“What? I told you to avoid him.”
“I know, but listen. What if we really aren’t meant to be? Spending some time together, more than five minutes, I mean, could cure us pretty quickly if we’re not compatible. And there’s every reason to think we aren’t. After all, he’s a big-city guy who likes technology, and I’m a small-town, underwater girl who hates social media. We aren’t alike at all.”
“You’ve been talking to Roxy, haven’t you?”
“Maybe.” Undrea grinned. “And if we do like each other, then we’re no worse off than we were before. I’ll just avoid him until you can come up with something. Which you will, eventually. I’ll just let him think I’ve gotten really busy. He has no idea what’s actually going on.”
“And his fiancée?”
“She won’t be a problem. She barely acknowledged my presence when I was at the house, and she didn’t look at me during lunch.”
“You had lunch with her?”
“No, she and Ethan were at Howler’s when Aaron and I were there eating. Ethan came over to say hi.”
“So that’s what started all this. Then you went to see Roxy—”
“I had to. Today was her tank maintenance day.”
“I see. Well, you’ve seen him, talked to him and are about to spend time with him. I guess you’re right. The damage is done. You’d better hope I can find some magic that will reverse what’s already in place or you’re going to have a big mess on your hands. Especially when your other magic kicks in.”
Undrea stopped smiling. “Yeah. I know. But by then, you’ll have found a way to counteract it, I’m sure. Besides, I can’t very well cancel his visit. I’m trying to earn the man’s business.”
“Just bear in mind that the more time you spend together and the more he hears your voice, the stronger this magic is going to get.”
“But what if we realize we aren’t compatible?”
“Sure. That’ll happen. Because men find mermaids so off-putting.”
“He doesn’t know what I am.”
“No, but has that ever stopped a mermaid’s magic from working before?” Mattie asked. “Call me after he leaves and tell me how bad it is.”
“I will. Sorry for making your job harder.”
“You’re not, I promise. It was already hard.” Mattie laughed. “Talk to you later.”
“Later.” Undrea hung up and frowned. Why had she thought this visit was a good idea? Because of Roxy’s thoughts. But Roxy could be right. Ethan could be totally wrong for her. And she could be totally wrong for him.
No doubt she was. His fiancée was proof of the kind of woman he liked. Sleek, sexy, and polished to a high shine. And Undrea was nothing like that.
She was just going to have to make him see that in the most obvious ways possible.
But how? She slipped into the employee bathroom to check her appearance. She looked the same as she had earlier. Light makeup, hair down and mostly air-dried, which had left her natural curls a little on the wild side. Minimal jewelry.
Tanks A Lot polo shirt and tan work pants with her favorite slip-on sneakers.
There wasn’t much more she could do to be the anti-Nina. At least not appearance-wise. And from a manners and attitude point of view, Undrea felt like she was pretty different too.
She frowned at herself in the mirror. Maybe that was what he liked. How different she was.
But that implied he was only interested in her because she was the new and different thing.
That was good, right? After all, the new and different thing eventually became old and typical, didn’t it?
She was confusing herself. She needed help. Or at least a collaborator. She went back out to the warehouse where Aaron was.
He looked up as she came out. “Hey, we had a stowaway in those new red crypts that came in.”
That happened with freshwater aquarium plants. It was almost inevitable. “Let me guess. Snails?”
Freshwater aquarium snails were almost equally inevitable.
“Nope, come look. I put her in a quarantine tank.”
“Her?” She followed Aaron over to the first small tank on the top shelf. Because it was a quarantine tank, there wasn’t much in it.
He pointed. “Right there. Middle of the tank, left side.”
Undrea peered in. Then gasped. “Oh, wow. A green jade? I knew that distributor had shrimp, but I didn’t know they had jades. And she’s berried, too.” The tiny green shrimp’s undercarriage was loaded with minuscule eggs. Shrimplets in the making.
He nodded. “Yep. What do you want to do with her?”
Undrea grinned. “Feed her and set her up in a maternity ward.”
Aaron laughed. “Are we going into the green jade business now?”
“Maybe. We’ll see how she does. At the very least, I’ll call APW and tell them we owe them for a green.”
“I don’t mind buying her off you. I could always set up another tank at home.”
“Because the eight you have now aren’t enough?”
“Nine. But who’s counting?”
She laughed. “Listen, Ethan’s on his way over for a tour. I think you might be right about him flirting with me. I’m going to make an excuse to leave for a few minutes during the tour. While I’m gone, I want you to suss him out. Man to man. You know what I mean?”
“Sure, see what I can find out about where his head is at with you.”
“Exactly. Can you do that for me?”
“Absolutely.”
“Don’t punch him, though.”
Aaron’s brows lifted. “I don’t punch people.”
“Not regularly, no. But I know you can be a little protective of me.”
“Come on.”
She crossed her arms and gave him a knowing look. “The one night we invited you to Insomnia with us?”
He smiled. “Yeah, all right. I won’t punch him.”
Undrea’s office was at the front of a warehouse in a more industrial part of the town. Ethan liked that. It made him feel like she was more focused on what the business needed to run properly than how the business looked. Which didn’t mean the office would look bad. He was sure it would be just fine. It just didn’t have a fancy exterior or the kind of high-rent address that a lot of businesses thought made them look successful.
Seemed very fitting to him. She was that way herself. More about what was really important and practical than about appearances or what anyone else thought. Hard not to appreciate that kind of approach to life.
He parked, walked to the office door, and went inside. The office was tastefully but simply done. A large aquarium filled with fish and greenery featured prominently against the wall of the small waiting area. Across from that was a reception desk.
The young woman sitting there smiled up at him instantly. “Good afternoon and welcome to Tanks A Lot and you’re Ethan Edmonds.” Her words came out in a rush, and her smile went slack as she recognized him.
He laughed. “Yes, I am. You must be Whitney.”
“You know my name.” She sucked in a breath. “How do you— Never mind. We talked earlier. When you called. But Undrea didn’t say you were the Ethan Edmonds. Wow.” She stood up and stuck her hand out. “I am such a fan.”