Mer Tales 01 - Everblue

make ya a great wife.”
    With Lily gone, reality returned and the notion of promising didn’t seem as important. Dad had some explaining to do when he came home. “Yeah.”
    Badger blew more smoke circles. “I hate to be kickin’ ya out, but when Sandy returns we’d like to have a quiet evening together.”
    I stood up. “Sure.”
    “ Don’t be disheartened. Jack woulda been right proud of you today. You were a true merman out there on that field.”
    I gulped and tried to imagine Dad’s response. Would he have been proud? I thought I knew him well. Now I wasn’t so sure. “Yeah, Badge. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    Wounded and full of questions, I dove into the porthole and swam home.

19
ASH

    Oddly, the phone rang and rang, without even an answering machine picking up. I redialed, figuring maybe someone was on the other line, but the same thing happened.
    Who calls someone at ten o’clock at night?
    If someone called that late here, I’d assume there was an emergency. And there was. I needed to know where my best friend was and when she was coming home—right now. Good things were finally happening in my life and I couldn’t enjoy them not knowing her whereabouts.
    I clicked the off button and slumped back against my pillows, my plan a total failure. If it wasn’t for the fact that I’d be a wreck for the meet if I didn’t get to sleep soon, I would have walked over in my jammies and knocked on the door. Instead, I picked up a book off my nightstand and flipped it open, looking for a distraction. Maybe reading would be the trick to ease and tire my racing mind.
    Next thing I knew, the sun shone through the curtains and Mom was shaking my shoulder. “Come on, sleepy head. You overslept.”
    I sat up with an adrenaline jolt. “Holy crawfish!”
    Her eyes met mine. “I have breakfast ready. Just get dressed.”
    I nodded and flew to the bathroom to take care of pressing matters, like peeing and brushing my teeth. A shower would have been nice, but had to wait until after the meet. I put on my black team sweats over my suit, bunched all my curls into a ponytail holder, and ran downstairs, gym bag packed and ready to go on my arm. Mom handed me a plate of pancakes and scrambled eggs as we headed for the car.
    “ Oh, please tell me you packed me some snacks?” I asked with a mouth full of food as we backed out of the garage.
    “ Nuts, trail mix, protein bars, Red Vines, and water.”
    My shoulders relaxed. “Thank you.”
    Though mom wasn’t the doting type, organization and remembering details was definitely her forte. We pulled into the parking lot and parked in the loading zone. My heart thumped harder when I saw people going into the pool area with green “SVA” windbreakers that stood for Squaw Valley Academy.
    “ Aren’t you staying?” I asked, suddenly feeling like this was my first meet and I wanted my mommy to walk inside with me.
    “ It doesn’t start for another hour. I need to go home, wake up Lucy, and get the family together. We’re all coming to watch you today.”
    “ Oh.” I blinked back at her with shock and awe. “But what about the store?”
    “ We have Jaime covering.”
    “ You do?”
    “ I need to go.” Mom motioned for me to close the door. “Get in there and warm-up. I’ll see ya in a few. You’re going to do great.” She smiled.
    I closed the door and walked into the pool area with an extra bounce in my step.
    “ Where have you been?” Georgia said from behind me. I whirled around and she gasped. “What happened to your eyes?”
    I reached up and wiped the inner corners, worried I had sleepy seeds from the night. “Nothing, why?”
    “ They’re puffy. Did you cry last night or something? Did Callahan break things off with you?”
    “ No!” I looked away, caught, remembering he didn’t call.
    “ Well, whatever happened, when you get home today, put a cold teabag on each eye for at least an hour. I can work magic, but you need to prep the canvas or your dance pictures are going to look horrible.”
    Great.
    “ Yeah, sure.” I turned and headed toward the locker room, hoping Callahan wasn’t getting cold feet on me. If he was, my worrying about it couldn’t have been happening at a worse time. I had a race to win.
    The energy and hubbub from the crowd added to my nerves and chased me after warm-up to a secluded spot on the shaded lawn where I could hide in my sleeping bag. Within the wings of emo and indie band music floating into my head