Undrea sank down into a chair at the kitchen table. “Ethan. And it’s worse than you can imagine.”
“Wait. This feels like it requires tea. Let me get that started.” The burner under Mattie’s kettle flared to life. She got two cups and a tin of loose tea out while the water heated. “All right. Go ahead. From the beginning.”
So Undrea did. At the very beginning. The lake.
Mattie busied herself with measuring the tea and adding a plate of cookies to the table and didn’t interrupt until the word CPR came out of Undrea’s mouth. Then she looked over her shoulder and scoffed. “I’m sorry. CPR?”
“I’m sure that’s what he meant it to be, but…” Undrea shook her head. “I have a distinct feeling the universe is looking at it differently.”
“Based on?”
“Based on the weird squishy feelings I got from being around him just now. Which all boils down to this being bad. Very bad.”
As the pot began to whistle, Mattie poured water over the leaves in the smaller pot so the tea could brew, then brought the pot to the table, put it on a trivet and sat. Blueberry flew down to perch on the lid. He was about the size of a hummingbird, with a bright green body and crystalline wings reminiscent of a dragonfly’s. Mattie gave him a small piece of shortbread cookie, which he held with both hands and began to nibble enthusiastically, spewing crumbs everywhere. He had the table manners of Cookie Monster.
Mattie looked at Undrea. “Explain.”
Undrea took a breath. “You know how I am the thing that I am? The thing that no one else knows?”
“Right.” Mattie nodded. Blueberry finished his cookie and flew off to the window. Mattie poured tea into their cups.
Undrea drizzled honey into her cup and stirred. “Well…the magic of my kind says if a man kisses a woman like me, voluntarily, that I have no choice but to fall in love with him.”
There was more to that legend, but Undrea didn’t want to believe it was true. Or that she was capable of such things.
Mattie sipped her tea. “And that’s a problem why? Is he mean? Cruel to animals? A serial killer? It didn’t sound like he was any of those things from what you’ve told me so far.”
Undrea leaned in. “I don’t want to fall in love with him because he’s not available. He’s engaged. And I am not a homewrecker. Besides that, his girlfriend is a little scary. She’s one of those perfect supermodel types that looks like she smells something and it’s you.”
“Pfft.” Mattie seemed unimpressed with Nina. “Does the kiss make him immune to your, you know, gifts?”
“No. So there’s that, too.” Undrea took a deep breath. “The rest of that whole thing about how I’ll have no choice but to fall in love with him ends in me doing what my kind is famous for.”
Mattie grimaced. “You are in a spot of trouble.”
“Thanks for your brilliant observation, Mats. The ache in my pinky toe is a pretty good indicator of that.”
Mattie snorted. “Are you having any urges to, you know, control him or whatever?”
“Nothing like that. Yet.”
“That’s good. What do you want from me? I can help. I just need specifics.”
“I need to not fall in love with him.” She frowned. “Which I think is already happening. He’s amazing. He has the coolest cat, too. One of those hairless ones. You know the kind?” She drank some of her tea to keep from saying more.
“Hoo boy. You’re already talking about his cat. I’d say the falling in love part is definitely happening. How long did you talk to this guy that you think he’s amazing? And that his cat is cool? Girl, you are headed down a slippery slope and you are wearing Crisco booties.”
Undrea stared at her amusing friend. “Can you help me or not?”
“I can, but it’ll take me a minute. I’m just not super versed in merfolk ways.” Mattie frowned as she sipped her tea. “Why can’t you just ask your parents what the rules and regs are on this?”
“Because if I’d paid attention in school I’d know them, and also they already think I’m pushing my luck living amongst the uprights. Do you know what they’d do if I said a man had accidentally kissed me? My father would be here by nightfall, trident out and ready to do battle. Well, not battle. But ready to force Ethan to marry me or whatever happens in a situation like this. Or worse, to cart me off back home to live with them.” The horror.
She shook her head. “They can’t know. We have to handle this in house.”
Mattie nodded. “I had a feeling that would be your answer. Okay, I need to do some research. See what the books say. If I can even find the books that talk about this. Then I’ll figure out how to reverse this sort of event.” She turned her cup slightly. “You think you can hold off from being completely head over heels for a few days?”
“I hope so, but then I thought I was never going to see him again too. And really, if I can stay away from him for forty-eight hours, then all of this goes away. Or maybe that only applies after the first contact.” Undrea rolled her eyes. “It could be that the forty-eight window is gone now that I’ve seen him again. Or that it’s restarted. I really don’t know.”
“You should have paid more attention to the old legends.”
“Yeah, well, I wasn’t going to live that life, so I didn’t see the point. I was a little preoccupied with what living on land was going to be like,” Undrea continued. “Anyway, not seeing him is no big deal now. I told them it would take a few days to get the estimate together. I’ll just tell them it’s taking longer than anticipated. However long it takes.”
“Good. Try not to see him or talk to him. If you have to communicate, do it by email. You know how sight and sound can work with these magical entanglements. Especially sound, in your case.”
Undrea nodded. She knew. They could intensify any magic already in play. “I can do that.”
“Perfect.” Mattie put her hand on Undrea’s. “We’ll get you through this. If we have to, we’ll call in the whole crew.”
“We might need them.” Undrea drank the last of her tea. “But I was sort of hoping to avoid that level of humiliation.”
“Hey, it’s not your fault that of all of the lakes in the world, he just happened to show up in yours.”
Undrea cut her eyes at her friend. “Your sympathy is overwhelming.”
Mattie laughed. “At least he’s cute. I’m assuming he’s cute?”
“Handsome as all get-out.” Undrea looked at the time and suddenly got to her feet. “I’d better get to work. My employees are going to think I’ve moved in with the new client. Thanks for listening.”
“Anytime. I’ll get to work on the research and see what I can find out.” Mattie stood up and hugged her.
Mattie smelled of beeswax and flowers. Undrea hugged her back. “Talk to you soon.”
“Be well.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“And tell Aaron I said hi.”
With a smirk, Undrea nodded and left.
By the time she got to her office, she was feeling better. Mattie would figure something out. She always did. And if she couldn’t, then they’d call in the crew, like she’d suggested.