Next Time, Don't Come Back

I pressed my hand to my chest and looked past the water curtain again. Adrian was smiling, his gaze fixed on Cecilia.

So it wasn't that he couldn't smile. He just no longer wanted to smile like that for me.

I called a car and headed back to the Hayes family's seaside villa. Martha, the housekeeper, saw how pale I was and hurried over. "Ma'am, are you feeling unwell again? Should I call Mr. Hayes?"

"No." My throat was so dry it ached, and my voice barely came out. "Is Ella asleep?"

"She is. She waited for you and Mr. Hayes all evening. She only just drifted off."

I didn't have the energy to respond. I gripped the banister and made my way upstairs to the bedroom. When the tideheart scale flared, plain water could only dampen the skin temporarily. It couldn't stop the moisture from draining out of my body.

I filled the bathtub with warm water and poured in an entire jar of sea salt. The moment I lowered myself in, my chest felt as though red-hot needles were piercing it all at once. I curled in on myself and bit down hard on my lip, but I still couldn't hold back a groan of pain.

The bedroom door flew open. Adrian rushed into the bathroom. He hadn't even taken off his suit jacket. He dropped to his knees beside the tub and pulled me into his arms. "Evelyn, look at me. Can you breathe? I'm taking you to the bay clinic."

I caught the scent of perfume on his collar. Not mine. My stomach turned. Yet he looked as worried as he always did when this happened. He wrapped me in a towel and hurried downstairs with me in his arms.

I looked up and saw the ache in his eyes, and the burning in my chest actually eased, just slightly. The tideheart scale answered only to my own feelings. Even though he had already betrayed me, as long as his concern could still make me waver, the scale would never let me go.

The private clinic on Greyport's waterfront was a safeguard my grandmother had left me before she died. Inside was a sealed saltwater treatment pool. The doctor on night shift knew what I was and knew this was no ordinary dehydration.

When the seawater rose past my shoulders, I could no longer hold the shape of my legs. My silver-blue tail unfurled beneath the surface, but the tideheart scale on my chest was still cracking. The doctor hooked up my IV, then turned to Adrian. "The drip can only keep her circulation going. The seawater can only ease the physical symptoms. For the tidal decay to truly stop, she has to let go of her feelings on her own. Do you know what triggered tonight's episode?"

Adrian's shoulders went rigid. Several seconds passed before he answered quietly, "She's been working too hard. Please, treat her first."

He understood the rules governing White Tide Bay mermaids. He knew exactly what kind of betrayal would trigger an episode. But he refused to admit it, because the moment he acknowledged that my pain came from him, he could no longer explain tonight away as an innocent dinner.

Then his phone rang. Only one name lit up the screen. Cecilia.

He stepped outside to take the call. When he came back, he wouldn't meet my eyes. "Evelyn, something urgent came up on her end. I need to run over there. I'll send the driver to take you home later."

I reached out of the water and caught his wrist. For the first time, I swallowed my pride and begged him. "Don't go tonight. I can't even get out of the water right now. Just stay with me until the tidal decay eases a little. Please."

Cecilia's call came through again. Adrian bent down, kissed my forehead, and slipped his wrist from my grasp. "I'll be right back."

He didn't come back. He didn't even look back.

The tideheart scale cracked open again. Pain spread from my chest all the way down my tail. The seawater held my body afloat, but my fingertips were still losing warmth from the dehydration.

Adrian and Cecilia had only been together for five years. I had loved him since I was fifteen. For fifteen full years.

Fifteen years ago, I was the poorest, most invisible transfer student at the White Tide Bay school. My accent, my secondhand clothes, and my coastal roots made me a target every single day. Only Adrian ever stepped in front of me, pulled me out of the crowd, and told me that where you come from doesn't decide where you end up.

After that day, his hand became my anchor. And little by little, gratitude turned into love.

Martha's call broke through my memories. "Ma'am, Ella's awake," she said urgently. "She keeps asking for you and Mr. Hayes."

I glanced at the IV bag, still half full. I hesitated, then dialed Adrian. Ella was his daughter. I thought he wouldn't abandon his child, at the very least.

The call connected, but it was Cecilia's voice that answered, laced with amusement. "Miss Whyte, Adrian has already fallen asleep beside me."

She used my maiden name on purpose, then added slowly, "In love, the one who isn't loved is the real other woman. A marriage certificate doesn't change that."

In the background, Adrian's drowsy voice drifted through. "Cecilia, who is it?"

"Just the office. Nothing important."

I gripped the phone until my nails dug into my palm. "Miss Roland, I'm the one he's legally married to. You can lie to yourself all you want, but you can't change the fact that you came between a husband and wife."

Cecilia didn't respond. I hung up. Winning that exchange brought me no comfort, because I already understood that the law could make a marriage official, but it couldn't keep a man whose heart had moved on.

All I could do was soothe Ella over a video call. The IV drip beside the pool hadn't finished yet, but the driver was already waiting at the clinic entrance. Adrian sent a belated text: "Feeling better?"

I didn't answer right away, the way I always used to. Back at the villa, I looked in on my sleeping daughter first, then went to the study and drafted a divorce agreement.