to take things too far.

I’d grown up with a no-nonsense scientist
father, and I spent lots of time was on farms where the facts of
life were no mystery. I was more than aware of the basics, and
also, the risks.

“I understand,” I said, mortified.

She bit her lip, “I just want to make sure
you don’t make the same mistakes I did.”

Abby had a point; she was a walking
cautionary tale. Operating on emotion without logic, things just
happened to her. Her life had never really been planned. Abby just
went with the flow and dealt with whatever fate sent her way. I
wasn’t that way at all, but I wasn’t like Ethan either.

In contrast, he needed the security of a
plan. Ethan needed to know what was going to happen, and had his
future almost completely mapped out. His insecurity had little to
do with me, but my situation definitely aggravated it. He was eager
to get more physical and I knew he wanted reassurance from me. The
truth was that I had been caught by surprise, never expecting to
fall in love. Everything was new and disquieting; I wasn’t ready to
get too serious.

“Don’t worry Abby, we’re not– I mean, you
don’t need to worry.”

She smiled at me, relieved, “I know you’re a
smart girl Marina, I just want you to know I’m here for you if you
need to talk about
anything
.”

“Marina! I need you to try it on now!” Cruz
came flapping in frantically, holding up his latest creation on a
hanger. He’d been worked up over designing the perfect party
dresses for both me and Megan, and I was starting to wonder if he
had bitten off more than he could chew. Happy for the interruption,
I took the gown into my room and slipped it on.

Cruz had done it again, and created yet
another beautiful garment. It was made of silver silk charmeuse,
bias cut, and it clung to me like a second skin. It reminded me of
the old movie star pictures in Evie’s fashion books. It was
glamorous, but it didn’t leave much to the imagination, and as I
twirled around to get a look from all sides I was both impressed
and a little nervous.

It had a softly draped cowl neckline that
dipped lower than I was used to, and the back plunged deeply to a
point just below my hips, ending with a train of fabric that ran to
the floor fluidly, like molten metal. I slipped on a pair of heels
to check the length when Cruz knocked.

“You can come in,” I called out.

“Oh my Gawd! You look fabulous!” he cried,
overcome with relief that it fit, “But those shoes are all wrong.”
He began rummaging through my shoes, looking for the perfect pair
to compliment his design. He settled on a pair of silvery sandals
with a high heel and thin rhinestone studded ankle straps. I
switched shoes and stood patiently while Cruz pinned up the
hemline. He circled me, marking a few more seams with chalk until
he was satisfied he had the perfect fit.

“Isn’t it a little too revealing?” I asked,
twisting to look at my bare back in the mirror.

“Honey,” Cruz said with a wink, “If you’ve
got it, flaunt it.”

“I don’t know...” I fretted.

Cruz looked worried, “Please, please,
please
don’t chicken out on me! You look absolutely
incredible, and I need to make an impression. Evie’s going to have
lots of fashion people there; you and Megan will be my calling
cards.”

“I guess so,” I sighed, “but I’m gonna need a
wrap or something.”

Never fear,” he said solemnly, “I’ll take
care of it.”

“What about jewelry?” I asked, looking at my
bare neckline.