The Turning Tides (Marina's Tales) (10 page)

I nodded decisively, “Yes
, as soon as I turn eighteen
.”

He sighed,
“
You two are both so young!
Have you given any thought
about
what you’re getting yourselves into?
Are you sure?
”

I looked at Ethan, thinking about everything we’d been through so far. If it wasn’t for him I’d be lost, in more ways than one. I loved him more than life itself.

“
I’m positive.
”

My father smiled wanly, his head flopping back onto his pillow. Doctor Permala came in and surveyed the scene with disapproval. She hurried to his side and checked his dressings, giving a cursory nod Ethan’s way.

“Ethan Carlson, allow me to introduce Doctor Amrita P
e
rmala,” Dad said
ceremoniously. He seemed to have already figured out that she was a stickler for formality. She glanced up at my father, as if to gauge whether or not she was being teased, and shook Ethan’s hand with her eyes locked on
to
Dad’s drawn face.

“
Pleased to meet you
,” she said in a lilting Indian accent.

She went back to her bossy manner, announcing, “Professor Vanderpool, you must eat and get some rest immediately. I’ll have your meal prepared straight away.” She hurried off.

“I was going to order Thai,” I told Ethan, “But the doctor won’t let him eat any decent food.”

“Now Marina,”
Dad
slumped back down.
“She takes her work very seriously. Show her some respect.”

“She seems on top of things,” Ethan said, looking around the house.

“Go out to eat,” Dad said, pain etching lines around his eyes, “There’s no point in you two hanging around a sickroom all night.”

“But Dad,” I was disappointed
.
“I wanted you two to get to know each other.”

“We have all our lives,” Ethan pointed out, nudging me. I think he noticed how weak my father looked, and he reached over to shake his good hand again, “It was nice to meet you, sir.”

“Call me Martin,” Dad replied.

I kissed my father goodbye and reluctantly left the apartment.
“How about Chinese?” I asked Ethan when we got into the elevator.

“Any
thing
you want,” he said, wrapping his warm arms around me.

We got out in the basement garage, and Paul was waiting at the elevator. He smiled at me, looking Ethan over with hooded eyes. I felt Ethan tense by my side, and I clutched his hand a little tighter. I knew he was jealous of the time Paul and I spent together training, not to mention in Germany. To his credit, he tried not to complain;
after everything that had happened with Amber,
I
could
certainly understood how irrational jealousy
might
make a person.

“Do you need a driver?” Paul asked.

“No thanks,
” I said, hooking my arm around Ethan’s.

The sun was sinking slowly over the bay
when we stepped out into the street. I hailed a taxi, deciding it was best not to hassle with trying to park on the busy Chinatown streets.

“Take us to the Dragon Gate,” I told the driver.

We climbed out of the cab under the green tiled roof, joining the
hordes of tourists and merchants that crowded the streets.
Glowing
streetlamps
lit
the busy scene
, and
it smelled like food cooking. It was a brisk
San Francisco
night, and we walked arm in arm, taking in the sights and sounds coming from
all
the shops and restaurants that lined the streets.

“I’ve never been here before,” Ethan said, looking
all
around with a smile.

“I’ll give you the tour,” I told him, leading the way down the sidewalk with my fingers twined in his. Colorful paper lanterns illuminated the faces we passed, and the air was filled with the roar of city traffic, interspersed with snatches of Chinese music escaping from the doorways of the various storefronts.

We stopped in a
n
herb and tea shop that Evie frequented, and the elderly proprietor recognized me, asking about “Miss Evelyn” with reverence. He pressed various samples into our hands, urging us to sniff all the different scented teas, talking about how they would bolster our “Chi”. I ended up buying a large tin of my favorite Jasmine flower tea, and a set of elaborately
decorated
porcelain cups to serve it in.

“For our place,” I said, making Ethan smile.

We
looked over some of the exotic produce displa
yed under the awnings of a
grocery
store
,
and Ethan
point
ed
out
and named
some of
the things that Lue Khang was growing on his farm. We both paused to gawk at the smoked ducks hanging by their necks in the window of a butcher shop.

“What’s in
here
?” Ethan asked, pulling me through the door to look at the live fish, crabs and turtles displayed in giant tanks that lined the walls. The smell of the animals and the bubbling of the aquariums made me lightheaded; a frog clawed at the glass of the tank in a futile attempt to escape. My breath caught in my throat, and I found myself staring, transfixed, imagining how terrified it must be.

I stood frozen to the spot, finally snapping out of it when a worker dropped a metal tray onto the floor with a loud crash. “Let’s get out of here,” I told Ethan, backing away slowly.

“Are you okay?”
he
asked
, looking alarmed
as I gasped for fresh air out on the street.

“I’m just a little claustrophobic,” I said with a shudder, “That place would make Abby cry.”

Ethan laughed and slipped his arm around my waist, “I was over at the house for dinner last night. She’s so happy right now I don’t think anything would make her cry.”

I smiled up at him, “How’s your little sister doing?”

Ethan told me about visiting Adria while we walked, and I wished we were both there at that moment, getting ready to tuck in to one of Dutch’s fabulous dinners. I missed
being part of Abby’s
family, and I missed Aptos.

“Are you getting hungry?” I asked.

We walked on, looking into some pagoda-roofed curio shops packed with souvenirs and garishly colored silk dresses.
Rows of g
inger jars lined the s
idewalk
,
leading up to
shelves
stocked with fake designer handbags, golden sculptures of Buddha, and all kinds of colorful dragon figurines. I bought my dad a package of his favorite ginger candies, tucking it into my purse.

We stopped in a dimly lit doorway to kiss, but were broken apart by a woman with three little Chihuahuas in sweaters who brushed past us to get into her apartment. We hurried away down the street, laughing at the way she’d she scolded us under her breath in Chinese.

“This place has the best dim sum,” I pointed towards the crowd of people lined up outside a brightly lit restaurant. We peeked in the door, and surprisingly, managed to get seated right away. A woman led us on a weaving path through the labyrinthine rooms,
gesturing to
a small table in the very back. We were so close to the kitchen that the swinging doors jarred our table each time a cart laden with food came bursting out.

“At least we’ll get first crack at
it
,” I laughed, and we did.

Dim sum carts rolled by us
every few minutes
,
loaded with
precariously
teetering
steamer trays. We sipped tea and picked
out
the best looking dishes,
sampling
pork buns, shrimp stuffed mushrooms, and
Shanghai
dumplings
with
ginger scented pork.

I asked Ethan how his classes were going, and he told me about
a
horticulture
class he was enrolled in. He was most excited describing all the different greenhouses they had at the university, impressed with their vast collections of plants from all around the world.

“My dad would like to
see
that,” I said wistfully, “I wish he was better.”

“Me too,” said Ethan, reaching across the table for my hand.

“So…
W
hy did you want to tell him about us without me there?”

“I thought maybe I should… Uhm, I wanted to ask for his permission.”

My eyebrows shot up with surprise, “Really? Isn’t that a little old fashioned?
Did you offer to trade some goats for me or something?
”

He
laughed, and then
smiled
apologetically
, “I just wanted to cover all the bases.”

I rolled my eyes at him, “Dad’s not like that. He
knows I have a mind of my own.”

“That’s
exactly
what he said.”

“What else did he say?” I asked, still mildly annoyed.

“He said that he thought we were too young… but he didn’t say no.” He looked hopeful, “I really don’t want to mess this up.”

He looked so earnest I leaned over the table to kiss him, almost knocking over the teapot.

“That’s not possible,” I told him.

After we ate our fill we asked for the check, and I gave Ethan his pick of the two fortune cookies, telling him what Evie always told me, “This one
is going to
come
true.”

He cracked his open and read it, his face breaking out into a broad grin, “Your patience will be rewarded.” His eyes met mine.

I could feel my cheeks burning as I looked down and opened mine. It read, “There is time enough to take a different path”. I immediately thought of the forty or so moons I had left before the mermaids would no longer accept me as one of them. I looked up to meet his happy eyes.

“Mine’s stupid,” I said with a laugh. I crumpled it up and tossed it on the table, getting up to go.

We wandered back out into the cool night air, slowly walking down the opposite side of the street. Ethan told me about how busy work had been, and how he was starting a challenging job designing the landscaping around a new medical center. He laughed when he described coming home tired, only to find Stumpy the cat waiting, fully rested and ready to play.

“I was always more of a dog person, but he does kind of grow on you,” he admitted, and I smiled
, knowing we
had our first pet
.

We drew closer to the end of the block, and Ethan stopped to pull me close.

“Come home with me,” he whispered in my ear.

I truly wanted to, but I couldn’t.

“Not yet. I need to be sure that Dad’s going to be okay.”

“That doctor seems to be pretty serious about taking care of him.”

“A little too serious,” I grumbled.

“Oh, I have a feeling he doesn’t mind too much.”

I rolled my eyes at him. If Doctor Permala was indeed my enemy, her
obvious
good looks were clearly a weapon in her arsenal.

“How long will it be?” he persisted, “My dad’s old room is completely cleared out now, so we can start moving your studio
in
this weekend. Besides, you shouldn’t get too far behind in your classes.”

He had me there. I was worried about getting back to school. I hoped my absence hadn’t blown my chance to get into the research lab to have a look around.

I sighed, “I know. I
should
get back to school by Monday.”

Ethan groaned, “I can’t wait four more days!”

“You’ll be so busy working you won’t have time to miss me.”

“I’ll never be that busy,” he said, right before he kissed me again.

~

I watched him drive away that night, conflicted and confused. If dad hadn’t gone to Afghanistan he’d be his old self, but I’d never have met Ethan. I remembered what Evie said about things happening for a reason, and shivered a little, turning back to go inside.

I had plans in the morning.

~

C
hapter
S
even

HUMPBACKS

~

I snuck out of the apartment early the next morning, silently tiptoeing past Dad’s
elaborate
hospital room and slipping into the parking garage unnoticed.
I
still had the keys for the
Rolls
, so I jumped in
and drove
it
to the exit.
I found Yuri guarding the gate when I reached
it
, and I felt in my purse for the Taser while I waited for him to buzz me out. I could see his dark eyes watching me in my rear view mirror as I pulled away, and I shuddered with distaste.