Page 68 of Oceansong
Angie stiffened.
“Angela,” he said after the uncomfortable silence. “What are you doing here so early? And why are you wet? It’s not raining.” He pointed to the sky.
She sighed with relief, and then indignation overtook her. “I can see the sun. Didn’t dry my hair after showering this morning.”
“Why would you not do that? Won’t your head get cold?” Nick deadpanned. “I’ll never understand women.”
You’re married to one though, dipshit.
He pointed to her jacket and pants. “Change into your uniform. We have a lot of work to do.”
“More than usual?” Angie grumbled, following him back to the dock’s main hub.
“Yes. A couple other dockhands resigned, so the rest of the work is falling to us.”
She held her tongue, holding her true thoughts back. It wasn’t him the work was falling to. It was her and the other regular dockhands who couldn’t resign.
He tossed her a rope. “A few boats are coming in. Anchor them.” Then he ran ahead and out of sight.
She stopped by her locker and changed into her uniform, leaving her swimsuit by the cracked-open window to dry.
Bàba walked past when she exited the small outhouse. He rubbed his eyes, stifling a yawn. “Beibei? Did you just get in?”
She nodded. “Morning, Bàba.”
He brushed past without waiting for an answer. She hadn’t seen him so exhausted in a long time, where he asked a question and then walked away, as if forgetting he asked. Like his mind was someplace else entirely.
Angie followed his retreat, staying several feet behind as he approached Grace, his junior manager.
Grace checked her clipboard. “We caught two and killed two more armed mermaids lurking by the shore early this morning.”
“Good.” Bàba’s gaze pointed everywhere except directly at Grace.
Angie stroked her neck and grimaced. She turned away from them and hoped they hadn’t caught her eavesdropping. Had those mer been caught last night? She had been oblivious to it, all wound up in Kaden’s arms.
The thought positively sickened her, and she walked away to regain her composure.
Twenty-Eight
The last person Angie expectedto see when she walked into work the next morning was Celia, in front of the building with the staff locker rooms.
Eva’s daughter.
Angie hadn’t seen Celia here since the start of the summer, when she had come with some friends to go scuba diving. Before Angie had first glimpsed Kaden’s tail.
The young woman had her hands wedged in her sandy hair while pacing back and forth, appearing flustered.
“Celia?” Angie began, once she was in earshot.
The young woman stopped and let her hair fall limp around her face, eyeing Angie up and down, as if trying to figure out where she knew her from. “Have we met before?”
“You probably don’t recognize me anymore. I met you a couple times when we were younger, and your mom brought you to the docks.” The same way Mia came with Rosie to meet Nick, and the same way Mama and Bàba brought her and Mia when they were little girls.
“Oh!” Celia’s face flashed with recognition. “Angie, right?”
Angie nodded. “Are you okay? Waiting for your mom?”
A stream of tears slid down Celia’s cheeks, and on instinct, Angie moved to comfort her. “I’m looking for her. She didn’t come home last night, and she’s not answering my texts or calls. I thought maybe she might still be here, and I don’t know, but I’m so worried. Grace and a few others are looking for her now.”
