Dark Water: A Siren Novel (13 page)

I looked back at the restaurant as I followed her. The parking lot was still nearly empty. Two employees sat out on the break-area deck, but they talked to each other and paid no attention to us.

“How are you?” she asked.

I considered my response. If she hadn’t been listening, she wasn’t fishing for a particular answer. “Fine. Good. Busy, but good.”

“It must’ve been quite a year. Last semester of high school, graduation, applying to colleges.”

“College,” I corrected. “Just one. Dartmouth.”

“Where Justine was going to go.”

I paused. She didn’t know the truth—that Justine had only pretended to apply and feigned acceptance in anticipation of running away with Caleb. Apparently, Dad had left out some details in his recent e-mails.

“Right,” I said, since that was easier than clarifying. “And I got in. I leave at the end of August.”

She started to put one arm around me, then seemed to think better of it and clasped her hands behind her back instead.

“That’s wonderful,” she said. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you.”

We reached the end of the dock and looked out across the harbor. Like the parking lot, it was nearly empty. Last summer, it had been filled with powerboats, sailboats, Jet Skis, kayaks, canoes—basically, anything that floated. This summer, it was mainly a fishing-boat thoroughfare, and that traffic wouldn’t resume until the fishermen returned late this afternoon.

“How are you feeling?” she asked quietly.

Tired. Weak. Thirsty. Even more than usual, for longer periods of time.

“Great. Our new house practically sits in the ocean, which helps.” I shifted my eyes toward her without moving my head. “I’m sure Dad told you we moved.”

“I’m sure he would’ve, if we were still in touch. But since we’re not, no, he didn’t.”

Her eyes met mine. I looked away. Their communication had also been part of our deal. They’d been in regular contact since she’d asked him to care for me, but had stopped writing after our official introduction. And since I could offer her updates myself, we’d agreed there was no longer reason for them to be in touch. Especially since it must’ve killed Mom to learn that Dad had been harboring a secret pen pal—and not just any secret pen pal—for so many years.

“How are
you
feeling?” I asked, a moment later. I wasn’t
simply trying to deflect; I genuinely wanted to know.

A cool breeze blew across the water. As she tightened her sweater around her torso, I could make out the outline of her ribs.

“Vanessa,” she said, her voice soft yet serious, “I don’t plan to stay long.”

I turned toward her. “But you just got here.”

She probably heard the disappointment in my voice, too, because her head tilted to one side as she looked at me. “I only stopped in Winter Harbor on my way to Montreal. There are some people there I need to see—”

“Nenuphar people?” According to Charlotte, the Nenuphars were a group of very successful sirens who’d grown so powerful over the years, they’d developed abilities other sirens lacked. We were their descendants, which was the main reason Dad had been unable to resist her draw, despite being completely in love with Mom.

“Yes,” Charlotte said. “I have some matters to attend to with several relatives.”

“I thought you stopped talking to them years ago. When you left there and moved here.”

“I did. But just like it was time to see you, it’s time to see them.”

“Even though they’ve killed more men than any other group of sirens in the world? Which was why you left in the first place?” Realizing immediately how I sounded—judgmental—I looked away.

“Yes,” she said. “Even though.”

I nodded, unsure of how to feel about this. Despite being related, we were practically strangers, so it really wasn’t any of my business. On the other hand, Charlotte had taken a life herself last fall; it was the first time she’d participated in the type of behavior she’d left home to escape, decades earlier, and she did so only to gain the energy needed to help defeat Raina and the other Winter Harbor sirens. She’d said afterward that she’d felt even worse than she imagined she would and vowed never to take another victim.

So what business could she possibly have now with the most dangerous sirens in the world?

“Anyway,” she continued, “I wasn’t certain I’d stop here until I was about to pass your exit on the highway, which was why I didn’t contact you ahead of time. But I don’t know.…” Her gaze fell to the dock as her voice trailed off. A second later, she raised her head and tried again. “I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. So I wanted to at least say hello and see if you needed anything before you couldn’t reach me anymore.”

“What about your cell phone?” I asked. That was the only number I had for her. “Won’t you have it with you?”

“I’m only meeting my cousin in Montreal. After that, I’ll be traveling through some very remote regions of the country. Cell service will be unpredictable at best.”

“But—”

“Vanessa!”

I spun around, bringing one hand to my forehead to shield my eyes from the sun.

“Is that Simon?” Charlotte asked.

My heart leapt to my throat as I realized it was. He stood at the edge of the parking lot, facing the water. The Subaru, with Caleb inside, was behind him.

“You’re still together. I had a feeling you’d be.”

“Actually, we’re not.” I waved, held up one finger to let him know I needed a minute. “He broke up with me in October, after …”

This time, my voice trailed off. I didn’t have to explain.

“Trust me,” she said, sounding a combination of pleased and disappointed, “you might be broken up … but you’re still very much together.”

I turned back. She gave me a small smile.

“Go. Say hello.”

“It’s okay, I can—”

“Vanessa.” She touched my arm. “I’ll be here when you’re done.”

I didn’t move as she lowered herself to the edge of the dock, rolled up her jeans, and removed her sandals. I waited until she dipped her bare legs into the water, as if the salt would lock them in place until my return, and then finally started down the dock. While I hurried toward Simon, I tried to sort out my feelings. Charlotte lived in Boston. Back home I could see her every day if I wanted to, but I hadn’t. And now that she wouldn’t be so accessible, I suddenly wished I’d taken advantage of the opportunity.

For better or worse, those mixed emotions gave way to only one as I neared Simon.

Happiness.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi.” I stopped two feet away, wanting to hug him, but not sure I should.

“I’m sorry, I hope I didn’t interrupt …?”

“You didn’t,” I said quickly. “But for future reference, please feel free to anytime, anyplace.”

“Noted.” He nodded toward the dock. “Is that Betty?”

I glanced behind me. I couldn’t say it was, because Simon knew Betty and might want to say hello. I was tempted to say she was a friend of my parents’, or even a potential Chowder House hire, because I didn’t want to remind him of everything I wished we could both forget … but I couldn’t do this, either. If Simon and I had any chance of moving forward, we had to do so the right way. And that meant being honest, no matter how uncomfortable it might be.

“It’s Charlotte,” I said, turning back. “She’s on her way to Canada and stopped by to say hello.”

“Oh.” His face tensed for a moment, then relaxed. “I won’t keep you, I promise.… I just wanted to make sure you’d made it here okay.”

My chest warmed. “I did.”

“Anything out of the ordinary?”

“No, not that I could tell.”

“Good.” He stepped toward me, lowered his voice. “There’s something else.”

My eyes fell to his lips, only inches away from mine.

“Would you like to have dinner tonight?”

I looked up. Smiled. “I’d love to.”

“Great. What about Paige?”

I paused. “What about her?”

“Do you think she can come, too? Because, based on last night, these people are obviously willing to take some risks to find out what they want. The more brainpower we have to figure out who they are and why they’re here, the better.”

Three thoughts immediately came to mind. The first was that, based on what I’d overheard at the open house, I had a pretty good idea why trespassers were watching us last night. The second was that I didn’t want Simon to know that, because I didn’t want him to worry. They were probably curious thrill seekers who’d picked up on an Internet rumor and meant no harm, but I knew that was enough to call Simon to action.

The third was that he was already worried. Just like always.

“I’ll ask,” I said.

“Great.” He exhaled, stepped away. “We have to get back to the marina, but how’s seven? Murph’s Grill?”

I nodded. He gave me a small smile before turning and jogging to the car.

As I headed for the dock, I thought about how this wasn’t the way the summer was supposed to go. I knew there was no denying who I was, regardless of how much I often wanted to … but if it continued to be the focus of any time Simon and I spent together, would we ever really be able to move forward?
And at the very least, have a normal friendship—or at least the closest thing to normal we could get?

The thought was so upsetting, by the time my feet hit the dock, I could barely feel them. My mouth was dry and my throat burned. When my torso started to sway to one side, I quickened my pace and half-ran, half-stumbled the remaining distance.

At the edge of the dock, I sat down, yanked up my pant legs, and dropped my legs into the harbor. Relief didn’t come fast enough, so I leaned forward and splashed water on my arms and face. It was a solid minute before I felt strong enough to sit upright without instantly falling forward again.

At which point, Charlotte, who was still there as promised, finally spoke. Her voice was soft, serious.

“So, Vanessa … is there anything you need from me?”

“Yes.” I took a deep breath and slowly released it. “I need you to stay a little longer. Please.”

C
HAPTER 11
 

“I
’VE BEEN SINGLE
two hundred and forty-two days, nine hours, and three minutes,” Paige said.

“And?” I asked.

“And I don’t know if that’s enough time. To heal and be ready to date again.”

I parked the Jeep and turned to her. “First of all, you broke up with Riley, not the other way around, so I’m pretty sure you’ve fully recovered from that heartbreak.”

“That was a lot harder than you’d think. I’d never broken up with anyone before and I didn’t even really want to break up with him. I only did it because I felt like I had to.”

“I understand.” And I did. After Paige transformed into a siren to help stop Raina for good last fall, she’d wanted to become familiar with her new abilities without influencing someone she genuinely cared about, so she’d ended her relationship with Riley, Simon’s friend and roommate at Bates. “But before
tonight, you hadn’t so much as mentioned his name in about two hundred and forty days.”

“Maybe that’s because it was too upsetting.”

“Or maybe it was because you were too distracted by the dozens of cute prep-school boys suddenly vying for your attention.”

“Well.” She shrugged. “Warding them off
was
pretty time consuming.”

“And second of all,” I continued, giving her a quick grin, “this isn’t a date.”

“Right. It’s a double date.”

“It’s a meeting.”

“With food, drinks … and a pretty new outfit I’ve never seen before.”

I glanced down at the turquoise skirt I’d bought on my break that afternoon. “I was just doing my part. To support local business.”

She patted my knee. “How very civic minded of you.”

I looked at her. “Is it too much? Maybe I should run home and change. Because this really isn’t a date and I don’t want Simon to think I’m trying to turn it into one. That’s the last thing I need.”

“Are you kidding? You love this guy. You need to take advantage of every opportunity you have to remind him that he feels the same way about you. Trust me, we could be meeting at a gas station and that”—she motioned to my ruffled tank, my denim jacket, my beaded necklace—“still wouldn’t be too much.”

Her hand was still on my knee; I squeezed it. “Thanks.”

“Anytime. Now let’s go do our part for Winter Harbor’s favorite grease pit.”

As we hopped out of the Jeep and crossed the street, I wondered, not for the first time that day, why Simon had chosen it for our meeting place. If we were going to be talking about things we didn’t want anyone else to hear, wouldn’t somewhere a bit more private, like one of our houses, have made more sense?

The reason didn’t become any clearer as we entered the restaurant. Because it was packed. Every table and bar stool was taken.

“I don’t get it!” Paige declared, over the din of classic rock, conversation, and laughter. “Do their burgers come with cash instead of fries?”

“Evening!” A heavyset man holding a half-empty beer stein turned away from the pool game he was watching, and toward us. “Buy you ladies a drink?”

“No, thanks!” I hooked one arm through Paige’s and tugged her through the crowd.