Mermaids of Glendale - a novel

Chapter 24

After leaving Glendale Memorial hospital that morning, Kitt drove Lorna home. He pulled up in the small parking lot of her apartment building, the engine idling.

"Would you like to come up?" asked Lorna, looking at Kitt. She could see the dark circles under his eyes; the same circles she had also carried through the night like baggage and longed for rest, for sleep and succor in Kitt's arms.

"I need to get back to Long Beach, to the Aquarium. I have a lot of work to do in follow-up to the expedition."

Lorna couldn't say she blamed him. She knew she'd been acting weird around him the past few days. Maybe he just needed some downtime. They had been in each other's personal space ever since the drive down to San Diego, to Sea World and Point Loma and then the yacht to the Island.

Lorna nodded, opened the door and began to get out of the car.

"Lorna," said Kitt.

"You call me," she said, the consternation in her voice audible and only half feigned as she turned toward him in the confined and confining space of the passenger seat.

There you go, Lorna, she thought. Acting like a freak again.

"I'll call you, of course," said Kitt.

"What did he mean, really?" asked Lorna. "My dad, when he gave his blessing. You said it was for the running of the pet store."

"Get some sleep, Lorna," said Kitt. "I'll call you this evening."

Lorna nodded, and again moved to exit the car.

"I love you, Lorna," said Kitt.

Again, Lorna turned to him and then after the barest moment of hesitation she crawled over the center console, the gear shift digging into her thigh, the steering wheel pressing into her back as she climbed onto Kitt's lap and kissed him deeply, passionately, her hands on his lightly bearded cheeks in a pose from a movie poster, holding his face to hers and wanted him like she'd never wanted anyone or anything in her life. She thought, in flashes so fleeting - like fish scales reflecting in sunlight - about what alternate realities she could be living in right now. What if her mother had lived? What if her father had died? What if her legs never transformed into a fish tail? What if she'd never met Kitt?

"I love you, too," mumbled Lorna, her lips still against his as Kitt kissed her back.

Kitt awkwardly switched off the engine and fumbled for the door handle. His plan had been to gracefully exit the car, to take Lorna into his arms, to race up the stairs to her apartment, to carry her over the threshold and into the bedroom and take her back in time to their night together in that hotel room in the sky where they had first made love and then, afterwards, they had looked out the window at the dark mystery of the Pacific Ocean - his arms wrapped around her and their pulse beating together like the blinking sentinel lights of the gantry cranes on the harbor.

Instead, the car door opened and they both tumbled out onto the asphalt surface of the parking lot. Kitt hit his elbow against the ground and cried out loud and then louder still when a split second later Lorna's weight settled on him, driving the air from his lungs.

Instead, Lorna stood up and, grabbing Kitt's other arm, pulled him to his feet. She put Kitt's uninjured arm across her shoulders and together they walked up the stairs. Lorna unlocked and opened the apartment door and they crossed the threshold on foot, together.

Instead, Kitt drove back to Long Beach later that afternoon.

Once Kitt was gone, Lorna called Con Costa at the Acura dealership to let him know that she wouldn't be returning in her mermaid costume any time soon. Lorna also called Marjorie Kilroy and, during the course of their conversation, graciously turned down an offer to return to work at Mermaids of Glendale.

"Once your father has recovered and can return to the pet store, of course," said Marjorie.

"No, thank you, Dame Kilroy," replied Lorna, using Marjorie's preferred professional name. "I still don't feel that my place is there at the spa, however I appreciate the offer and wish you the best with your upcoming expansion into Burbank."

"Well, thank you, Lorna," said Marjorie. "I know Mermaids of Burbank doesn't have quite the same ring to it, but it will be a wonderful opportunity for April. She is going to be the manager of that location."

Lorna still hadn't spoken to April since April failed to mention she knew about the reality television show to be filmed at the spa. Their friendship had not recovered, and Lorna doubted that it would. Lorna wasn't really sure she really cared.

"Are you going to visit your dad tonight, Lorna?" asked Marjorie.

"I'm planning to go soon, actually," said Lorna. "I think I'll meet Marina there. Will we see you there?"

"I'll see you both soon."

Lorna tidied her apartment, flushed her dead fish down the toilet, emptied the small aquarium and carried it down to the dumpsters behind her building. Lorna raised the lid of the glass recycling trash bin and gently lowered the aquarium in.

"Hi, Lorna," said a voice behind her.

Surprised, Lorna let go of the aquarium. It crashed into the recycling bin and broke against a jumble of brown glass beer bottles. A shard of the aquarium glass ricocheted upward and cut her knuckle. She put it to her mouth, tasting the copper penny taste of blood.

Lorna turned around to see Jimmy standing in the alley.

"How are you?" he asked.

"Where were you?" asked Lorna, mumbling around her hand, her lips still to the cut on her hand.

"What?"

"Where were you?" repeated Lorna, moving her hand away. The cut didn't look as bad as she'd thought it would. "You should have been at the store. You were supposed to be there."

"I had to take some time off," said Jimmy. His foot scuffed the cracked pavement of the alley as he said it, and he wouldn't look at Lorna. "I had to get away."

"What is it, Jimmy?" asked Lorna. "Is something wrong? Are you in trouble?"

"I didn't know what else to do," said Jimmy. "I came here, but you weren't here. And...and then you were here but you were with that guy. I waited, and..."

"Jimmy," said Lorna. "What's wrong?"

"I was with her at home but when she got bad... When she got really bad, at the end, they took her to Glendale Memorial. I was with her when I heard they'd brought your dad in. I went to look in on him while he was sleeping - recovering - and then... And then when I got back to my mom..."

"Oh," said Lorna, a word so small and lost as she covered her mouth now with both hands.

Jimmy scuffed his shoe on the cracked pavement again, then finally lifted his gaze to Lorna.

"She was already gone," said Jimmy.

Lorna didn't know what else to say.

She took a step toward him, thinking maybe she could put her arms around him and...

And what? thought Lorna. How could she tell Jimmy that everything was going to be OK? In truth, nothing was ever going to be the same. Lorna knew this from painful experience.

Lorna took another step toward him, knowing instead that everything in Jimmy's life was going to...

Change, thought Lorna, falling to the ground at Jimmy's feet, seeing the light scuffs of black asphalt on the toes of Jimmy's shoes -- shoes that were taking steps backwards, exiting Lorna's field of vision as Jimmy backed up across the alley until he bumped into another dumpster.

"I saw the videos on YouTube, but I didn't think it could be real," said Jimmy. "How is this real?"

A legacy of where she had stumbled and cut her foot while climbing the rocky path on Guadalupe Island, Lorna looked down at herself and noticed the tip of her caudal fin was bruised and torn and still didn't know what else to say.