Wet and Wilde

by Tawny Taylor

  Yippie.

  Hoping to find an excuse to duck out of the whole thing, Jane used Diana’s phone to check her messages. One new message. Jane’s heart skipped a beat. Josh’s voice buzzed in her ear then spread through her body, like only Josh’s voice did. “Hi, love. I have to see you tonight. I know you have plans, and I swear I’m not trying to ruin them for you. I can’t go on like this. Not another moment. I must see you. Please come to my place? Tonight?”

  Now, that sounded important. Much too important to ignore. Ladies’ Night at the Wolf Den would have to wait. Gee, too bad. She grabbed her purse and knocked on Diana’s bathroom door. “Diana, I have to go.”

  The door flew open, revealing Diana’s face, covered with green slime and her hair wound around rollers the size of Josh’s forearm. “What are you talking about? Have to go where?”

  “It’s important.”

  “What?”

  “Something personal.”

  “It’s him, isn’t it?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Damn it!” Diana slammed her fist into the doorframe. “He won’t give you any room to breathe. Can’t you see that? He’s taking over every aspect of your life, won’t even let you go out with us. He’s a control freak.”

  “He is not, and he apologized for ruining my plans. He said it’s important. It can’t wait.”

  “You’re in way too deep here.” Diana gripped Jane’s arms and gave her a stern, intimidating—or at least Jane assumed it was meant to be intimidating—stare. It wasn’t easy taking Diana seriously looking like that. Green goo had a way of stealing some of the intimidation factor. “I love you. I can’t stand seeing you like this, bowing to his every command. You’re his little puppet.”

  “Hey, I resent that! I’m not his puppet. I have my own will. My own mind. I want to be with him. I want to see him. I miss him, even when it’s only been hours.”

  Diana shook her head. “This isn’t the way it should be. It’s all wrong, sick.”

  “Sick? You want to talk about sick? Sick is that slime on your face.”

  Diana’s face bloomed into a green-coated smile. She ran her fingers down her cheek, making three pink stripes then glanced at the smudge collected on her fingertips. With a wicked grin Jane knew meant trouble, she flicked her fingers, sending that nasty stuff into Jane’s face.

  Some dripped from Jane’s eyelashes. She swiped at it, but it merely smeared into her eyes, which left her blinking to clear her hazy vision. “That was not nice, brat.”

  “Neither is you ducking out of our night out.”

  “I promise I’ll make it next week.”

  Diana scowled. “Liar.”

  “Promise. Now, give me a tissue. I can’t go see Josh looking like this.”

  “It’s kiwi and oatmeal. It’s good for your skin. In fact, you’re showing a little age these days—”

  “Just hand me the tissue!”

  Diana thrust a box at Jane then slammed the door. Calling, “It had better be important or there will be hell to pay!”

  “I’m sure it is.”

  After doing her best to wipe off the offensive facemask, Jane dashed to her car and drove to Josh’s place, not surprised when he met her at the front door. His expression was forced, like he was trying hard to look happy. His smile was empty.

  “Hi.” She stepped into the foyer, her heart in her throat. “What’s wrong?”

  “I have to tell you something. Something important. But later. Can we have some dinner first?”

  A million possibilities shot through her brain, but none of them made sense. “Okay.”

  It took every ounce of willpower she possessed not to ask him questions about whatever was weighing so heavily on his shoulders, but she resisted. She followed him into his gorgeous formal dining room and they sat at the end of a dining table long enough to comfortably seat at least thirty.

  She’d never imagined herself living amid such extravagance, but she just might be—barring any unforeseen complications. She had the distinct impression tonight might just determine whether they would go further.

  Her heart ached a tiny bit at the thought of spending even a single day without Josh.

  “I’m sorry for ruining your plans tonight.” He poked at his salad.

  “To tell you the truth, I’m not disappointed at all. Diana wanted to hit that nightclub where you took me to dance. I’m not much for club hopping. It’s just not my scene. And that one, well, no offense, but the crowd there was a little strange.” She recalled the bizarre array of people she’d seen there, many of them pale-faced, wearing black. Now that she thought about it, there’s been something distinctly unsettling about the way some of them had looked at her. Almost like she was…dessert.

  He smiled, but the expression still lacked the usual Josh sparkle. “I’m so glad you came tonight.”

  She studied the tossed greens on her plate. There was something a little odd about them. She took a taste. Bitter. Yuck. Thankful she wasn’t starving, since she’d swallowed a diet shake on the way to Diana’s, she pushed the salad plate away. “Did you have a rough day?”

  “No. Things are going well—at work, that is. But I’m feeling the call of home. I’m ready to slow down, start a family.”

  That didn’t sound bad. Considering the palace he called home, she imagined he had enough money to retire comfortably. “I can appreciate that. Work isn’t exactly my favorite thing these days, either.”

  “Quit.”

  “Music to my ears, but I have bills to pay.”

  “I’ll pay them. Just give them to me.”

  She thought about it for a moment. Tempting, yes. Responsible, no. “I can’t do that.”

  “Why not? In case you haven’t noticed,” he said, sweeping his arm and motioning around the room, “I have a bit of money.”

  “Believe me, I’ve noticed. I’d have to be blind not to notice. But those are my bills. I should pay them.”

  “Then work for me.”

  “No. I hate waitressing.” Images of her last attempt at that career slashed through her mind. She had been absolutely inept. The worst.

  “I would never hire you as a waitress.”

  What did that mean? What job would she be hired to do? “Really?”

  “You’re much too intelligent. More management material than waitress material.”

  “Well, I guess I should take that as a compliment, but I don’t like the idea of being a manager, either. Restaurant managers work crappy hours, nights, weekends…”

  “Being the owner’s wife means you work choice hours.”

  She cringed inside but didn’t show it. “That’s not exactly the best way to make friends at work. No, thanks. I think I’m better off working somewhere else.”

  “Okay. Then let me ask you this, if you could work anywhere, do anything, what would you do?”

  “I don’t know.” She’d never thought about it. At least, not since she’d graduated high school. Work was something she did to pay bills. It wasn’t fulfilling. It wasn’t fun—most days. There were exceptions, thanks to Diana. What if she could choose anything? What would she like?

  “Think about it.” He pushed away another empty plate, and Jane glanced down at her own, still full. He nodded toward her food. “Are you finished?”

  “Yeah. I wasn’t very hungry. Sorry.”

  “That’s okay. Let’s go talk.” He took her hand and led her into a dark paneled library, a cozy room that smelled good—like libraries always did. She sat next to him on a leather sofa, ever conscious of how gorgeous he was, but more worried about what he was about to say. He scrubbed his hands through his hair, messing his flirty curls and sending them every which way. “I have no idea how to tell you this.”

  This was something big. She’d never seen him like this—his eyes avoiding her, his body restless, hands hopping from one inane task to another. Since she’d first stepped into the house, the only thing that had been normal was the man’s huge appetite. “What is
it?”

  He stopped the useless motion and finally met her gaze. “This is going to be a big shock to you.”

  “Just tell me.”

  He visibly swallowed. “Before I tell you, I just want you to know I really do love you. Like I’ve never loved anyone. And I’ll die if I lose you.”

  She smacked his knee. “Oh, for God’s sake, just spit it out! The woman is supposed to be the dramatic one.”

  “I’m…a…shit!” He jumped up, and she followed him.

  “No, you’re not a shit, but you are pissing me off. Give it to me straight. Are you a drug lord? A mobster?”

  He chuckled, but it sounded forced. “No. Nothing like that.”

  She wasn’t relieved.

  “I’m a selkie.”

  “A what?”

  “You might say a merman.”

  She studied his face for a moment, waiting for his grim expression to break, for the teasing smile to burst through.

  It didn’t.

  He couldn’t be serious! She smiled, and he mirrored the expression, sort of. Good God, he was serious!

  Oh… “A merman,” she repeated.

  “Yes.”

  “There aren’t any such things.”

  “I know your kind believes that, but we are real.”

  “My kind?”

  “Humans.”

  “And you’re not my kind?”

  “No, I’m a selkie.”

  If this wasn’t so pathetic, it might be funny. She physically felt her heart explode into tiny razor sharp fragments.

  She’d been right all along. He was too good to be true. Josh DeWet, the man of her dreams, the man she’d fallen in love with, was a nutcase. Damn! It wasn’t fair. “Okay. So, you’re not from Canada, then?”

  “No. I mean, our family lives in the ocean. Once a year, we return to the land for a religious celebration, and then we return to the water.”

  She wasn’t buying this, but what the hell could she say? Either he was looking for a creative way to dump her, or he truly believed what he was saying and needed some drugs, pronto. “And why would you lie to me?”

  “At first, I wished to mate with you and then return home.”

  “Mate? Like produce offspring?”

  “Precisely. We cannot mate with our own kind. Inbreeding weakens our bloodlines and causes disease.”

  Now this was getting scary! She immediately wondered if she might be pregnant. He’d intended on her getting pregnant. It was possible. Pregnant with a psycho’s kid!

  She wanted to cry.

  He gripped her hand, and she pulled it away. “But you see, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t leave you. I love you.”

  “This is all too much. You know, if you’re looking for an out, an easy way to dump me, you can just tell me this isn’t working. No need to make up stories.” She forced a smile and waited for him to admit he wanted to end the relationship.

  He shook his head. “No. I want you to marry me and come home with me.”

  “To Canada?”

  “To the sea.”

  Now she knew his egg was cracked! “Okay. But how do I breathe?”

  “That’s a simple hurdle to overcome. You need a bone marrow transplant.”

  “What?” She jumped up. That was what cancer patients got. That procedure was dangerous. That procedure was painful, and ugly, and miserable. Why would she voluntarily go through with it when she wasn’t sick? “I need to go home.”

  “I’ll have the driver take you. You’re too upset to drive.”

  “I’m fine. Really.” She practically ran toward the door, not easy considering the room was tipping and swaying like a carnival funhouse.

  Josh caught her shoulders and drilled his gaze into her eyes. “I’m not insane. I’m not lying. And I love you. Please believe me.”

  She forced another smile. No telling what he might do if he got mad. “I do believe you. I’m just not sure what to make of it.”

  “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  “That’s fine.” She broke free from his grasp and found her way to the front door, and without taking a final look back, walked out into the pitch black, started her car and drove home.

  What an idiot she’d been! The signs had been there all along; she’d known he was too good to be true.

  Chapter 16

  Accepting the most illogical possibility is sometimes the most logical thing to do.

  Diana shook her head and took a bite of her apple, the final course in a meal that was big enough to fill a football linebacker. “Oh Jane. I’m so sorry.”

  “Aren’t you going to say ‘I told you so’?” Jane stuffed her uneaten sandwich into her bag, spun around on the picnic table bench, resting against the table, and watched some children play with toy boats in a nearby pond. “You were right. I was jumping in way to fast. I didn’t know him. I was so stupid!”

  “You got swept up in it all. Hell! I can’t blame you.” Diana came around the table and sat next to Jane, hugging her shoulders. “He was good looking, rich, nice. Who would have thought he was a freak?”

  “It has to be insanity, right? I mean, what else could it be?” She glanced at her watch, wishing the rest of the afternoon would simply fly by. Right now, more than anything she needed a nice, relaxing weekend. At home, alone.

  “He could be a selkie for real,” Diana teased, giving her shoulders an extra-hard squeeze.

  “Yeah, sure. If selkies eat like pigs, have sexual appetites like rabbits, and conduct electricity like eels, maybe.”

  Diana dropped her hand. “Electricity?”

  “Yeah. He did this weird thing with his hands. I saw electricity come from them. Why?”

  “That’s sort of weird. Don’t you think?”

  “I do, but I figured it was like some New Age healing thing, like that Reiki thing I read about.”

  With a shrug, Diana stood. “Must be.” She gathered her trash and dropped it in a nearby can. “At least you didn’t marry him. Wouldn’t that be awful?”

  “Yeah. He expected me to get a bone marrow transplant so I could live under the sea with him. Could you just imagine?”

  They shared an empty laugh, and Jane felt her heart grow heavier. Had that been only last night? Already it felt like it had been weeks ago. It killed her being apart from him. How would she live a lifetime without him? How?

  “It’ll get easier. Promise,” Diana said, basically reading her mind.

  “How does someone I’ve known for such a short time become so damn important? How come with every heartbeat I’m away from him, I feel a little weaker? It’s like he nourishes me.”

  “I know, sweetie.”

  “I don’t know if you do. I’ve never felt anything like this. The whole world could go to hell. I just can’t stand having things wrong between Josh and me. I’m going nuts without him.”

  “You’ll be okay with time. It’s just going to take a while. Your thing with Josh was short, but intense, and you got swept up in it. You have to give yourself some time to grieve.”

  She watched a little boy bend low and reach for his sailboat. He was so little, such a cutie. “I felt whole with Josh. Strong. Beautiful. Like I could conquer anything. I’ve lost that part of myself now. It was tied to him.”

  “No you haven’t. It’s still there.”

  The boy teetered on the concrete edge and then, arms flailing, legs kicking, in he went. “Oh my God!” She jumped to her feet.

  Diana sprung up. “What?”

  “That little boy!” Jane ran down the hill to the pond and dove into the water, swimming straight down to the child who was already limp at the bottom. Wrapping one arm around his chest, she pushed off the bottom and swam toward the surface. When she broke through, the sight of dozens of strangers standing nearby, calling to her, confused her for a moment, but she swam to the side and let the child’s parent, or so she assumed, lift him from the water.

  “Is he okay?” Diana asked Jane as she helped Jane climb over the concrete
pond wall. “Look at you!” She dropped her gaze and Jane looked down.

  She was a soaking wet mess. Clothes wet and tangled with weeds, hair streaming down her back, nylons torn, shoes lost. “I’m a mess.”

  “No, you’re a hero!” Diana’s expression was full of such pride, Jane felt herself glowing with embarrassment.

  “No, I’m not. It was a little boy.” She brushed past Diana to check and see how he was.

  He lay in his father’s arms, coughing like mad, but alive and breathing.

  “I owe you his life,” the father said. “Thank you. I went after his sister, and I saw Jimmy fall, but I couldn’t get there… He could have…”

  “I’m glad I could help. Is he okay?”

  The man nodded, and a fireman approached from behind. Jane left, and only when she reached her car did she realize what she’d just done.

  She dove into water to save a drowning child. She did that. Without fear. Without thinking. As if she’d been born swimming.

  There was only one person to thank for that. One person who’d worked so hard to help her overcome her fear. One person who’d encouraged and supported her. Josh.

  She had to thank him, if nothing more. He deserved no less.

  When shesat in sat in her car, she called to Diana, “I’m going home for the rest of the day. I’ll call you later.”

  “What are you up to?”

  “I’ll tell you later.”

  “You’re going to talk to him, aren’t you?”

  “If he hadn’t helped me, if he hadn’t forced me to overcome my fear, I would never have gone after that little boy. I want to thank him. Tell him what he’s done.”

  Since Diana could go back to work in a cab, Jane drove straight home to change her clothes.

  After hopping on the net to read up on selkie lore and schizophrenia, she drove to his home. It was still early, mid-afternoon, and he wasn’t home, but the butler welcomed her into the mansion and gave her free reign of the whole house. Jane took advantage of it, exploring every room she stumbled upon.

  No doubt about it, Josh took that selkie thing seriously. Every space was decorated in a sea life theme. Various shades of blue colored every wall, and nearly every room had an aquarium in it. In the kitchen, the refrigerator and freezer were both stocked to the gills with seafood, fish, shrimp, crab.