Sea Breeze

Boat Splash

Marie's eyes fluttered open to reveal a startled Aenon looking down at her. They both jerked back trying to get away from the other only to be stopped by the kelp then bounce back into each other. The merman quickly untied himself while Marie fumbled a bit more but was free soon enough. She quickly swam to shore where she found her sister and Shell laughing over a plate of sandwiches and a gallon jug of lemonade. Hauling herself up onto the sand she groaned as she flopped back and scrubbed her face, "Oh my god what did I do?! Why? Stupid, stupid, stupid."

She slapped her tail down with each repetition of the word "stupid". Her sister giggled and held a sandwich out, "Want some? I made PB&J."

Marie reached out and took it along with a glass of lemonade. She eyed her little sister suspiciously, "What's got you so happy?"

"Oh nothing, just that the boat finally arrived and you get to pilot it tomorrow after it's done refueling." She winked.

Marie blinked and held up a hand, "Okay, first off its captain and second off where's this boat?"

"Over in Port Suzanne. Oh come on Marie it's only a four-hour drive." She tried her luck with the puppy eyes which worked on the blue eyed merman so he joined in.

"And you just called my car a hunk of junk last time I offered to drive you anywhere." Marie took a bite of her sandwich and rose an eyebrow.

Aenon splashed up next to her and began drying himself after taking a sandwich from Shell, "Thanks man."

"Hey we're heading out for the boat tonight, get your stuff ready."

He nodded with his black hair flopping in his eyes as it dried becoming wavy. Marie's legs came back and she stood up dusting off the sand, "Well I suppose I should go get ready. Does the boat already have food on it? Is it fully stocked, pumped, refueled, and its water tanks full?"

Sue nodded throwing her blonde braid over her shoulder, "Yep, daddy said he's got everything I need on there. He says good luck and that he'll be wanting to visit and see how it's going in a few weeks so we have a while before he drops in. What do you think, can we do it in a few weeks?"

The older sister shook her head, "If you think a couple weeks is all we need you're crazy. We'll need at least a few months let alone enough time to get it remodeled and the business up and running."

She frowned and went inside to shower and pack her bag. Marie didn't know exactly how this was going to go but she had a funny feeling about it. There was nothing she could think of that would end well or quickly with this job. She thought about this while she shampooed and rinsed. Looking down at her feet she wondered if this would be a success, for her sister she hoped so. She wished no one in her family ill will and wanted the best for all of them... she just wasn't going to sacrifice her happiness for them anymore. She'd done it too much growing up and if she sounded like a spoiled rich girl for wanting what's best for herself now then so be it.

Meanwhile Aenon watched Shell and Sue. He groaned when Shell winked at him, "So how's Marie been?"

The seaweed green eyed man shook his head, "Dude there's nothing going on."

"Oh then what's this?" He held up a print out of one of the photos, "Don't deny it we've got it all on these little painting pick-ture things."

Aenon leapt at Shell but didn't get far since his tail was still in effect. He eyed the pictures and couldn't deny that they looked great, but wasn't happy about getting his picture taken, with that woman no less. He pouted a bit as he looked out over the ocean trying to decipher the possibilities of this going as planned. No matter he'll get to ride for free on a cruise ship. He felt his tail turn to legs and stood up stretching before snatching another sandwich. He shrugged, "I don't have anything to pack. I mean we've got a few crabs we could grab but I doubt we'd need them to pack those."