How to Date a Mermaid

by Rose Pressey

  “That’s very nice of you,” I said. “How do we get access to them?”

  “If you go to the back of the building there’s an employee desk back there.” She pointed. “Someone sitting there will help you. Just tell her that I sent you for the access to the mermaids.”

  Why didn’t Shelby know about this? It seemed like a perfect way to get more details about the mermaids.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “Have fun,” the woman said as she turned and walked away.

  “Maybe Jack can go for us and check it out,” Shelby said. “Once he gets the information we can meet up here. We don’t want the mermaids to get away while we’re all back there.”

  “That’s a good point,” I said. “But I can go.”

  “I don’t mind going to check it out. You all stay put and watch out for the mermaids,” Jack said.

  “Thank you, Jack,” Shelby said in a syrupy sweet tone. “You’re a doll.”

  Jack left us for the back of the building. I wasn’t sure if this V.I.P. access was something we’d be able to do. Maybe the woman had told us this, but we wouldn’t really be able to get in. I mean, it sounded like something for special guests only, not just random visitors.

  “So what should we do while we’re waiting for Jack?” Shelby asked.

  “We could check on Lily,” I said.

  “Ugh, I forgot about her,” Jennifer said.

  “Oh no, we don’t want to leave this area. We have to stay here and watch for the mermaids,” Shelby said. “However, I’m going to run to the ladies’ room, if that’s okay? You two stay here and watch out for the mermaids.”

  “Sure,” I said, feeling a bit confused. “That’s fine.”

  Shelby took off toward the ladies’ room while Jennifer and I stood by the entrance. A few people walked around the area looking at the large tank with the sharks. The longer I stood there the more awkward I felt.

  “This is turning out to be an interesting day,” I said.

  Jennifer pulled a mint from her purse and offered one. “Yeah, I’m not sure that we’re going to find out any information from this trip, but I guess seeing the aquarium is nice.”

  After popping the mint into my mouth, I checked the time on my phone. “What’s taking so long? I thought Shelby would be back by now.”

  “It does seem weird, doesn’t it?” Jennifer said.

  “Maybe we should go and check on her.”

  “Yeah, but she thinks we shouldn’t leave the mermaids unintended in case they come out.”

  “True, but they’re not going to come out this way, are they?” I asked. “Wouldn’t they have a backstage entrance?”

  “You’re right. I guess they won’t necessarily come out this way.”

  “So it’s kind of pointless to stand here. We should go find them.” I motioned.

  Jennifer and I took off toward the ladies’ room to track down Shelby. We were closest to the ladies’ room. After we found Shelby we’d hunt Jack down. I was anxious to discover what he’d found out.

  When we reached the ladies’ room, Jennifer and I stepped inside. The scent of artificial lemon air freshener smacked us in the face. The space appeared to be empty with no sign of Shelby.

  “Where do you think she went by herself?” I asked.

  “Maybe she went to a different restroom,” Jennifer said.

  “I’m not sure why. This one seems to be in order. Whatever,” I said with a wave of my hand. “We’ll go look Jack and then come back for Shelby.”

  “Good idea,” Jennifer punctuated the sentence with the point of her finger. “It seems strange in here, don’t you think? And I don’t just mean the fake lemon smell.”

  “It is a bit strange, yes.” I motioned for her to get out of there.

  “Almost as if someone was watching us,” Jennifer said. “Though that couldn’t be the case no one was in there.”

  Jennifer and I left the ladies’ room in a hurry and headed toward the back of the building. The whole space was dimly lit so that the tank displays were more visible. That made spotting exactly where we were headed a bit difficult. I wasn’t sure where we were going because the woman had given vague directions. But I figured we would see the desk that she had referenced. Since she hadn’t been more specific that was all we could do.

  Since the building was large it would probably take us a bit to get back there. Walking down the hallway we weaved around a couple with their two small children. I almost tripped over the gold pole used to rope off the area in front of one of the displays. Luckily, Jennifer caught me.

  I was on the lookout for Shelby along the way just in case we bumped into her. A little further down Jennifer and I spotted a desk, but there was no woman sitting behind it. And no sign of Jack or Shelby for that matter. I figured there would be a sigh marked ‘information’, but the area contained zero signage.

  “This is making me a little uncomfortable.” I frowned.

  “Me too. It is a bit odd.” Jennifer rubbed her arms. “Why is it so cold in here too?”

  I stood in front of the desk, hoping that someone would show up. But after a couple minutes I decided we needed to do something else.

  “Maybe this isn’t the right desk,” I said.

  “True. We should go down that way.” Jennifer pointed.

  “What do you think is back there?”

  “The sign said penguins a ways back, but it looks more like an area for employees,” Jennifer said.

  Down the hallway just a few steps was a doorway that led to the left. Jennifer and I walked around the corner.

  “There’s another desk. That’s probably it,” I said.

  Walking even quicker Jennifer and I made out way toward the desk. Though no one was at this desk either. I hoped that I found Jack soon. At this point, I just wanted to get out of there. However, we couldn’t leave without finding Shelby.

  Jennifer must’ve read my mind because she said, “This place is giving me the creeps even more. I think we should leave soon.”

  Jennifer had barely finished the sentence when I spotted a guy grab ahold of Jack. He was trying to pull Jack out the exit door. Shelby stood nearby, watching the scene unfold. She was doing nothing to stop the man. Until she looked over and saw us. Then she screamed.

  “Oh my God, he’s got Jack.” Shelby pointed. “Do something.”

  The guy looked over and saw us. We made eye contact, but then he took off out the door, releasing his hold on Jack. Jennifer and I ran over to Jack.

  “Are you all right?” I asked as I knelt down beside him.

  “Yeah, I don’t know what that guy was trying to do.” Jack sat up.

  This was getting even weirder by the second.

  I looked to Shelby. “What is going on here?”

  Shelby tossed her hands up. “I don’t know. I was so stunned when I saw it. I was frozen.”

  Jack pushed to his feet. He ran his hand through his hair and let out a deep breath. “He was probably trying to take my wallet.”

  I pushed on the door and peeked outside into back area of the building, looking for a sign of the perpetrator. Thank goodness no alarm sounded.

  “Was it the same guy you saw sneaking around the building earlier?” Jennifer asked.

  “Yes, I think it was,” I said as I closed the door. “Why was he targeting Jack though?”

  If he was going to kidnap somebody, I mean, Jack was a fit guy and I could’ve told him taking Jack wasn’t going to happen. The criminal didn’t ask me though. It was a good thing too because if I had gotten my hands on him I’d let him have it. This made me wish that I’d shifted and chased after him. I would’ve been able to catch up with him. No way was he faster than a werewolf. It only I’d seen which way he’d gone.

  “There’s some weird stuff going on around here,” Jennifer said.

  “Shelby, why were you all the way back here?” I asked.

  She stared at me. “I just thought I’d check on Jack.”

  That see
med odd that she wouldn’t come get us first, but whatever.

  “I think we should just get out of here,” I said.

  Something seemed off, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what.

  “Don’t you want to talk to some people about the mermaids?” Shelby asked. “What about the special access?”

  “You know, I think we should just leave,” I said.

  “All right if you really think so,” Shelby said in a breezy tone.

  I didn’t like the way she was questioning my plans. After what happened to Jack, I thought we just needed to leave. Why didn’t the guy try to attack Jack when Jack went to look for him earlier? They would’ve already been outside the building.

  “Jack, that guy could have just grabbed you when you went looking for him. You were already out of the building,” I said.

  “Trust me, he’s not grabbing me and taking me anywhere. Whoever the guy is. Like I said, I think he was trying to steal money.”

  I sighed. “I guess.”

  “He’s really brave to do that kind of thing inside a building with people around,” Jennifer said.

  “I don’t think it’s brave, I think it’s stupid,” I said.

  Not wasting any more time, we headed toward the front of the building.

  “I still think we should stay,” Shelby said.

  She was beginning to frustrate me. I’d already told her that I wasn’t staying. She needed to just let it go. We would just have to find out about the mermaids some other way. But for right now, I was getting out of there. When I looked at Shelby I sensed her frustration. I thought about finding the woman who had told us about the special tour and asking her if she’d seen the crazy guy. Maybe I should get security and tell them about him. After all, if he was attacking random people they needed to know about it. Yes, that was definitely something they should know.

  As we made our way toward the front door I told everyone my plan.

  “There has to be security by the main entrance, right?” I asked.

  “Oh, maybe we should just let this go,” Shelby said with a flick of her wrist “You know, get out of here, like you said.”

  Now all of a sudden she wanted to get out of here? A short time ago she couldn’t wait to hang around and talk about the mermaids. No, I was definitely finding security so that I could alert them. I was determined to do things my way no matter how much Shelby tried to tell me the way it should be done. This was serious, and I felt I was doing the right thing.

  We looked everywhere but we couldn’t find a security guard. Okay, we didn’t look everywhere, but we went everywhere around the front of the building. Therefore, I decided to let it go ahead get out of there. I didn’t want anything else to happen to Jack or Jennifer. Shelby too. They had all been targets of violence lately. Who was next? I wasn’t worried about myself. I just wanted to make sure everyone else was okay.

  After exiting the building, we headed toward the car. Halfway there, I froze on the spot.

  “We almost forgot Lily,” I said.

  Terrorized looks covered Jack, Jennifer, and Shelby’s faces.

  “If Lily finds out about this we’re all dead meat. We have to hurry up and get back in there before she realizes that we almost left her.”

  As soon as we turned around we stopped once again. Lily stood at the door. The glow in her eyes would make anyone tremble. I pushed my shoulders back and held my head up high.

  “Oh, there you are,” I said, placing my hands on my hips. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you. How dare you leave us like that. We were getting ready to call the police to help us find you. You scared me to death, Lily Friedman.”

  “We thought somebody had kidnapped you,” Jennifer added.

  “Don’t ever do that again,” I said, wiggling my index finger.

  Lily narrowed her eyes. “You’re trying to say that you couldn’t find me?”

  “That’s right and we don’t think it’s funny. Right, everyone?” I looked at everyone.

  “Right,” they said in unison.

  “I was right where you left me.” Lily glared.

  Oh yeah there was that. How was I going to get out of that one?

  “Well, you must have blended in with the crowd because we sure didn’t see you,” I said.

  “And we looked,” Jennifer said.

  Jennifer sounded suspicious. Lily wasn’t buying it.

  “I don’t believe you for two seconds,” Lily said. “Do you think I was born yesterday? I am a smart werewolf. And your little tricks have never fooled me.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you, Lily, but we looked for you. Like I said, don’t play those tricks on us anymore because we were scared.”

  She scoffed. “Oh yeah, right, like you would be scared if you couldn’t find me. You’d probably be relieved. That’s why you guys were trying to go to the car and leave me here.”

  “No, that’s not what we were doing it all,” I said.

  “Come on, ladies, let’s get out of here, okay? It’s been a long day already,” Jack said.

  Lily stared for a bit longer before reluctantly marching toward the car. That was a close one.

  Chapter 24

  Shelby had stopped by to see us at the hotel. Lily had invited herself over to eat at the free buffet the hotel offered. Jennifer had been walking down the hallway when I’d answered the door for Shelby. Now we had all gathered in my hotel room.

  “There’s somewhere I’d like for us all to go,” Shelby said.

  “Where’s that?” I asked skeptically.

  I hoped it wasn’t another nightclub.

  “It’s the Miami Mermaid Club.”

  Oh no. I heard the word ‘club’ and I wanted to hide.

  “This isn’t like that club we went to the other night is it?” I asked.

  “It’s not a nightclub at all,” Shelby said. Whew. Thank goodness.

  “No dancing at all,” she said. “Although I think you’re a pretty good dancer. You shouldn’t worry about it so much.”

  “I love dancing as long as there’s not that many people around,” I said. “I like it to be a bit more of an intimate setting.”

  “This place is great. They have a pool, of course. A restaurant, tennis, and other activities. It’s lots of fun,” she said.

  “Well, it sounds great, Shelby. And I really appreciate the invitation,” I said.

  “I hear a but coming,” Shelby said.

  Lily laughed. Lily always had a juvenile sense of humor, even if she was almost thirty.

  “Well, Shelby it’s just that I have so much work to do. I feel guilty if I do anything fun.”

  “I think we should all do something fun and not just Jack and me,” Jennifer said. “You need to do one thing fun while you’re here. We can stay an extra day if we have to.”

  “I don’t know about staying an extra day. All I need is another phone call from my mother. She’s already caused two people to almost be arrested by sending them on dates with each other.”

  Jennifer grimaced. “That’s not good.”

  “Plus, I did something fun while here. I ate a slice of key lime pie,” I said.

  Jennifer rolled her eyes.

  “I agree with Jennifer,” Shelby said. “You should definitely come to the club. We don’t have to stay long, just a couple hours. Come on, what’s it going to hurt.”

  How it could hurt was that I wouldn’t get the business started on time and I wouldn’t get back to New Orleans to save my business there.

  When I looked at Jack, he grinned. Obviously, his signal that he thought I should go. I didn’t want to hold everyone back. By the stares coming from them I knew they wanted to go. They could go alone, but I didn’t like the thought of everybody having fun without me.

  I mustered up a smile and said, “Okay, we’ll go.”

  Shelby clapped her hands. “Oh, fantastic. It’ll be fun. You won’t regret this.”

  I wouldn’t quite go as far to say that just yet.

&nbs
p; “Can you all be ready in about thirty minutes?” Shelby asked.

  “Oh, you mean right now?” I said.

  “No time like the present, right?” Shelby said with the wink.

  “This will be fun,” Jennifer said.

  Shelby headed for the door. “I just need to change my clothes and I’ll be ready.”

  “We’ll see you soon,” I said.

  When she walked out I said, “What have we gotten ourselves into?”

  “A lot of fun that’s what,” Jennifer said.

  Now we needed to get dressed. I wasn’t sure if I would be swimming, but the pool sounded like fun. After changing our clothes, we headed outside to meet Shelby in the parking lot. I was wearing white shorts and a red tank top. I had put my swimsuit on underneath just in case I decided to take a dip in the pool. However, I didn’t plan on swimming. Maybe I’d soak up some rays. But with the way my hair popped up when I got hot I wasn’t sure that would be a good idea. Most likely I would rather hang out under an umbrella with a nice cold drink.

  Shelby was waiting by the car and waved at us as we walked over. She wore yellow shorts and a blue and white striped top. We piled into the car and she pulled out of the parking lot.

  “How far is this place?” I asked.

  “Oh, it’s only about fifteen minutes from here. We’ll be there in a snap.” Shelby snapped her fingers.

  I always got nervous when I went to someplace new.

  “Have you been a member of this club long?” I asked.

  “Off and on for a number of years.”

  “Off and on?” I asked with a quirked eyebrow. "Why is that?”

  “Oh, there was just some drama a while back with some people I didn’t like.”

  “The mermaids?” I asked.

  “Well, they are there. But it wasn’t necessarily them. I just had an ex-boyfriend and he was there with his new girlfriend a lot. I decided not to go until he stopped going. He moved away.”

  “You should have just punched the new girlfriend,” Lily said.

  I frowned at Lily. “That does sound like a lot of drama. I know some people like that.”

  I glanced over at Lily again.