The Fate of the Muse - By Derrolyn Anderson Page 0,27
always have to do this?” he asked. His voice rose, “How are we ever going to be married if you run off everytime you get upset?”
“I’m sorry… But you don’t understand. I had to get away from there…”
“Away from me?”
“Yes,” I squeezed my eyes shut, “I mean– No!” I looked up at him, “From me… from the way I was feeling.”
Yeah, the way I was feeling about you, I thought.
He sounded exasperated, “Marina, the accident wasn’t your fault!”
“How do you know?”
He didn’t answer, and looked out at the dark water, “Why do you have to go to them?”
“Change of venue?” I said flippantly, but it wasn’t too far off the mark. He wasn’t amused.
He sighed, “Are you mad at me?”
“No.” I thought about him discussing me with his ex-girlfriend, “Well, maybe a little.” Our eyes met and I couldn’t help smiling ruefully. “Why didn’t you tell me she was back?”
He sucked in his breath sharply, stepping forward to embrace me tightly, “Don’t let her come between us… She doesn’t have anything to do with me and you…”
“Did you tell her about us?” I asked.
He sighed, “I was about to, but I didn’t get a chance…”
“A likely story,” I said jokingly, but I couldn’t help but wonder if he didn’t want anyone to know about our secret engagement. Maybe he was having second thoughts.
“It’s true,” he squeezed me tighter and I couldn’t doubt him.
I sighed and hugged him back, but I knew she was going to make as much trouble as she could, and she struck me as the kind of girl who liked a challenge. I had no idea what to do about it.
“I’m always afraid you’re never going to come back to me,” he said gruffly, “I can’t stand the idea of you being out there… all alone in the dark.”
“I’m not alone.”
He walked me over to the bench and pulled me down to sit with him. “I want to be the one you run to,” he whispered in my ear. I didn’t know what to say. How could I describe how much I needed to be in the ocean without scaring him? Apparently, I came by it honestly, for I was behaving very much like my mother had. I looked down.
“Where did you go today?” he asked.
I paused, not quite sure I was ready to talk about seeing Nerissa with Nixie just yet. I wanted to get Evie’s take on the whole mermaid reproduction thing. It was just too weird for words. “We went up north,” I said, thinking about all the animals I’d seen.
“Where?” he asked, stroking my cheek.
“She took me past the Golden Gate, out to some islands.”
“Islands?” he was alarmed.
“More like rocks, out in the middle of nowhere,” I said calmly, “There were lots of different kinds of birds there, and seals with their pups… and Elephant seals too…”
I could see the whites of his eyes in the dusky light, “You went all the way out to the Farralons? What for?”
“Uhm, she swims really fast… and–”
I was just about to tell him everything about Nerissa and Nixie when he started kissing me like it was his last chance. I was out of breath when we finally broke apart, and I laid my dizzy head on his chest, warming my hands under his shirt.
He kissed the top of my head, “When we’re married,” he started in again, “We’ll go surfing together every morning.”
“What about school?” I asked sleepily.
“We’ll go before classes,” he said.
“Won’t we be tired all day?” I yawned, warm and drowsy.
“We’ll go to bed early every night,” his voice rumbled through me, “And some days, we’ll stay in bed all day.”
I scoffed, for I could hardly imagine him skipping a day’s work, “I’ll believe that when I see it. All you ever want to do is work.”
He shifted a little and looked away.
I felt bad, realizing that I’d hurt his feelings, “I’m sorry, It’s just that I miss going surfing with you.”
“It will be different when we’re married,” he said softly.
I was beginning to realize that he was being completely unrealistic about how great things would suddenly be once we were living together. As much as I wanted to believe the pretty picture he painted, I knew there was still trouble on the horizon. I thought about meeting with the council and snuggled closer to him.
“Let’s go,” he said, “Before Abby sends out a search party.”
The next few days flew by. Every morning I picked up Shayla and we trudged up and down the