A Thousand Salt Kisses Forever (Third Book in Salt Kisses series)

'Fishing Trip'

I walked slowly down the stairs, behind my mother. I could hear my father below, chattering away excitedly about some kind of new butterfly on the isle.

"Hello, my lover!" said George in his deep West Country twang, as I descended before him.

I smiled, momentarily remembering how alarmed I used to feel when the locals first called me this, until it transpired that they called everything 'my lover', including the cows.

"Hi George," I said, hugging our seventy-year-old family friend, and son of Nephys.

When I withdrew from him, I felt a stab of concern. His blue eyes were not as twinkly as usual. I knew him well. He was a jovial character, full of mischief, but tonight I could sense a solemnness.

As our eyes connected, I knew what he wanted to speak about, but the question was, where? He would not speak of mer in front of my parents.

"I've come to let you know the time of our fishing trip tomorrow," he said.

"Huh?" I squeaked.

"Yes, we will need to go before daybreak, so be at my hut at four a.m.," he instructed.

As I stood there grimacing, it slowly dawned on me that this was code for 'we need to talk'. But whatever the code, four a-bloody-m?!

"Can I just say, young lady, I strongly approve of this," said Dad, putting an arm around me.

"Approve?" I tremored.

"Yes, darling, I mean, it's not the most glamorous of professions, but you can make it so. Here's to my daughter, the fisherwoman!" he said jollily raising his can of lager in the air.

I scowled at him and then at George.

"See you tomorrow, then," I said, turning and trudging up the stairs. I could not even pretend to be excited. I was so fed up with lying to everybody and making up these ridiculous stories. I had been on the brink of telling my parents the truth finally, and now I was going to have to pretend to be instigating a career in angling. I mean, as if?

As I stormed into my room, I knew one thing; it was going to come out soon, whether anybody liked it or not. I was just exploding from all this deceit. I would tell them, just as soon as the next opportunity arose.