Page 52 of Stranded With the Grumpy Mermaid

“Any notes,” I demand, teeth chattering, ecstatic.

“Ten across the board.” He rubs my arms through the towel, kisses my salty temple.

I look up at him. “Good.”

“Very good.”

We end up at the end of the dock in the last of the evening light, me in the towel, him cross-legged beside me, the boards still holding the day’s warmth beneath us, my hair dripping. Eventually I say the thing that has been sitting in the back of my mind since I checked my email last night.

“So I got an email last night,” I say. “The program committee wants my talk in the spring colloquium series. And Delgado at Scripps wants to, quote, discuss my trajectory.”

Rafe goes still for half a second before he smiles. “Those are both excellent.”

“They are.”

“What are you thinking?”

I pull my knees up under the towel. “I’m thinking we need to talk about work.”

His expression gets more serious. “Okay.”

“If we really do this, I need my career to stay mine. I don’t want favors. I don’t want you making calls or finding funding or putting your thumb on anything because you love me.”

“I wouldn’t.” His mouth twitches. “But I might think about it very supportively.”

“Rafe, I’m serious.”

“I won’t.” The humor leaves his face. “I mean it.”

I nod. “And if Scripps turns into an actual offer, I might take it.”

That one is a harder pill to swallow. I see it. His jaw tightens for a second before he looks out across the water.

“California is far away,” he says.

“Yes.”

“I don’t love that.”

Something in me loosens at the admission. Not because I want him unhappy, but because he isn’t pretending this is easy just to make me feel better.

He looks back at me. “But if it’s the right job for you, we’ll figure it out.”

“You’d be okay with that?”

“I’d miss you.” His answer is immediate. “A lot. I would complain theatrically about airports and time zones. But I’m not going to ask you to turn down something you earned because it’s more convenient for me.”

My eyes sting unexpectedly.

“And I’m not asking you to give up AETHER for me.”

“Good. Because she’s very large and difficult to relocate.”

I laugh. He reaches over and takes my hand.

“We don’t have to know everything today, Neri.”

That might be the most reassuring thing he could have said.