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Things were being planned around him, as though he didn’t matter. As though he would get no say in the decision.
She shut the sketchbook and took a final look around. “I think that’s all I need for now. Thank you for your time,” she said.
Oliver simply nodded as he watched her head toward a rental car parked in the gravel parking lot and drive away. Unsure how to feel, he needed to busy himself, otherwise he was going to head straight to the tourism office and demand that Sebastian give it to him straight. Was he losing his family home or not?
Inside, he headed into the laundry room, where a load of wash had finished drying. Taking everything out of the dryer, he folded the items. Then, picking up the basket, he carried it into Tess’s room. He had to shove the door open, as there was yet another pile of clothes and toys blocking his access.
He sighed as he entered and scanned. Unlike his older daughter, who had been meticulously organized and neat, Tess was a tornado of chaos, most of all in how she kept her room. But she claimed to know where everything was.
He set the laundry basket down on her bed and sat, his shoulders slumping as he tried to process all the conflicting emotions he was suddenly dealing with. His gaze landed on a picture of Tess, Catherine and Alison on her nightstand. He reached for it and stared at the photo he’d taken of the three of them at the local fairgrounds the spring before the disappearance. Cotton candy in hand, the three of them wore goofy smiles. Tess looked so little then... If only Alison could see how much she’d grown.
Would his wife be proud of how he was raising her? How would she feel about the prospect of him moving on, potentially away from the home they’d built? He wasn’t sure that part was a choice he’d get to make.
He set the photo back down and, picking up the clothes, he approached the dresser. He rearranged the mess of clothes sticking out and tucked the clean stuff inside.
No wonder the drawers were overflowing; Tess had stashed dozens of books in there...
He lifted the stack of Nancy Drew books, planning to add them to her bookshelf, and frowned, seeing the Sealena-themed fantasy romance underneath. Obviously hidden. Where on earth had she gotten it? She’d never be brave enough to take it out of the library, and Carly would have told him if Tess had bought a copy from the store. He didn’t think Carly would have loaned it to her without asking him first, or at least letting him know.
He flipped through the pages.
He’d heard a lot of people talking about the series around town and its mystery author, but he’d had no interest in checking them out. Romance wasn’t his genre of choice. He looked at the animated, hand-drawn image on the cover—an image of Sealena in the water, staring off at a fisherman in his boat in the distance, with the titleForbidden Love. He turned it over and read the back cover copy:
Sea serpent queen Sealena has one purpose in life—to protect the waters around Port Serenity, Alaska, and all those who dare to venture into the frigid North Pacific. Generations of her kind have been rumored to lurk beneath the ocean’s surface and her solo existence is a lonely one. When she sees a local fisherman plagued by grief and sorrow, her world is turned upside down as a strange, yet undeniable force draws her to him. She can’t seem to break the spell of attraction she feels for the human, but a love between them could never exist... Haunted by this forbidden love, Sealena is desperate to find a way to connect with her fisherman, risking everything she’s always sworn to protect.
Oliver frowned as he flipped through the pages. How sexy was this book?
He noticed a section of several dog-eared pages, and his heart raced. Tess had already learned about sex at school, they’d had several awkward chats...but was she getting a sexual education from these books? He held his breath as he started to read:
Every night, the fisherman sits on the small front porch swing. He whittles away, carving small woodland creatures into blocks of wood. I love watching his skilled hands move as he carves away at the old pieces of trees to create these wonderful figurines. We sit there for hours in silence, enjoying being with one another, without him fully aware of my presence in the water just a few feet away. I don’t want to scare him. I don’t want to intrude.
But I can sense that he knows I’m there. I see him look out at the water sometimes and notice his small smile. I know he likes having me there and, each day, it feels as though our connection is growing stronger. I long for his touch, his kiss, his arms around me, but my fisherman maintains a distance and I can’t find a way to connect our worlds.
In the mornings, he goes back out to sea to fish. But this morning, he’s left a gift along the shores where I hide. I see the carved figurine of myself, only it’s a different version of myself—one that fits into his world.
I pick it up and stare at it. Is this how the fisherman still sees me? Is this the only version of me he’ll ever accept? Will I have to change who I am for him to accept this connection as real? How else could we possibly be together?
Oliver sighed in relief as he closed the book. At least it wasn’t a graphic sex scene that his daughter had flagged.
Unsure what to do, he slipped the book back under the Nancy Drew collection in the dresser drawer where she’d hidden it. Until he could figure out the best way to handle the situation, he’d leave his daughter to it.
NEWSABOUTTHEtelevised parade had definitely spurred excitement in town. Carly’s cell phone hadn’t stopped chiming with new messages all morning from people “replying all” to Sebastian’s mass announcement the day before.
So far, it seemed that the town was embracing Sebastian and his ideas. His pitch to turn the glacier waterfalls into a tourist destination had been approved by the committee, thanks in part to her support, and plans were already moving forward to have the spot open in time for next year’s tourism season.
As Carly hung a Last in Stock sign above a table of random items, the door opened and Skylar entered the store. “So, turns out Rachel was right—these books are seriously addictive,” her cousin said, sounding almost annoyed at having been wrong. Or just not having read them sooner.
“Really?” That was a real compliment coming from the biggest Sealena critic in Port Serenity.
“Yes! The writing is so engaging I could keep flipping the pages for hours and not get bored. And the backstory the author has created for Sealena makes her so endearing and sympathetic. We’ve always known her as this creature lurking in the water, saving ships, but this new, deeper version of her is fascinating.”
Carly grinned. “You know she’s a myth, right?” She couldn’t help but tease her cynical cousin, who had always had a tough time getting on board with the town’s mythology.
Skylar swiped at her playfully. “When’s the next one releasing?”
“October fourth,” Carly said.
“And how do you know that?”
