Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings by Boudreau Helene

Author:Boudreau, Helene [Boudreau, Helene]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published: 2011-06-23T21:32:40+00:00

Chapter Eleven

HOW MANY TEARS CAN you cry before your body gets squeezed dry?

I felt completely wrung out by the time Dad and I arrived home well past midnight after combing the banks of Talisman Lake for Mom. Nothing. Not a ring in my ears. Not a trace that she’d been there in the first place. I was seriously beginning to question my sanity.

Dad promised to stay with me until I fell asleep.

“You believe me, don’t you?” I asked into the darkness of my bedroom.

He reached out from the chair next to my bed and found my hand.

“Of course I do,” he whispered.

“She said to tell you she loves you.” My face screwed up as I remembered the last words Mom called out before forcing me out of the water.

“I know, honey. We’ll find her. I promise.” But from the way the outline of Dad’s shoulders shook in the low light of the window, I wondered if we ever would.

The next morning, Main Street looked like it had been covered in a shroud of grey. A fine mist hung in the air, smelling of damp ocean seaweed. I greeted Cori in front of Bridget’s on the way to school.

“Hey.” I handed her a hot chocolate, a Monday morning ritual.

“Hey, yourself, sunshine. You like?” Cori breezed past me. Her hair was stacked high on top of her head like a model from Real Runway. She wore a version of the asymmetrical dress from her sketchbook.

“You finished it!” I reached out and felt the silk material between my fingertips. That expression about something taking your breath away was really true, because I could barely manage the next few words. “It’s awesome…”

“Lainey’s mom wants me to come by her studio this afternoon to show her. I figured I’d get some mileage out of it in the meantime.”

“She’s gonna love it.”

“Hope so!” Cori flipped back the plastic top from her hot chocolate’s lid. She took a sip and winced. “Hey, I thought it was my turn to treat. I was even going to get my free one from Mug Glug’s.” She dug into her satchel and fished out her Frequent Sipper card.

“Save your freebie. We’ll celebrate at Mug Glug’s when Mrs. Chamberlain signs you up for next year’s co-op term.”

I took a drink and sucked in my cheeks at the bitter taste. Yeah, Mug Glug’s would have been a better choice. Bridget’s Diner may have been the waffle fry capital of the world, but their hot chocolate wasn’t going to win any Reader’s Choice Awards in the Port Toulouse Herald.

But I hadn’t dropped into Bridget’s for their hot beverage selection. I needed to see Eddie to try to figure out if he knew anything about Mom. When I got there though, he still wasn’t at the counter. Strange, considering the guy had permanent butt impressions on that stool of his.

“I think he decided to take a few days off while the lock is closed for maintenance,” Bridget had said when I asked where he was.

“Maintenance?”

“Yeah,

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