Page 33 of Beauty and the Beach

“It’s still a better day with him in my life than without.”

“I can tell he feels the same way,” Makoa said. “You guys are good for each other.”

“I think you and Ana will be good for each other too?”

“Yeah?” He was worried about what Ana had gotten herself involved in. But he was glad he had his friends at his side.

Holt drove. Makoa sat in the back seat and looked out the window. “Where are we going?”

“Ana said she was in a show in Lahaina. A mermaid show.” Joely twisted around in her seat to talk to him.

“She told you that?” Relief coursed through him. He hated keeping secrets from his friends.

“Yeah, she’s crazy about you.”

Feeling himself blush, he crossed his arms over his chest. “I pretty much feel the same way about her.”

“You know she’s an actress, right?”

“Yeah before she was a mermaid, she lived in LA.”

“Okay, just checking because you were going on about how mermaids are real, so I thought...”

“They are real.”

Joely turned back around in her seat. “Right.”

They pulled into a crowded parking lot that was surrounded by several shops and a newly renovated theater.

“Didn’t that place used to be an art gallery?” Makoa asked as they got out of the car.

“My Uncle bought it and decided to make it a theater.”

“It’s too small to be a movie theater.”

“But just right for plays and other things.”

Makoa could see a line of people waiting to get in. “It looks like it’s a success. Is this where Ana works? I figured she’d be closer to the ocean. Or do they take you out on boats?”

“Just come see,” Joely said.

As they approached the building, Makoa saw posters for the Merry Mermaids show. Inside the theater, there were posters of nine gorgeous women on the walls. He kinda wanted to steal Ana’s so he could have it in his room. But when he looked more closely at it, it wasn’t his Ana. It was Eros, muse of love poetry. He didn’t know Eros at all.

“Are there still any tickets left for tonight’s performance?” Holt asked, fishing out his wallet.

“Are you kidding?” The kid at the ticket counter said. “We just bring in more chairs. Sit by the door. It’s a fire hazard in there.”

They waited in the slow-moving line, but once they got inside where the seats where, it wasn’t so crowded.

“Pictures? Programs? Five dollars each?” Makoa bought a wallet size photo of Ana and a program. It was a great idea, her hiding in plain sight like this. But he was starting to get a pounding headache and a bad feeling in his stomach.

“I’ll go get us seats,” Joely said.

“I’ll see if I can find my uncle.” Holt looked all business and no one stopped him from going backstage.

Makoa walked around taking everything in. He flipped through the program and read the biographies of each of the mermaids. They read like a fantasy novel, and Ana’s was completely made up. There was nothing in it about California or Alaska. He sat down next to Joely, his mind racing.

When the lights dimmed, people started heading for their seats. Holt made it to his just as the curtain opened, revealing a floor to ceiling aquarium. Oh, so that’s how they did it. One by one, a mermaid dropped in from somewhere above the stage line. Each one did a flip or a trick and then took up a position in the underwater stage. He could see long hoses and a few sipped on them and then blew kisses out into the audience.

---