Dark Water: A Siren Novel by Tricia Rayburn Read Free Book Online Page B

door. The frequent, excruciating headaches I’d felt around Zara had always lasted much longer, but Betty had said that was because Zara was newly transformed and unable to control the signals her body naturally sent to other sirens. Maybe the reaction was less intense around more experienced sirens.
    Or maybe it was because this was how it was going to be from now on. Because of everything that had happened, I was going to be instantly suspicious of any new, pretty girl I met, no matter how nice she was or how hard I tried to talk myself out of it.
    I’d have to get over this soon. College was going to be challenging enough; I doubted I’d get through it without the support of a single new girlfriend.
    “Heads-up, hostess with the mostest.”
    I spun around just as Louis chucked two paper bags in my direction.
    “The Carmichael-mobile’s en route.” He nodded at the window over the sinks. “I was so bored, I made them an hour ago so the fries are probably cold. But hungry men will eat anything, right?”
    “So I hear.” I clutched the bags to my chest, where I’d caught them. I could feel my heart beating through the sandwiches. “Be right back.”
    I gave Natalie a quick smile as I entered the dining room and passed the bar. She barely looked away from the TV. Then I practically ran the remaining distance to the lobby … where Caleb was waiting.
    “Hey,” he said.
    “Hi.” I tried to hide my disappointment as I held out the bags. “Here you go. The usual, on the house.”
    “Everything—”
    “Okay,” I finished, guessing I hadn’t succeeded. “Yes, everything’s fine.”
    And it was. I was just hoping, even more than I’d realized, that after taking care of me at the lake house the other day, Simon might want to pick up their lunches. But Caleb didn’t need to know that.
    “Glad to hear it.” He nodded once, held up the bags. “Thanks. See you tomorrow.”
    “Right. Have a nice night.”
    He left. I returned to the hostess stand, opened the newspaper, and stared at the words without reading them. Between the buzzing saws and my wandering mind, I didn’t realize someone had come in until he stood right before me and spoke.
    “Did Louis accidentally put the fries in the freezer instead of the oven?”
    “Sorry, I—”
    I stopped.
Everything
stopped. My voice. The saws. Time. My heart.
    “Simon.” I didn’t feel my lips move, but somehow Isaid his name. “I didn’t … I thought … are you …?”
    The corners of his mouth lifted. It wasn’t quite a smile, but it wasn’t a frown, either.
    “You have a beard.”
    This was the first safe thing that came to mind. I started to cringe as soon as I said it … but stopped when he laughed.
    “Yeah.” He rubbed one palm against the light brown scruff lining his jaw. “I guess I kind of do. Must be the fishermen’s influence.”
    “They’re not big groomers?”
    “They can do amazing things with a knife and trout, but not so much a razor and their own skin.”
    I offered a small smile and struggled to think of something to say. Something besides
I miss you. I love you. I’d give anything, anything at all, for just one chance to make things right again
.
    For better or worse, he spoke first.
    “Caleb’s worried about you.”
    Our eyes met. He looked down.
    “He is?” I asked.
    “He said you’ve seemed … on edge. Tense. A little tired.”
    Caleb had gotten all that from a few brief exchanges? Thanks to this job, I’d now seen him several times, but our conversations never lasted longer than thirty seconds or ventured beyond polite pleasantries. And what about my spontaneous snooze by the lake? I could understand how that might be worrisome—for Simon, who’d found me. Not for Caleb, who hadn’t.
    “He knows that it’s probably hard to be back here,” Simoncontinued, his eyes still lowered to his sneakers, “especially this time of year, and with your parents selling the lake house. That’d stress anyone