Flukes (7 page)

“Are they okay?” His voice rumbled across the water and I was immediately disappointed that he hadn’t asked about me. Taking a deep breath, I cursed myself mentally. I did
not
care if he was worried about me or not.

“Seems that way.” Harper bumped my leg and I kneeled down so that I could look him in the eye. “Did that jerk hurt you guys?” I ran my hand over his head before turning to check the two girls out.

“They seem okay to me.” Blake knelt down next to me. I was incredibly embarrassed that Dad thought I needed someone to watch out for me. And even more humiliated that I might have needed the watchdog.

“Yeah. They’re pretty tough.” I swallowed. “Look, I’m really sorry about—”

“You were pretty fierce—”

We looked at each other, both stopping midsentence. I felt a shaky smile pull at my lips, and he nodded at me to go on.

“I didn’t know Dad was trying to keep me away from those guys.”

“Yeah, I kind of figured that.” Blake looked away from me, his eyes running over the water. “Your dad’s sneaky as hell.” He sounded more amused than anything else.

“I take it he didn’t tell you about the other guys either?” Ruth pushed at my hand, so I scratched above her eye.

“No. Just what he told you this morning.” Blake stood up and held his hand out to me. I only hesitated for a minute before letting him pull me up. That warm feeling seeped up my arm and ran down my body. He looked at our joined hands briefly before letting go. When his hand dropped down by his leg, I saw his fingers flex as if shaking off a weird sensation. “Guess he figured he would kill two birds with one stone.”

“About that. I don’t really need someone watching out for me. I’m not a wilting flower. Dad’s just…” I shrugged my shoulders. “He’s just my dad.”

“Protecting his daughter is part of the job description.” He looked down at me and his eyes darkened. “Of course, if he knew what I was thinking when I saw you in those shorts, he might have regretted his decision.”

Heat rushed to my cheeks and I fought the laser-beam lock his eyes seemed to hold on mine. I literally had no idea how to respond to that and the longer I stood there with my mouth hanging open, the stupider I felt.

“I’ll have to remember to wear something different tomorrow.”

“Meena, you’d look good in a trash bag. Changing into something else isn’t going to keep me from noticing that.” He took a step closer and I took a step back. It was the first time he’d said my name today and it made my knees weak. I hated that.

“Why are you here? Why did you beat up that kid from school?” The lights went out in Blake’s eyes and distance as vast as the ocean spread between us.

“He had it coming.”

Chapter Six

- Meena -

The rest of the week was spent in an uneasy truce. I’d catch Blake looking at me and he would catch me watching him. I couldn’t help it. I liked the way he moved, the way his muscles tightened, and how his hair would fall in his eyes. Everything about him made me feel unfocused and confused. If I wasn’t looking at him, I was thinking about him. That was completely the opposite of what I needed to be doing, and I hated that he seemed to have captured my mind.

It wasn’t that we didn’t get along. It was more like we got along too well and neither of us were comfortable with that. Not that I thought he was interested in anything with me that beyond a quick physical attraction, but I found myself interested in his thought process. There seemed to be so much going on back behind his warm brown eyes.

“Do you have any ideas for a new sign yet?” I picked up some of the rope we had pulled down from the old walkway and started coiling it up. We’d talked about it a few times but hadn’t really come to a clear solution.

“I was thinking maybe something with a mermaid tail. Maybe just the tail coming up out of the water?”

I dropped the rope and stood up straight. “What? Why?”

“I guess the name inspired me. And I think it would add a bit of whimsy.” Blake knelt down and fixed the rope I had dropped. He narrowed his eyes over his shoulder at me and I felt my heartbeat pick up. “You don’t like it?”

“No. I mean, I’m just surprised.” I shrugged and looked across the water. “It’s not up to me anyway. It’s up to my dad.”

“Water, animals, the name. It just all added up to mermaids for me.” I looked back at him and met his gaze. He stood up, not once breaking eye contact. “It’s a little bit because of you, I guess. The way the animals seem to accept you, the way you love this place.”

I swallowed convulsively. “Me? A mermaid?” The chuckle that escaped my mouth sounded sick and demented. Something flashed in his eyes and I wondered if I had offended him, or if he was just trying to figure me out. It was probably best if I had offended him. I didn’t need him to like me. The problem was that I was quickly realizing I
wanted
him to.

Ducking down, I picked up the rope and started to throw it over my shoulder. His hand caught mine and carefully pulled the heavy bundle from me. “Let me get that.”

“Oh. Thanks.” I slapped my hands together to knock off some of the sand. His loose hand reached out and caught my fingers. That warm tingling ran up my arm and down my spine. Turning my hand over, he ran his thumb over the chipped paint on my nails. My stomach dropped the moment I realized I had forgotten to repaint them this morning. The teal color of my nails peeked out from under the purple paint, clear as day. I tried to yank my hand back, but his fingers held tight.

“That’s an unusual color.” His eyebrows drew together. The warm feeling in the pit of my stomach warred with the anxiety I felt at having him see my real nails.

“Yeah. I’m always experimenting with nail polish.” I tried to pull my hand away again and, thankfully, he let go this time.

“You must really like that teal color. I’ve noticed you wear it a lot.” His eyes were intense and I noticed that he was looking at my toes, too.

“It changes. Sometimes it’s purple, yellow. I guess it’s just teal’s turn.” I curled my hands into fists and bit my lip. That warm feeling hadn’t faded as quickly this time and part of me wanted to touch him again, just to see if it would come back. I was starting to think that I hadn’t imagined the feeling after all. And that seriously worried me. Why on Earth would I feel something from touching Blake?

When we got back to the shed, the other workers were putting up their tools. I had talked to Dad briefly about Devin, but we hadn’t been able to really work out how to deal with him. The tall guy was leaning against the building, smoking a cigarette. I coughed and frowned at him.

“No smoking on the premises. There are signs everywhere.” I crossed my arms over my chest, well aware of his eyes resting there. “Or can you not read?”

He squished the end of his cigarette between his fingers and flung it out toward the pathway to my beach. “I just didn’t care.”

“Devin. You better start caring or I’m going to cancel your work order and you can do time.” Dad’s voice held none of his normal, happy hippy tone. “We don’t litter. Pick it up and put it in the trash.”

I had never really thought about it before, but Dad was tall, taller than even Devin. He worked outside doing lots of manual labor that kept him in shape. When you paired that with the serious tone, he was intimidating. Devin seemed to size him up for a minute before slowly going to pick up the cigarette butt. He walked to the trash can, held his hand above the opening, and dropped the cigarette into the hole. Without another word, he turned around and sauntered down the path toward the exit. He jerked his chin and several of the workers peeled off and followed him.

The ones that hadn’t left all nodded at Dad before making their way down to the bus. Dad shook his head once they were all on their way and the tension in his shoulders drained away.

“I’m going to call and find out why they were sent here.” Dad’s eyes flicked to Blake and then away. “Did you guys come up with anything today?” I knew my dad well enough to sense when he was changing the subject.

“Blake had an idea.” I busied myself in the shed, not wanting to let my expression give anything away. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Blake pick up a stick and sketch something in the sand. Dad grunted but didn’t say anything until Blake was finished.

“This is rough, but I think that works, too.” He didn’t say anything else. Just stood up and moved back so that Dad could get a better look. “Something loose that just suggests the theme.”

“That would be easy to translate onto promotional kits.” Dad’s voice was thoughtful, so I snuck a peek at him. He was rubbing his chin and his eyes were thoughtful. “What sent you in this direction?”

“Meena.” Blake’s voice was calm and nonchalant, but the memory of his fingers on mine made me blush.

“Meena?” I turned around and looked at Dad. I knew my cheeks were red, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it.

“When she’s swimming with the animals, she looks just like a mermaid should. Happy and peaceful. It goes with the name, too.” Blake tossed the stick back into the brush. “If you think it’s too whimsical I can come up with something else.”

“No. I like it.” Dad’s eyes focused on me and I wondered what he was thinking. There was something sad in his eyes I didn’t understand. “Can you make something a little more definite? If we get this nailed down soon, we can start production of the new sign and design some shirts for the staff.”

“Sure. Need me to do anything else before I leave?” Blake looked at Dad as if waiting for homework.

“Would you mind moving that cart with the bags of concrete? Looks like it’s going to rain tonight.” Dad pointed to where Devin had left a loaded wheelbarrow by the bird hut.

“No problem.” Blake’s eyes cut to me quickly before going back to my father.

“Thanks.”

I watched him walk away and was surprised that I was sad to see him go. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I liked being around him. Even though he was kind of a mysterious and frustrating.

“Meena?” Dad’s voice brought me back to reality and I winced. He sounded nervous.

“I swear, I didn’t do anything wrong.” Technically, I shouldn’t have swum after my hat, but that wasn’t a big deal.

“I know.” Dad closed the shed and slipped the lock in place. “We named Flukes after you. It’s not that long of a shot, you know? And really, it fits. I think it would work.”

“But we try so hard to not let anyone find out.” I sat down on a large rock next to the path.

“Sometimes the best hiding place is right in the open.” Dad leaned against the shed and looked at me. “If you’re flaunting it in their face, they won’t think there’s any way it could be real.”

“Seems risky.”

“Meena, it’s all risky. All of it. The only way to be safe would be to pick up and move somewhere where you wouldn’t have any friends.” Dad frowned. “We thought about it. For years. But you would have been miserable.”

“So would you guys. You and Mom love this place as much as I do.” I smiled at him.

“We would have given it all up if it would’ve been the best thing for you.”

“I know, Dad.” It was time to change the subject before either of us got too mushy. “So, what’s the deal with the crew this year?”

“Yeah, I was going to talk to you about that.” Dad rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t want you to spend much time around the workers. Some of them are a bit rougher than usual.”

“What about Blake? You told me to work with him.” My voice was a little rushed and I hoped I didn’t sound worried. Or anxious. Crap.

“Blake’s a good apple. I’m not worried about him.”

“He put some kid in the hospital.” I stood up and brushed the sand off my shorts.

“I’m betting he had a reason for what he did.” Dad narrowed his eyes at me. “Not that I think that excuses him. He deserves his punishment.”

“Then why send him to work with me?” I wanted to hear the truth for myself.

“I knew he would come up with something that worked for our place.” Dad always trusted his gut. And it was usually right. “Plus, I thought he would make sure no one gave you a hard time. I saw him with Devin the other day.”

Heat rushed to my cheeks as I remembered Blake standing up for me. I didn’t want him to think I was helpless, but it had been something to see him ready to defend me. Dad just looked at me, a small smile pulling at his mouth, and I tried to wipe any expression from my face.

“I don’t need a babysitter.” Crossing my arms, I decided to go on the offensive. All the better to keep him from thinking anything scary about me and Blake. “I certainly don’t need a hoodlum to take care of me.”

“He was brought up around business and has an eye for design. His dad was the first one to fund Flukes, you know.” I hadn’t known that. It seemed like a weird circle to have his son working here now. “Blake’s been around boardrooms his whole life. Even if he doesn’t realize it, he’s picked up a lot of the trade. You understand the sanctuary and love the animals. It’s a good pairing for the project.” Dad stretched his arms above his head and groaned. “Go swim. I know you’re dying to get out there and this old man is ready to relax for a little while.”

“‘Kay.” I walked backward toward the beach, keeping my eyes on Dad. “But we’re not done talking about the babysitter issue.”