Our parents—along with Aunt True and Professor Rusty—came barreling into the cabana behind us. Hayden denied everything, of course. Her mother started threatening to sue me, sue Sirena, sue all of Cape Cod. My mother told her to back off. Sirena was trying to get everyone to calm down. And then my dad started in on me, before I even had a chance to explain.
“You will apologize to this young lady, Truly, and you will apologize now,” he ordered.
“J. T., for heaven’s sake at least let her get dressed first,” said Aunt True, draping me with a towel. My aunt was one of the only people I knew who could stand up to my father. To her, he was just her little brother, not Lieutenant Colonel Jericho T. Lovejoy.
“Stay out of this,” my father warned.
“Why am I the one who has to apologize?” I protested, determined to act like tall timber for once in my life and stand up to him too. “She’s the one who tried to humiliate me in public!”
Hayden pretended to look shocked. “I did not! You’re lying!”
The muscles in my father’s jaw twitched. He was clenching his teeth. This was a warning sign I usually didn’t ignore, but I was angry enough that I threw caution to the winds. “She undid my bikini top, Dad! I almost went the full mermaid out there!”
“Don’t you dare speak back to me!”
My courage fled under his stern gaze. “No, sir,” I mumbled in defeat. There was no point trying to be tall timber. My father always knew how to cut me down to size.
He inclined his head toward Hayden and tapped his foot, waiting for my apology. Hayden shot me a triumphant look.
You win, Shellina, I thought bitterly. Before I could open my mouth to get the words out, though, Professor Rusty held up his cell phone.
“Technically, Truly is right,” he announced. “I was filming the revue, and it’s all right here, clear as day. This girl did undo Truly’s swimsuit top.”
My father turned on him, his face beet red. “If I want your opinion, I’ll ask for it, Erastus,” he snapped. “This is a family matter.”
“Rusty is family!” Aunt True retorted.
“He most certainly is not.”
Aunt True drew herself up to her full height, towering over my father. “Well, he will be soon enough,” she told him. “Rusty just asked me to marry him, and I said yes. We were going to tell you all tonight when we got home.”
This unexpected announcement stunned everyone into silence.
So that’s what the kiss in the bleachers had been about! My mother let out a screech of joy, then burst into tears. My father just stood there awkwardly for a moment before giving my aunt a hug and shaking Professor Rusty’s hand.
With my side of the family happily distracted for the moment, Sirena swung around and wagged an aqua-tipped finger at Hayden and her mother.
“Given the evidence caught on video, your daughter has a great deal to learn about being a mermaid, Mrs. Drake,” she said grimly. Hayden’s mother started to protest, but Sirena bulldozed right over her. “Mermaids are polite. Mermaids are kind. Mermaids are honest. And mermaids never, ever bully other mermaids. In fact,” she finished, “I am rescinding Hayden’s diploma. She is not mermaid material.”
It was Hayden’s turn to let out a screech.
“Come along, princess,” her mother said coldly. “We don’t have to stand for this.”
Sirena followed them out the door, her red corkscrew curls bobbing furiously. “And if you post one peep about this on social media, or give Sirena’s Sea Siren Academy one negative review, I will sue you for slander! And don’t think I won’t—I have the video as evidence!”
The cabana door slammed shut behind them.
My father turned to me again. “This isn’t over, Truly,” he told me. “The fact remains that you acted abominably. You’re a Lovejoy, and Lovejoys don’t behave the way you did tonight.”
“But—”
He held up his good hand, silencing me. “Not. One. More. Word. Your mother and I will be discussing your punishment.”
Delphine poked her head in just then. “Um, okay if I come in? Truly needs my help getting out of the shimmertail.”
My family withdrew to wait outside. Delphine closed the door again and turned to me, smiling broadly. “You were awesome tonight, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise! Hayden has been pushing everyone’s buttons all week, including mine. If you hadn’t given her a taste of her own medicine, I might have done so myself. What she did to you was unforgivable.”
Her words of support were so unexpected, I felt myself tearing up. “But I ruined the whole evening for everyone!”
Delphine flapped her hand dismissively. “Nobody minds a little extra drama when they come to see a show,” she continued, tugging at the waistline of the shimmertail and starting to roll it down. “Besides, it served that little blister right. We get a bad apple every once in a while, but I’ve never seen one who pulled a trick as rotten as that one. Hayden really got my mother’s flukes in a flap.”
I had to smile at that.
Delphine looked at me thoughtfully. “You’re a really good mermaid, Truly. Best I’ve seen for an amateur. It’s not easy to swim in one of these things.”
“Um, thanks.”
“I’ve kept this tail because I thought for a while that maybe I’d go pro, like my mother did. You know, move to Florida, join the famous mermaid revue there. But the thing is, I love it here on Cape Cod.”
I nodded. “It’s a pretty awesome place.”
“And here’s the other thing—I’ve discovered that I love cooking even more than I love being in the water. I’ve been thinking that maybe I’ll start my own bakery or café.”
“Wow! I’d definitely eat there if you did.”
She smiled. “Thanks. It feels really right. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I’d like to give you this shimmertail as a gift.”
I stared at her, open-mouthed. She had managed to extract
