155
Mermista was still upset two days later. I had apologized several times. "Damn it!" She said and took off for Mikey's ship.
"Mermista!" I yelled at her, but she was almost on board now. My girl was a fast runner.
"Wake up!" Mermista shouted at a sleeping Mikey.
Huh? Mikey thought. "Wha-What?"
"I'm still pissed at you even if Meranda isn't." Mermista shouted.
Mikey sat up as I came into the small room. "Get out of here." He said to her. "I don't wanna talk about this."
Mermista sat down on the bed. "I want to."
Mikey had no shirt on and didn't even care to put one on. "Why are you hanging on to what I said?"
"Take me through this again. So you and Meranda were talking. How did she say her words? Were they emotional or not? Did she cry?"
Mikey knew Mermista wasn't gonna leave until he explained in detail. "The only time she was emotional is when she said she was sorry to me."
I stood awkwardly at the end of the bed.
156
"SeaHawk, sit down." Mikey said to me. He looked at Mermista, "We came down here to talk. She was shocked to see my book collection." He gestured over to it. "She said I was a good friend and told me that she was sorry for being a bad one to me. Meranda told me that she wanted a baby. She asked me to donate. I told her that I'd only give her one if we could make one together."
"Uh huh, go on." Mermista said.
Mikey licked his lips, sighed and continued. "I told her that I loved her. She said she didn't feel the same. I said to her, "You wanna date a bunch of idiots and not date me?" He paused. "It was something like that anyway. She told me again that she didn't have feelings for me. I kissed her and she didn't kiss me back. It hurt like freaking crazy that she didn't return the kiss. Then before she left she wished for me to find love someday."
I had something in my eye and wiped it quickly away.
"I cried after she left. Then I went to ClawDaddy's to drown my feelings." Mikey said to Mermista. "Paulie and Figg dragged me back to my boat a few hours later."
"You love her." I said, trying to not cry.
Mikey shook his head. "I'm tired of loving her. It's only hurting me. Now please leave. I wanna go back to sleep."
Mermista got up and went to hug Mikey. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. And I'm sorry you're in so much pain." She said as tears started to fall from her eyes. "Take care of yourself."
157
Marika screamed in delight.
Amara jerked around looking at her. "What?"
"It's September!" Marika said, smiling from ear to ear. "The Dolphin Social is this month and my sonogram to find out what the baby is!" She put her hands on her tummy. All of this was becoming more real now that she was showing. "I'm just scared that Jordan isn't as excited as I am."
Amara walked over and touched the bump. "I'm sure he is, but he's most likely scared too. All of this is new to both of you. Take a parenting class together. Read some books and interact with other families."
These were good suggestions. "You want a kid now too?" Marika asked.
Amara shook her head. "No way, but this auntie is more than happy to baby sit. And just to learn more about kids in general." She smiled to herself. "I think I wanna be a teacher of some kind." She went to sit down. "I was thinking of getting credits for swimming instructor. Teaching the humans how to swim and showing off too."
Marika laughed. "There she is . . . you love attention."
Amara shrugged. "Yeah, I do. I might take some courses in child care too. I'm still young and I can always change my mind."
158
"You've always been kid friendly. And they seem to like you back. I think you'd do well with children in whatever career you want." Marika told her sister.
"I'm keeping my options open." Amara said, thinking about her future.
Two days later in SeaWorthy, Moe was bringing a barrell of fish to BonVoyage! He exchanged hello's with the people he knew and switched out the goods for money. He'd be back in an hour or so to pick up the barrell.
He saw Meranda talking to someone. They weren't dining, just talking, having coffee and flirting. The guy she was with had black hair that was slicked back. He seemed business-like. The guy wore a gray and white suit. He smiled and Moe got a sense of a snake from it.
"Meranda . . . I swear child you make bad choices." He said to himself and not bothering them. He kept silent and walked away. He wished she would just admit to her feelings and pick his friend Mikey instead.
Moe, Mikey, SeaHawk, Paulie, Figg and Mermista were at ClawDaddy's later that night. Jordan and Marika were coming too soon. The group had recently gotten their drinks and Nollie had brought them some sweet rolls and butter. She had to go grab the appetizers crab cakes with cheese and toasted crackers with smoked salmon spread.
Mermista inhaled her virgin strawberry daquiri. "Heaven!" She said, looking lovingly at the drink.
159
I smiled at her. "Yes, there is an angel from there beside me." I said and she looked at me. I knew she was talking about her drink. She smiled and kissed me.
"Sweet and gross." Paulie said laughing.
Mermista sighed, "We need to find you a girlfriend."
Nollie brought the food and put it down. "I'll come back in five for your orders."
"We should just get more appetizers. It's a little cheaper." Figg said, drooling over the big menu he was holding. "I've only had a bag of cheddar bacon chips today."
"Those sound really good." Mermista said, grabbing a crab cake.
Figg watched her eat and laughed. "Are you sure you're not pregnant?"
Mermista got choked and I patted her on the back. She drank a sip of her drink. "It would be a big surprise if I were. Sebastian and I are always careful."
As usual they were sitting up front near the doors in the half curved booth seat (like the one in the SeaSide Angler) that sat up to six to seven people. The front half was with four additional chairs.
Paulie was sitting on the left side where he could easily see people going in and out.
160
He saw Meranda come inside and some guy with black hair came in too. Moe was beside him and he nudged him and gestured. "Isn't that the guy you were talking about?" Paulie asked.
Mikey was sitting in the chair next to the end of the booth where Paulie was. He saw their eyes darting toward the bar. He turned around. He saw Meranda with the guy, shook his head and turned back around. "Great." He muttered.
Mermista and I were kissing so we didn't notice Meranda and the guy.
"So, Iyhan, you didn't tell me where you live." Meranda said to her date.
Iyhan was wearing nice navy colored pants and a nice cream colored shirt with sleeves. "I thought I told you, dear. I live close by in Alwyn."
"Right." Meranda said as she smiled brightly at him.
"Could I get a gin and tonic and whatever the lady wants." Iyhan said with a wink.
Meranda said, "A glass of your lemon-berry chardonnay, please."
Mikey couldn't help himself. He kept stealing glances at her. "He seems like a jerk." He said to the table.
Moe agreed. "I saw 'em this morning at BV and thought he was no good too."
