A Thousand Salt Kisses (Book 1 of Salt Kiss series)

><> Chapter Thirteen <><

Maybe I had been sufficiently pepped for it... All the talk of strange things succeeded by a series of bizarre happenings. I just wasn't feeling that jolt of disbelief that you would have thought inevitable.

Maybe I was just numb from the shock.

"Mermaids?" I clarified. My tone was calm.

Rosie, who had been staring down at her hands, looked up.

"Uh-huh," she looked like a deer caught in the headlamps, her brown eyes wide with worry, awaiting my response. "Well, mermen, in Llyr's case. They... they live in the sea."

"But Llyr has legs," I said. My mind was actually logically processing this. "Mermaids or mermen have a fishtail, right?"

"Well, apparently they can morph into humans for a bit," Rosie explained, "when they come to surface."

"So, you're saying he's a man who usually has a tail?" I asked.

"If he is what I think he is then he will live deep below, and have a tail," said Rosie. "They can swim better that way, I guess."

"Makes sense," I said slowly, not knowing if I quite believed the words as they came out of my mouth. I mean, it makes sense but at the same time it makes no sense at all.

"I can't believe you actually believe me!" cried Rosie.

"Oh - No, no, no. I'm not saying that!" I said, wagging a finger in the air.

Rosie stood up. "Crystal, why do you think Frank couldn't see him?"

"Oh, Frank could see him, Rosie. He was just saying that to make Allan feel bad."

"Okay, why is this Llyr always bobbing about in the sea then?" she pressed. "The deep sea, to be precise"

"I...I.." I didn't know the answer to this, but it had to be far more logical than Rosie's offering. "He was in a boat on Monday. And wearing shorts!" I bit back finally, snapping my fingers.

 "Yeah yeah, so he had props," said Rosie. "But come on, Crystal. How did he know where to find you? How was he just miles out at sea that day? And how the frig did he get that fruit?"

My mind raced, producing justification after justification but a tiny part of me felt prepared to accept what she was telling me. It was totally insane but it just somehow resonated.

"God, do you think he lives in that pink forest thing?" I found myself replying.

"Oh my god,  you do believe me!" she cried, jumping up and down on the spot.

"Why, are you joking?" I asked, suddenly unsure all over again.

"No!" said Rosie, now stationary and holdng out her hands. "It's just you're like, deliberating!"

 "I guess most people would call the doctor," I admitted. 

"Er... yeah!" said Rosie. "It's not every day someone tells you you're dating a merman!"

I put my hands to my head, I was suddenly feeling a little dizzy. I mean, I knew something very unusual was going on - but this?

"Look, it's shocking but once you accept that they exist, it just becomes part of every day life," said Rosie, putting a reassuring hand on my arm. 

"Do you know any of these mer-types?" I asked, looking up, my face crinkled with disconcertion.

"Well, no not personally, but I saw some years ago," said Rosie. "There was this one time, when I was about eleven and I had been out at sea. George - your friend the fisherman - had taken my sister and I out there because our parents had paid him, you know, for the whole fisher-type experience.