Just Add Water

Chapter 23

At the market Anna bought fresh fish and herbs. Later they went back to Lucy's house where she cooked a delicious grilled fish seasoned with the herbs.

"That smells wonderful." Lucy said as she and her friends sat down at the table to eat. "Spetto when will Dad be a little late coming to dinner?"

"I'm very sorry Miss Heartfilia." The middle aged maid replied. "But Mr. Heartfilia won't be able to join you for dinner this evening. He'll be in a meeting tonight."

"Why am I not surprised?" Lucy sighed.

"He sends his deepest apologies."

"I'm sure he does."

"Don't feel too bad dear." Anna said. "I'm sure your father would have loved to join us tonight had his work allowed him to."

"I guess. Sometimes I feel like he'd rather be at work instead of here with me."

"That's not true. Your father loves you very much."

"Well he has a funny way of showing it.'

Dinner was delicious but Lucy felt really disappointed that her father couldn't make it. To make her feel better, Anna told the girls stories about her friends and their days as mermaids. The girls really liked Anna, she was funny, sweet, and a very good cook not to mention they enjoyed hearing her stories.

After dinner they all sat down together in the living room and Anna showed the girls some old pictures she had. Some were of herself and Layla when they were children, some were of them when they were teenagers, and some were of her with friends.

"Here's me and Layla on our first trip to the beach." Anna said handing Lucy an old photograph of her and Layla playing in the ocean together as an eight and six year old.

"You both look cute." Lucy said.

"We loved going to the beach so much. We always had the most fun there especially your mother. She always said that she felt the most relaxed in the ocean." 

"I feel the same way."

"I know. You're a lot like her. Oh Layla was truly loved to swim. I'd see her floating in the water for hours. Then one day she told our parents that she wanted to sign up for swimming classes, before we know it she became one of Magnolia's top swim champion."

She pulled another photograph from her bag. "And here's me with my friends at the annual Summer festival."

"They had the Summer festival back then?" Lucy asked.

"Oh yes they've had festival for decades."

She handed the picture to Juvia. It showed a teenage Anna and her friends standing together on the docks, wearing matching lockets, and looking up at the fireworks with genuine smiles on their faces.

"That was one of the most fun nights of my life." Anna said. "We had so much fun playing games, dancing, watching the fireworks, it was all just do exciting."

"You all looked like you were having a good time."

"We had the time of our lives that night. We were having so much and we were all just so happy that we had to get a picture. So I grabbed the nearest man walking by and asked him to take a picture of the three of us all together. It's one of my favorites."

"I really like this picture." Juvia said. "It's so pretty."

"Would you like to keep it?" Anna asked her.

"But it's yours. You said that it was your favorite."

"I have copies. Besides I want you girls to see how close my friends and I were back then."