“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 excitem
ent 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?”
Chapter 6
Pumping her legs harder, Esther gripped Mooky’s leash and ran, trying to pace herself and remember she couldn’t run away from everything that had happened if she ran faster.
The idea that her uncle had taken his life because his work had hurt someone, astounded her. But she wasn’t ready to address that just yet.
Last night had still been quite clear in her mind this morning when she’d awakened to find not just the women in her house, but two more people added to the mix. A zombie named Carl, the sweetest soul ever, who’d thumped her on the back and given her an awkward hug. Then she was treated to the best eggs Benedict she’d had in her life, made by Archibald, who, according to the ladies, was some kind of master chef wannabe and, surprisingly, human.
And if his eggs Bennie was any indication, he had her vote for chef of the universe. She’d eaten the decadent treat as though she hadn’t eaten in a week, and thanked him from saving her from another bowl of tasteless oatmeal.
Now, as she took her ritual morning run with Mook, she finally had a moment alone to think about what to do next. Because what did you do when someone told you your uncle screwed up some tests he’d allegedly done for years and had somehow made a bunch of people sick?
Tucker had spat those words at her last night as though she knew thing one about what her uncle did or didn’t do, but Nina, sensing how tired she was, had sent Tucker and his sister and her boyfriend on their way, and instructed them to come back tomorrow, when they could all sit down and iron out the details of her mermaid-ness.
But he’d had something to do this morning, and Jessica was in an important meeting about this issue with their water.
So, she’d decided to take a run to help clear her head.
Stopping to catch her breath, Esther stared off into the choppy water and asked Mooky, “What do you suppose Grandpa would say to this, buddy? He’d probably laugh that his only granddaughter is now forced to literally sink or swim, huh?”
Mooky sat beside her in quiet reverence, leaning against her calves—which in doggie speak meant, “Whatever you say, Boss. Just keep the canned food and pizza crust coming.”
Her grandfather had tried everything and anything to break her fear of the water. He’d taken her to a swim class when she was twelve, only to have the teacher tell him Esther was uncooperative. He’d even paid for private lessons, to which Esther had responded by playing hooky.
She wanted nothing to do with the very water her grandfather and her father loved so much. Both swimmers in high school, her father Eduardo had almost made the Olympic swim team.
In fact, as outrageous as it sounded, her father had chosen her name because he’d literally had a crush on Esther Williams as a kid. When everyone else was hanging up Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul posters in their rooms, Salvador told her, her father’s teenage crush was Esther.
The day was gray and full of a heavy mist that hung low over the ocean, leaving her hair plastered to her head. As the tide rushed in along the shore, she skipped backward, trying to avoid the swell of frothy water.
But then she remembered what Tucker had said this morning when he’d dropped by to check on her. “You only have to worry if you’re fully submerged in water—like in a pool or something. You can still take a shower, get caught in the rain, etcetera. The movies make it something it isn’t. Not totally, anyway.”
As her dreams of going on a cruise with her friends went down the drain, and she’d listened to him tell her the very basics of her new life as a mermaid over a cup of coffee, she fought the intoxicating scent of his cologne and her body’s reaction to how attractive he was—maybe more so in the cold morning light, if that were at all possible or fair.
Though, as quickly as he’d arrived, he left, telling her he’d see her later. Now, as her head swirled with information and fear and wonder, she considered her uncle and his death.
According to the police, her uncle had defini
tely committed suicide. The proof, they claimed, was in an identical email he’d sent to his assistant and two of his colleagues, a vague and very brief email. Though, when the police had informed her of his death, they hadn’t given her any further information and she hadn’t asked.
It had almost felt like she was invading his privacy to ask to see the email, she knew so little about him, and when the police asked if he’d shown any signs of depression, she couldn’t answer because she didn’t know.
And now Tucker was saying her uncle had approved water for them that was tainted. She knew little about Gomez Sanchez, but she did remember her grandfather telling her how meticulous he was in everything he did.
Sighing, she decided it was time to go back to the cottage and face the music. And somewhere in there, she was going to have to tell hunky Tucker she didn’t know how to swim.
Turning, she meant to take off, but lost her footing when her sneaker sank in the wet sand. Of course, she did this just as a wave rushed to the shore, knocking her feet right out from under her.
As the freezing salty water hit her tracksuit, she fell forward, still clinging to Mooky’s leash as the tide tugged her closer to the water.
In an instant, that same panic, that same flood of helplessness from so long ago assaulted her, and she began to flail, not even thinking about the fact that she was now submerged fully in the ocean. The icy water sloshing over her body like stinging pricks to her skin. As she reached out toward the shore, another wave crashed over her, the water invaded her mouth and eyes and made her lose her grip on Mooky, who barked playfully.
Anxiety settled in within seconds and Esther forgot everything but the fact that she was in water—cold, harsh, unforgiving. Her heart began to race as it engulfed her, swishing over the top of her head and knocking her around until she swallowed more of the salty brine and lost her breath.
When the tide pulled her back under again, swallowing her whole, she began to flail her arms as she tried to think about what Maurizio had said yesterday in that class she took—about how she had to move with the water, not against it, but her terror took hold, preventing her from remembering much else.
The Accidental Mermaid (Accidentally Paranormal Series Book 16) Page 6
