Tyler was sitting up in bed when Ivy, Shauna, Matt and myself came to visit him about a week after Gerrard’s funeral. He turned off the TV as we entered his room.
“Hey, what are you guys doing here?” he asked.
“We have to go tell the Merfolk that one of their dangers has passed.” I answered. “It’s safe for them to come back to Damariscotta River.”
“I thought it wasn’t safe for them to come here without being followed by the enemy tribe.”
“There hasn’t been any bad weather brewing these past few days. We figure either they’ve won or had a brief reprieve.” Ivy spoke confidently.
“A reprieve? Seriously?”
“Either way, we haven’t heard from our Mermaid friends in a while.” Matt interrupted. “We want to make sure they’re doing okay.”
“We’re going to take my boat out on her maiden voyage near where I think they live.”
“You have a boat, Reese?”
“Yes. The Ella. Harry bought her for me a while back, I’ve just never had the time to take her boat.”
“Do you even know how to sail?”
“Seriously? Do you really think my Dad, or Harry for that matter, would let me live out all my days on land? They loved the sea. I’ve also inherited my Dad’s catamaran.”
“Well, if someone wants to pass me my walking stick…”
Getting Tyler down stairs was no easy feat. He tried not to wince or cry out each time we offered him a hand or steadied him by placing a hand on his back, but it was clear to all of us he wasn’t completely out of the woods yet. Once he was outside we got him into the wheelchair the hospital had supplied him till he was back on his feet again.
The Ella was parked alongside Harry’s fishing boat at the harbour. She was a beautiful large speed boat with a beautiful cabin that had room to seat eight, a small TV and DVD player, a bar, sink and cupboards with a little bathroom so small the boys could barely stand at their full height. Getting Tyler through the small door beneath the dash where I stood, readying the engine for departure. Matt hopped through with Ivy whilst Shauna and I did our best to squeeze him through without hurting him too much. We wouldn’t need his wheelchair where we were headed so Matt left it on the back of his truck.
“Whoa, where are you going with that thing?” Tyler asked as I handed Matt the Trident through the cabin door.
“Just in case.”
The boat pitched and rolled in the small waves us I manoeuvred us away from the harbour. I left the door to the cabin open so I could still speak to my friends below deck.
“Are we there yet?” Ivy called, the return of her snarky attitude brought a smile to my face.
“No, it’ll take almost an hour or two, I reckon. Just stick on a DVD or sit out front here where you can soak up some rays.”
“Ooh, I might just do that.”
Ivy appears through the small door and climbs over the small wooden steps to reach the front of the boat where she lays out a towel and strips down to the purple bikini hidden beneath her tank top and denim shorts.
“You doing okay, babe?” Mat asks, joining me at the wheel.
“Yeah, I’m fine. We should do this some time. Just the two of us. What do you think?”
“Sounds perfect.” He smiles, stooping to kiss me. “May be before we go to college?”
“I’d like that.”
YOU ARE READING
Shallow Waters (Book 2 in the Mermaids of Damariscotta Trilogy)
Fantasycover by @Aphrodite270
