Mara wriggled in my arms like she was trying to get free.
I set her down.
She straightened her clothes and patted her hair, but apparently realized there was no hope of fixing that without at least a hairbrush.
"Ollie didn't do anything," she told her mother. "That jerk rammed into me, and Ollie dealt with the situation. That's all."
Mrs. Severins squinted at Mara. "Why are you wet? You're a mess. What's happened to my proper, ladylike daughter?"
"I..." Mara's expression fell, and her shoulders drooped. She spoke in a small voice when she said, "I was just having fun in the hot spring."
The word proper seemed to have been the trigger for Mara's change in attitude. I wanted to butt my nose into the conversation and tell Mrs. Severins to go jump in the hot spring headfirst, but it wasn't my place to do that. Mara needed to stand up to her parents on her own. I knew she could do it, but I had no idea if she would do it. She'd only just gotten used to being around people who played sports in the buff.
Mara slumped more and gnawed on her lip.
Sheryl Kanda Severins grasped her daughter's arm. "You're coming home with us this instant."
For a second, I thought Mara would leave with her parents.
But then she lifted her chin, straightened, and said, "No."
"No?" her mother repeated. "Mara Tamiko Severins---"
"I said no, Mom." Mara crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm staying here. With Ollie." She grabbed my hand, tugging me closer. "This is Oliver Jackson---my boyfriend."
This was news to me. Boyfriend? Sure, we'd had sex once and had been hanging out a lot since then. But she never told me I was her boyfriend. Not that I minded. Actually, I kind of loved the idea.
Mrs. Severins launched into a tirade that I couldn't understand, so I guessed it was in Japanese. Mara seemed equally confused, which confirmed my suspicion about the language her mom was speaking. That day when we'd gotten it on in her bedroom, Mara had moaned, "I can't even speak Japanese." That had been the cutest thing ever, until I realized she wasn't kidding. She felt like a failure because she'd never mastered that language.
Her mom knew Mara couldn't understand Japanese. So why was she barraging her daughter with words that made no sense to her?
"Stop it, Mom," Mara said. "I know you love to babble in Japanese when you're ticked at me, but you know I have no clue what you're saying."
Mrs. Severins shut up, though she still looked pissed.
Her husband cleared his throat. "Your mother is saying a lot of things that I won't translate. Honestly, Sheryl, I've never heard you curse so much. Mara is an adult, and we need to respect her decisions even when we don't agree with them."
Okay, I liked her dad a lot more now. Definitely more than her mom. But I supposed I shouldn't condemn Mrs. Severins right off the bat since she might've been in shock from finding out her daughter had been staying at a naturist resort.
Mr. Severins offered his hand to me. "I'm Peter Severins. It's nice to meet you, Oliver."
I shook his hand. "Nice to meet you too. You can call me Ollie."
"Thank you, Ollie. You can call me Peter." He glanced at his wife. "Don't be rude, Sheryl. Say hello to the man our daughter is dating."
Mrs. Severins shuffled closer to me and held out her hand, limply. "I am Sheryl Kanda Severins, Mr. Jackson."
"It's Ollie." I shook her hand, but she didn't clasp mine at all. "Mara's told me a lot about you guys. It's good to finally meet you."
"I'm sure."
Peter threw his wife a long-suffering look.
She rolled her eyes at him, then sighed, squared her shoulders, and aimed a polite smile at me. "Please call me Sheryl."
"Thanks."
I wasn't sure I wanted to call her Sheryl, considering her husband had goaded her into saying that.
Sylvester Norris walked up beside Mara's mom---completely nude, of course. All his manly bits were swinging free when he patted Sheryl's shoulder and announced, "It's a real pleasure to meet Mara's folks. She's such a sweet kid, and smart too. You must be proud of her."
Mara's mom turned her face toward Sly and forced a polite smile. But then she made the mistake of glancing down---a lot of newcomers who aren't already naturists make that mistake, it's like a reflex action or something---and her eyes bulged bigger than I'd ever seen anyone's eyes do. Her mouth gaped open, and a strangled gasp burst out of her. Her jaw flapped.
I swore she looked like a fish that got yanked out of the water. All she needed was a hook jammed into her cheek.
And I kind of felt sorry for her. She wasn't used to this sort of thing. I also finally understood where Mara got her fear of naked people. It wasn't proper, after all.
Sly, oblivious as usual, grabbed Sheryl's hand and shook it. "I'm Sylvester Norris. That's my wife, Ruth, over there." He nodded toward Ruth, who stood several feet away. "We're so dang pleased to welcome you to our home away from home, Au Naturel Naturist Resort."
Peter slung an arm around Sheryl and gently pulled her away from the naked man who was smiling at her. Sheryl's face had gone pale, and she looked like she was on the verge of fainting or throwing up. Jeez, it wasn't like a porcupine had jumped her. Having experienced that myself, I would've sympathized a lot more if Mara's mom had gotten chased by one of those buggers. But this was just an old fart who let everything hang out.
What was it with the Severins women and nudity?
"Calm down," Peter told his wife in a patient, soothing tone. "That nice man is naked, but he's not going to hurt you. He wants to
