The Mermaid's Journey_A Reverse Harem

by Kellie McAllen

  Avery and Liam follow suit, making me feel like I’ve finally done something to help them for once, instead of them always having to help me. I soak up their appreciation like a sea sponge, my face aching from smiling so big.

  We go to the bank, where Liam patiently explains how they deposit the paper checks the gold buyer gave them into their accounts then use plastic cards to buy things. Liam says that I can’t open a bank account without identification, and I’m secretly glad, because it seems overly complicated and confusing to me. The guys agree to create a separate account in Liam’s name where they will store my money, and he will withdraw cash to give to me.

  I walk out with a wad of paper bills I have no clue what to do with. It seems like a lot of money to me, and I should be careful with it, but I don’t have anywhere to put it. The guys each have a wallet they keep in their back pocket, but my dress doesn’t have pockets. I guess that’s another reason why most girls wear jeans.

  “You need a purse,” Avery says when he glances over and notices me rolling the money around in my hand.

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s what girls carry to hold their stuff — keys, wallet, makeup.”

  I don’t have keys, but a wallet would be useful. “What’s makeup?”

  “Lipstick, mascara, foundation — the stuff girls put on their face to look prettier.”

  I wrinkle my brow, still confused. “When I was at the bar with Jude, there was a woman in the bathroom who was rubbing something on her lips that made them red. Is that makeup?”

  “Yeah, that was lipstick.”

  “Do most women do that?” That would explain why so many of the women I’ve seen had such bright lips. I thought it was just a human thing. Maybe that’s what the woman meant when she thought my face needed a little color.

  “Yeah, a lot of them do. Would you like to try it?”

  “Can you teach me? Or do I need a woman to?”

  Avery laughs, his sea blue eyes twinkling. “I think I can handle the basics. If you want to learn more than I know, we’ll let YouTube teach you the rest.”

  “What’s YouTube?”

  “The greatest thing in the world.” Avery’s face is dead serious, then his lips curl in a wide smile. “Not exactly, but it’s pretty amazing. I’ll show you some time.”

  Avery offers to put my money in his pocket when we get to the grocery store. I’m glad because, as soon as we get inside, I’m too distracted to worry about it.

  Chapter 14

  Glass doors slide open automatically when we step up to them, startling me, and before we can walk through, a woman comes out of them pushing a large, metal cart filled to overflowing with colorful boxes and bags. My eyes follow her as she wheels it out to the parking lot.

  Inside, the space stretches out like the sea, deep and wide, with bright lights hanging from high ceilings, illuminating the giant room. It’s divided up by tall, metal shelves filled with packages. Music plays quietly in the background. Jude grabs one of the rolling carts and starts pushing it, the wheels rattling. The others congregate around him.

  “This is where the food comes from?” I ask, craning my neck to look down the aisles as we pass them.

  “Well, not exactly, but this is where we get it from. It’s kind of complicated,” Jude says.

  The guys say that a lot, like they think I could never comprehend the complexity of how their world works. I open my mouth to tell him I want to hear it anyway but then think better of it. If I don’t get it, they’ll know for sure that I’m not as smart as them.

  Jude heads for a section of low tables that hold all kinds of plants I’ve never seen before in every color — bright red and orange spheres stacked on top of each other, small purple ones in bags, tiny, dark blue ones in clear boxes. I want to ask him the names of everything, but there’s no way I’ll remember it all. I get excited when I spot something familiar.

  I grab a hold of the small, brown sphere. “Coconut! But where’s the green part?”

  “The people who grow it cut that off before they send it to the store so that it doesn’t take up as much space and the people who buy it don’t have to worry about it. Look, they even have a bag of just the inside part, shredded into tiny pieces so it’s easy to mix it into things,” Jude says.

  I pick up the clear, plastic bag and gawk at the white squiggles inside.

  The guys toss a few things into the basket while Jude pushes it up to a case filled with hunks of raw meat laying on small trays and wrapped in plastic.

  “This is all meat from different animals?” I ask, fingering a hunk of meat with bones running up and down it, trying to imagine what animal it came from.

  “Yeah, this is pork, chicken, beef, sausage…” Jude points out the different kinds to me, but it all looks so similar. I notice the packages have labels on them, so I guess that helps, but I can’t imagine having to find a certain thing. It’s just too overwhelming. How long will it take before their world makes sense to me? Before I can handle basic things like finding food on my own? Panic starts to well up in me, but I force it back down, reminding myself I don’t have to do it on my own. I have the guys to help me.

  The center aisles are different. Most of the food is hidden away in boxes with a picture on the front, but there’s still so much, I don’t know how the guys know where to find what they’re looking for. We walk down aisle after aisle, the guys chattering about all the foods they’ve missed while they were gone, completely losing me.

  But their reminiscing conjures up my own memories of catching fish in the shoal, where supper required nothing more than a fast hand. As exciting as the human world is, I sometimes miss the simplicity of life under the sea. I wanted adventure, but I didn’t realize how much harder living on land would be, at least for a fish out of water like me.

  There are lots of other people pushing carts up and down the aisles, too, and several of the women we pass stare at the guys with obvious lust in their eyes. Some of them are really pretty, too, and even though the guys try not to stare back, their thoughts tell me they enjoy the attention. Except for Liam, he seems more annoyed by the women’s stares than flattered, and I wonder why.

  How can I ever compete with all these women? The guys’ world is so much bigger than the shoal, there are so many women out there that they could be with. Why would they bother with a clueless half-ling like me?

  I know they feel obligated to help me, and right now I desperately need them. But I feel so guilty, especially since all they do is fight about me. Maybe I should encourage them to find other girls instead of trying to share me. But where would that leave me? I know Jude said I was the only girl he wanted; maybe I should focus on him and let the others go.

  But as soon as the thought occurs, my heart shutters at the thought of giving any of them up. No, I want them all too much to offer that, even if it is the right thing to do. If they want someone else, they’re going to have to leave me on their own accord.

  We turn the corner and enter an aisle that seems a bit different from the others. All the packages are very small and none of them have pictures of food on them. Avery’s face lights up, and he grabs my hand. “Coral, did you want to get some makeup? They have some here.”

  If human women wear makeup to look prettier, maybe I should, too. Maybe if I looked nicer, the guys wouldn’t be tempted by other girls. I nod and let Avery drag me down the aisle, picking out dozens of things I have no idea how to use.

  “Come on, Avery. She doesn’t need all that crap. She looks fine without it.” Gio picks up some of the items Avery threw into the cart and scowls at them. His words bring a small smile to my lips.

  “Yeah, but girls love makeup, and Coral wants to be human. It’s just for fun.” Avery dumps a few more things in the cart.

  Gio starts pulling them out and sticking them back on the shelf. “Geez, that’s enough, already! You’re gonna make her look like a hooker!”

  Gio’s mind flits back to images of his sister and how s
urprised he was to see her wearing makeup and looking so grown-up.

  Avery picks up one of the items Gio discarded and places it back in the cart with exaggerated motions, “This is my area. You can teach her how to sail or tie knots or whatever you want, but I want to teach her how to put on makeup. It’s between me and her, and it’s none of your business. Coral, do you want to learn how to do this?”

  His eyes swing towards me. I gulp and slowly nod my head. I want to try it, and I want to make Avery happy, but I don’t want to make Gio mad. “I don’t have to wear it when I’m with you if you don’t like it, Gio.”

  Gio sighs. “It’s not that, Princess. I’m sure you’ll look beautiful. Do what you want.”

  I give a small nod towards Avery. I know this makes him happy, and I think Gio’s issue is more about his sister than me.

  We grab a few more things then head back to the front of the store and get in a line. When it’s our turn, the boys pull all the items out of the cart and place them on a surface that moves slowly towards a woman who picks up each item, swipes it across a piece of glass, then sticks it in a bag. When the bag is full, she puts it in the cart.

  I want to ask one of the guys why she’s doing that, but I don’t want her to hear me and think I’m an idiot. Instead, I just watch curiously, listening for the beep as she swipes each item and resisting the urge to drag my finger along the moving table. When she’s done, Liam sticks a plastic card in a black box, taps on the numbers, then pulls it out. It looks simple enough, but I was hoping he would pay with paper money so I could see how that works.

  The guys push the cart out to the car and load the bags into the back, then Liam drives us back to his place, and the guys load up their arms with grocery bags then carry them in and drop them on the kitchen counter.

  Gio heads for the couch and flops down, groaning and holding his abdomen, then clicks on the TV. Avery starts sorting through the makeup, opening the packages and putting the items in a pretty, floral bag he bought.

  “Okay, Princess, you ready to learn how to cook?” Jude asks, pulling ingredients out of the bags and lining them up on the counter.

  “I guess so,” I whimper, feeling overwhelmed by all the different items in front of him. I thought seeing where they bought their food would give me a better understanding of it, but all it did was overwhelm me.

  “Do you want me to do anything?” Liam asks, putting a few groceries in the fridge.

  “Nah, Coral and I have got this. Right, babe?” He nudges me with his elbow, grinning.

  “Do we have any food leftover from lunch, in case I mess up?” I whisper, and Jude cracks up laughing. I wasn’t trying to make a joke, but I guess he thought it was funny.

  He wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me close. “Don’t worry, Princess. I’m not going to let you ruin dinner. I like my food too much to let that happen.”

  I’m glad he has confidence in me because I sure don’t.

  “So, the first thing we’re gonna do is get the marinara started so it has time to simmer while we make the pasta and meatballs. See all those cans of tomatoes? Let’s open those up.”

  I hand one to him and watch in fascination as he holds it up to a small, black device that whirs and spins the can around, cutting it open.

  When Jude pulls out a pan and sets it on the stove, I jump when fire appears below it at the turn of a knob. I twist the knob back and forth, watching the blue and yellow flames shrink and grow. “That would’ve been a lot easier on the island!”

  “You ain’t kiddin’.” Jude laughs.

  “Now, be careful what you touch from here on out, okay, Princess? A lot of things are going to be hot. And I’m not just talking about my body parts.” Jude winks at me. I chuckle but then grab my hand, remembering the pain of discovery the first time I saw fire.

  Jude grabs a knife and a cutting board. I gasp and hold my breath as the knife flies up and down, getting closer and closer to his fingers as he quickly dices an onion into tiny squares.

  He walks me step by step through the process of making the sauce — sweating the onions and garlic, chopping the fresh herbs, and bringing everything to a simmer while telling me all about how the different ingredients are grown. It’s obvious he loves to talk about it.

  “How do you know how to make this?” I ask, marveling at all the different ingredients and steps involved.

  “I find recipes on the internet, then I experiment with them, changing things till I get it just the way I like it. I’ve made this a ton of times, though, so I’ve got it down pat.”

  “On the internet? Like Liam’s animals?”

  “Yeah. You wanna see?”

  I nod, and Jude pulls his phone out of his pocket. He taps on the screen a few times, and a picture pops up of chunky, red sauce. “Here’s a recipe for marinara. See how it tells you what ingredients to use and how much? Then this part down here tells you how to make it.”

  I read the directions and am surprised at how it describes everything Jude did. “Are there recipes on here for other things?”

  “Pretty much anything you can imagine.”

  “Even tacos de pescado?” I grin, proud of myself for remembering the new word.

  Jude chuckles. “Yep. Would you like to try making that next?”

  I nod, feeling a little less overwhelmed by the whole idea of cooking since there are directions available if you know how to find them. I still need Jude or Liam to show me how to use a computer or one of those cellphones, but I can worry about that another day.

  After that, we roll meatballs, getting our hands gooey with squishy, ground meat. When I complain, Jude comes after me, waving his meat-covered hands at my face. I squeal and run from him. He chases me around the counter until Gio yells at us to be quiet. We giggle and go back to our cooking, but every once in a while, Jude makes loud noises just to get on Gio’s nerves.

  While the meatballs are cooking, Jude pulls the spaghetti noodles out of the box and drops them in a pot of bubbling water. “Watch what happens, Coral.”

  I lean over the steaming pot and stare as the hard, straight sticks soften and curl around each other. It happens so fast, I can’t believe my eyes. I blurt out a laugh and smile at him.

  “Just call me Jude the Magic Chef.” Jude grins back.

  “Aw, man, how much longer till dinner? That smells amazing,” Gio hollers from the living room.

  He’s right; the savory scent of garlic, onions, and tomatoes simmering on the stove and meatballs sizzling in the oven has perfumed the entire apartment. It gets even better, or worse, depending on how you look at it, when Jude splits a loaf of bread and coats it with butter and garlic and sticks it in the oven.

  “Jude, who makes the food at the restaurants?” I ask suddenly when a thought pops into my head.

  “The restaurant hires a chef to do it.” Jude starts chopping vegetables for a salad.

  “So why don’t you become a chef?” It’s obvious how much he loves cooking, and I love seeing him so happy.

  Jude looks at me in astonishment like he’s never considered the idea before but then he shakes his head. “You gotta to go to school for that, and school isn’t really my thing.”

  “What don’t you like about school?” I lean on the counter next to him, content to watch him slice and chop.

  “I don’t like reading or writing papers, and sitting through lectures is so boring. Ugh.” He curls his lip and rolls his eyes.

  “You wouldn’t do very much of that at culinary school, would you?” Avery wanders into the kitchen and tastes a spoonful of the sauce, humming in appreciation.

  Jude quirks an eyebrow and purses his lips. “I don’t really know for sure, but I guess not. I’d probably spend most of the time in the kitchen.”

  “You wouldn’t mind that, would you?” I ask.

  One corner of his lip curls up in half a smile. “No, that wouldn’t be bad at all.”

  “I think you should give it a try, Jude. Follow your passion,”
Avery says.

  Jude pictures himself standing over a stove in a large kitchen, wearing a white coat and a big, white hat, cooking several different dishes all at the same time. His eyes light up at the fantasy. I can’t help smiling at him.

  “What do you think, Coral? Should I try to become a chef?”

  I don’t know exactly what it entails or if it will take him away from me, but how can I resent anything that brings him that much happiness just thinking about it?

  “I think you should follow your heart, Jude.” I look up at him with serious eyes.

  He wraps his arms around my waist and gazes down at me. “Oh yeah? Is that what you did, baby?”

  I nod. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted when I ran away from the shoal, but I knew what I didn’t want. And it turned out that what I got was better than I could have ever imagined.

  “Well then, maybe I should take your advice.” He leans down and kisses me, slowly at first, but then more forcefully, his tongue diving in to taste me, his hands caressing every inch of me he can reach. His mouth tastes salty and spicy like the tomato sauce, and he smells like fresh herbs, and butter, and toasted bread.

  I run my hands up his firm chest and across his wide shoulders, then snake my fingers up the back of his thick neck into his curls. They’re soft and silky now, instead of course and tangled like they were on the island, and I love the springy feel of them.

  When he opens his deep brown eyes and looks at me, they sizzle with his desire like a juicy piece of meat. The heat between us intensifies until I feel like there’s a fire simmering every place our bodies connect. More fires ignite every time our hands touch somewhere new.

  I sense the others watching us — I know we’re in plain sight, but nobody says anything. I can hear their thoughts humming in the back of my mind, but I’m too distracted to pay much attention. They don’t seem mad, though, just a little jealous, and every one of them is imagining themselves in Jude’s place.

  When Jude and I finally pull apart, overheated and out of breath, the others quickly look away, pretending it didn’t happen.