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In retrospect, it probably was a bit bratty of Claire to tell Jody that she wasn’t her real mom. For one thing, if her real mom had been around, this probably would have happened years ago and Claire would have been given no input on it. For another thing, years as a runaway or in group homes or in foster care had taught Claire that family wasn’t defined by blood, it was defined by love and commitment. Jody had that. She could easily have kicked Claire out as soon as she turned eighteen, but she didn’t. She made it clear that Claire was welcome to stay as long as she wanted.
Which was part of why this was so galling. How was arranging Claire’s marriage letting her stay? Everyone knew how life went. You turn eighteen, finish your education, find a job, and then you get married and establish your home and have kids. Claire had turned eighteen. She was a little late in finishing school thanks to her years as a runaway, but Jody had insisted she do it anyway. She had a job. Two, really – a nice, steady job teaching self-defense to young mermaids, and her passion job patrolling and watching for signs of threats to the city from the big bad monster fish. Why couldn’t she just enjoy this part of her life? Have fun? Why did she have to get married already?
At least Jody had given her notice that she was working on it, and asked Claire for input on what she wanted. Her birth mom might not have been so nice. The first time her parents knew anything about the other aside from their existence was at their wedding. It had been a good match, until her dad got religion and ran off to the surface.
Jody’s reasoning for why she should get married now was that she might as well get it over with before all the good ones were gone. Past twenty-five, it was almost impossible to find a good match for a first marriage. Claire’s reasoning was that still gave her a couple years before she needed to go into panic mode. And, hey, maybe she wouldn’t have to go into panic mode. Maybe she’d find someone and be able to give Jody absolute specifics on what she wanted.
And maybe fish would grow lungs and walk on land.
Claire had assumed she had some time. After all, Jody was only just starting to work on this, right? Otherwise why bother asking Claire for input? It took more than a couple days to find a good match. Didn’t it?
And yet, Jody told Claire that she had a date for this evening. “At least tell me she’s not some spoiled princess?”
“Head cheerleader a spoiled princess?”
Claire wrinkled her nose. The head cheerleader she knew was a total brat, daddy’s little girl, and yes, spoiled princess. She got everything she wanted, to the point of crying when her pet seahorse was the wrong kind. It might not be fair, but Claire hated her. In large part she hated her because she saw what she probably would have been if her dad had stayed around. “You’re kidding.”
Jody let out the laughter she’d been holding in. “Yes, Claire, I’m kidding. I actually met her when I busted her for her side business. I think you’d approve. If you become a customer, don’t let me find out, okay? And if you decide to join her business, really don’t let me find out.” Claire stared at Jody. What the hell did that mean? “Her day job is as a nurse. Her off-the-books job involves other kinds of medicine.” When Claire still wasn’t getting it, Jody rolled her eyes. “She sells seaweed, Claire.”
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Claire couldn’t help the grin. “Since when do you care?”
“I’m the sheriff around here. I’m supposed to enforce the law. All the laws, even the ones I disagree with. Just because I have better things to do than go chasing rumors and peeking in people’s gardens to see what they’re growing doesn’t mean I can ignore it when I see a deal going down right in front of me.” Claire sighed, but fair enough. “I could let her off with some community service and warning not to let me catch her again.”
“Oh no. Setting her up on a date with me isn’t her community service, is it?” If it was, Claire was going to have to throw another bratty tantrum. Sure, she could be a handful, a real pain in the fins, but she wasn’t that bad, was she?
Jody’s surprised laugh was reassuring, at least. “No, her community service is cleaning up the algae and graffiti that gets all over the buildings. The date with you is because she’s old enough to get married, doesn’t have anyone to arrange it for her other than a mother she’s cut off contact with because her mother’s a horrible person, she wants to marry a woman, and I think she can keep up with you.”
With that glowing endorsement, how could Claire turn down this date? The woman Jody brought in was certainly pretty, although in the back of her head she could hear her birth mother’s commentary that she’d be so much prettier if she’d just smile. Claire liked the scowl better. She recognized that. Nervousness hidden under a bad attitude. Exactly how Claire felt right now. Although her nervousness was easing, now that she recognized her date as a potential kindred spirit.
Jody waved Claire over. “Claire, this is Alex Jones. Alex, my foster daughter Claire Novak. Go out, have fun, and Claire, don’t forget to have your editor look over the story you tell me about tonight.”
“Yeah, whatever.” Claire hugged Jody, and then headed outside.
Alex followed. “What was that about, the editor thing?”
“There are things that Mom trusts me to be safe about but can’t exactly endorse, so we have a policy where she won’t ask me about some things and I just don’t tell her what I get up to. She’s there if something goes bad, too much alcohol or seaweed that’s been cut with something I wasn’t expecting or protection breaks or gets forgotten, but then she has to give me both the mom lecture and the sheriff treatment if it’s relevant.” Claire burst into laughter at the shocked look on Alex’s face. “She set me up on a date with someone she busted for dealing seaweed, which you know perfectly well, why are you surprised?”
“I only agreed to this because I figured it got me out of worse punishment,” Alex admitted. Claire couldn’t blame her for that at all. Any other sheriff asked Claire to go on a date with their daughter with the idea that it was high time she got married, Claire would’ve laughed in their face – unless she was in trouble and was in agree-with-whatever-if-it-means-no-jail mode. “Wasn’t expecting this to potentially work out, that’s all. Your mom’s pretty cool, for a sheriff. And for a mom.”
“Yeah, no kidding.” Claire just managed to bite her tongue before asking Alex about what Jody had said about her mom being horrible. She didn’t really need to know specifics, at least not at this point.
Alex noticed and sighed. “My birth mom died when I was born. I was taken from my grandma when I was a kid, and the woman who took me kind of brainwashed me into thinking of her as my real mom. They were killers, and I was bait. The local sheriff back home realized I didn’t deserve to be tried for murder, so she worked a deal where I was sent off to the other side of the sea and given a chance to live a normal life. Set me up with a job and a place to live and told me to stay out of trouble.”
“Yeah, selling seaweed isn’t exactly doing that, you know. Even here where Jody really doesn’t care as long as she can reasonably say she doesn’t know about it.”
“Oh, I know, but…” Alex shrugged with a grin. “You meet the cool people this way. Like you.”
“Ugh, quit that,” Claire scoffed. She couldn’t help the smile, though she could look away to hide it. Maybe this date wouldn’t be too bad after all, although she wasn’t ready to commit to the idea that maybe the marriage wouldn’t be too bad. “Jody is gonna be so smug tomorrow…”