Deep Betrayal

away for me to hear. After a moment, he said, “That’s that, then.”
    He hung his head and walked to his car. I watched as he climbed in the back and lay down on the seat. His feet hung out the door, and he threw one arm over his face. Only in that gesture did he answer me. Dad wasn’t coming back. And I couldn’t help thinking it was all my fault. If I’d never told him the truth about what he was, he’d be a normal dad, in the kitchen doing crossword puzzles.
    Running back downstairs, I found Mom in the living room. When she heard me coming she drew the back of her hand across her eyes.
    “Are you okay?” I asked.
    “What does it look like?”
    She was going to have to work harder to deter me. “He’ll be back,” I said, hoping it wasn’t a lie. Even if I didn’t believe it, I needed to get the words out for her. Even if she didn’t believe me, she needed to hear them.
    Mom moved slowly into the kitchen, wetted a rag, and started wiping down all the surfaces. “He’s always gone. He comes home late, if he comes home at all. He hasn’t slept here in nearly a week. I think it’s pretty clear what’s going on, Lily.”
    “No, Mom. It may be many things, but it is definitely not clear.”
    “Tell me I’m being silly.”
    “Dad’s not having an affair, if that’s what you’re saying. I know that much for certain.”
    “He never used to lie to me. I know life hasn’t been easy since I got sick. I wouldn’t blame him if he wanted to leave.”
    “Dad loves you. He needs you to be happy. Try and fake it if you have to. I can’t explain, Mom, but you have to trust me. If you’re angry, if you’re sad, it’ll be harder for him to come back.”
    She laughed one hard laugh and threw the rag into the sink. “Seems a little circular, don’t you think, babe? It’s the coming home that will make me happy, not the other way around. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be having this conversation with you. Fine bit of parenting, isn’t it? Never mind, never mind. I think I just need to take a bath. A bath and a nap.”
    A small whimper drifted down the stairwell and Mom rearranged her expression. “Can you take Sophie out for a bit? She’s been cooped up with me so much. Go do something fun with her. That would help me a lot.”
    The noontime sun blazed down on us as we bobbed a safe thirty feet from our dock—me, Sophie, and Calder—in our small, aluminum fishing boat. A blue plastic cooler sat by my feet. Water sloshed gently against the hull. None of us spoke. Worry roiled in my head like storm clouds. I hopedthat was the only reason Calder wouldn’t look at me, and it wasn’t that he was still mad about my eavesdropping, or worse, holding back an I told you so. You should have never told your dad the truth .
    Why hadn’t I believed him when he said it was a bad idea? Surely he had better instincts when it came to merman matters than I did. But no, I had to go plowing ahead, so certain it was the right thing. Dad would have never left if I’d only kept quiet.
    Sophie reached into her pocket and pulled out the prism from her Girl Scout project. She dangled it over the side of the boat and let the sun work its magic. A spray of sparkling color reflected off the water and the side of the metal boat. Rainbow beams twirled around in a circle, hitting our faces, as the prism spun on its string.
    “What are you doing, Sophie?” I asked.
    “Fishing,” she said, as if this should be obvious. She wouldn’t look at me, either.
    Calder shifted in his seat and kept his head buried in an old National Geographic .
    “You’ll have better luck if you put some bait on a hook,” I said. “Maybe they’d like salami.” I grabbed a sandwich from the cooler and broke off a corner for her.
    “You fish your way,” she said. “I’ll fish mine.”
    Calder didn’t seem as amused by her as I was, and seconds later the first lake trout darted toward the surface, knocking its side against our boat with a soft thud.
    “See?” she said smugly. “They like the colors.” My skin prickled when she added, “Isn’t that right, Calder?”
    Calder laid down his magazine but kept his eyes castdown. He dragged his foot through the scattering of sand on the bottom of the boat.
    Sophie continued, “I was playing with the prism one day when I was working on my Girl Scout project. A whole bunch of fish started circling around the dock. I put the prism away, and they went away. When I pulled it out again, they came