My sister stuffs a berry in her mouth, chews, then swallows. "Leilani went through a lot with her ex."
"He was a piece of work. She told me."
"That means she doesn't trust easily. I'm sure she thought you weren't serious about her, and she didn't want to be hurt again."
"But I was serious."
"Did you tell her that?"
My hand holds the fork halfway to my mouth. "No. I didn't think I had to, in those words."
Nat's mouth is full, her cheeks pouched like a squirrel. She rolls her eyes in response.
"Like, did you ever consider that you might need to go the extra mile with her because of what she went through? That maybe she thought she'd never find a man to love her properly, and when your stupid self came along, your attitude reinforced that?"
"How would I have reinforced that? I was nothing but good to her." I pause and take a bite of toast. It goes down like a lump of paste in my throat.
"Because you probably went on about that friends with benefits nonsense. How you didn't want anything serious. Of course she wanted to break it off before she got in too deep. She's used to being hurt, Remy. She just wanted to protect her heart. You made her feel like a breakup was inevitable."
I open and close my mouth. "That's not what I meant, though."
"What did you mean, exactly?"
I let the fork clatter to the plate and throw my hands in the air. "I thought I'd lose some freedom if I was in a relationship. But I'm realizing that in losing her, I've lost my joy. And that's just losing a different kind of freedom. Hell, I don't know. You're right. I'm terrible at this. I'm ashamed of how I acted and I don't know how to apologize. I don't know if I can fix this."
Nat chews another hunk of waffle, her eyes glittering. "Why don't you tell her all that?"
I shake my head. "Might be too late. Probably it is."
"You could start slow. Text her. Don't pressure her."
I reach for the phone in my pocket and swipe to a blank message. "You think? What should I say? I can't believe we're having this conversation. That I'm taking advice from you."
Nat laughs. "You sound like Dad when he tries to say something emotional and tender."
I groan and begin typing. On the water, I'm second to none. On land? I'm hopeless at feelings.
Hey, you. Saw the article in the paper. Real nice. Just wanted to say I'm really proud of you.
I show Nat the screen. "How's that?"
She takes a sip of coffee and studies my phone. "Not a bad start. Let's see if she responds."
Taking a huge breath, I press send.
TWENTY
Leilani
Crap, crap, crap.
My bar opens soon and the air conditioner is broken. It’s deader than an outdoor Florida salad bar in August. It's also hotter than the blazes of heck. I’m supposed to interview mermaids tomorrow and this is the last thing I need.
A miniscule, yet annoying, puddle of sweat has formed in the hollow between my bottom lip and chin, and I wipe it for the tenth time this morning. My nails make clacking noises against the keys of my laptop as I pull up a list of AC repair companies.
The first one doesn't answer.
With the second, I leave a voicemail. "Hi, I'm Leilani Kostas, the owner of Mermosa. You might know me. I'm in the paper today. My air conditioner's dead. Can you help? I'm on Main Street, next to the place that sells T-shirts and souvenirs."
