Page 39 of Song of Lorelei

She was met with wide smiles, firm handshakes, and heads on swivel, taking in her work with awe. As the guests approached various display cases their expressions shifted. Natural and local marine history unfolded before their eyes—reading placards, videos, and artifacts neatly packaged together to give visitors a glimpse of the mysteries of the sea. Some nodded along as they absorbed the information. Some mouthed the words as they read. Others stood with their arms crossed, or stuffed in their pockets, or linked arm-in-arm with a spouse or date. The ones with young children towed them along by the hand or carried them on their hips, pointing to the more visual bits of the exhibits. There was laughter. Enthusiastic chit-chatting.

Awe returned to the faces of those who wandered into the mermaid exhibit.

Jackie threaded through the groups of people, introducing herself, and asking if she could take pictures. The catering staff Carrie hired wove their way around, as well, offering refreshments and hors d’oeuvres to the guests.

The people she wanted to see the most arrived fashionably late.

It had been planned. Killian, Lila, and Branson brought up the vanguard so that when they stopped to chat with her, they wouldn’t hold up the receiving line.

They arrived together, all in cocktail hour attire. Killian wore a tie and button-down shirt tucked into fitted slacks, a broad grin spanning face. He’d rolled his sleeves above his elbows, all neat and crisp lines, to show off those corded forearms of his. The tease. She’d never seen him dress so sharp, and for one misty-eyed moment, she imagined how handsome he would look on their wedding day.

She wiped the happy tears from her eyes. The successful culmination of a rewarding but grueling project made her emotions especially fragile tonight.

“This is cool.” Killian beamed, thumbs hooked in his belt loops. His gaze traveled across the room, lingering on every detail, his stormy eyes twinkling. The way his fingers twitched, she could tell he was itching to touch her, but wasn’t sure if he should at her workplace. “This is really cool.”

“It’s phenomenal,” Lila jumped in, pulling her into a tight, rocking hug. “You’ve done top-notch work here, Lorelei. I am so proud of you.”

Killian hugged her next, and pressed a kiss to her forehead, the friendship PDA putting whatever doubts he’d had about showing affection at her work event to rest.

When they parted, Branson lifted his hand for a fist bump, a big smile adoring his face, too. “Bring it in.”

Chuckling, Lorelei bumped his fist. “Thanks, guys. It’s wild seeing it like this—not just finished and ready for public viewing, but actually seeing people walk around in it, looking at my work from this bonkers year…it’s just so surreal.” She pressed her hands to her cheeks. “This is really happening.”

“You’ve earned it ten times over,” Killian said with a grin. Their friends nodded in agreement, before leaving them by the front door to go explore Lorelei’s museum themselves.

Lorelei craned her neck to see past Killian. “Are Marci and Walt coming?”

His jaw ticked. A wide range of emotions flashed across his face—disappointment, anger, resignation. “They weren’t feeling up to it. They…need more time.”

Her heart sank. It had been more than three weeks since the incident with Carrie. While she didn’t expect blanket forgiveness, she thought they might at least be on speaking terms by now. Yes, this was the soft opening, and not as big of a deal as the grand opening, it was meant for friends and family. And Lorelei thought they were hers. It hurt that they weren’t here.

She’d poured blood, sweat, tears, and soul into building this museum from the ground up. It was her proudest achievement. She hoped to make Walt and Marci proud, too. But even more, she hoped that maybe if they saw the mermaid exhibit, they would finally understand and accept all her layers. Even the vicious ones.

“It’s not just,” he stepped closer and lowered his voice, “the scary mermaid stuff. They’re upset with Carrie, too, for the shit she pulled. Knowing how unstable she can get, they want to keep their distance, at least until they can be certain she’s getting the help she needs.” He took her hand and rubbed circles across the back with his thumb. Soothing and centering.

Keeping her voice to a whisper, Lorelei replied, “She’s asked me a few times to leave the office for therapy appointments.”

“Your compulsion worked. Completely.”

Lorelei nodded. Everything she’d said to Carrie that day on the beach—Forget what I am, Carrie Prior. And never come back here. Never speak of this—the woman obeyed it all. “Is this mind-controlling people thing still bad if used with good intentions?”

“I think there’s a very fine line, but if you ask me, you haven’t crossed it. Carrie’s situation was a dire emergency. It’s important to remember that. She was out for blood and ready to hurt someone, possibly more in the crossfire.”

Lorelei searched the crowd for Killian’s ex and saw her schmoozing the Mayor of Haven Cove with expert charm. Despite their past differences, Lorelei begrudgingly admitted that she was good at her job and had been integral to the museum’s successful launch.

Taking a cue from Carrie, Lorelei excused herself with a kiss to Killian’s cheek and worked the crowd.

The soft opening had been a good idea. While Lorelei didn’t know nearly everyone in the room, there were a lot of familiar faces from town and amongst fellow staff. A nice stepping-stone outside her comfort zone. Drifting from group to group, and chatting folks up, gave her the opportunity to nail down her spiels and tease out conversational kinks. Not only was it good practice, it boosted her confidence in her ability to master next week’s public events.

Over the course of the night, Lorelei noticed that people spent the most time in the mermaid exhibit. She had predicted it would be the most popular and designed it to accommodate greater volumes of foot traffic. It comfortably held tonight’s crowd, but the grand opening could be a squeeze when both locals and fall-color-chasing tourists could attend. A busy launch would be fantastic, but hopefully not so much that they’d have to turn people away at the door.

Things were looking up.

Chapter Twenty-One

LORELEI

After parting remarks to the museum’s first visitors, Lorelei wasn’t ready for the night to end. Even Phil’s presence beside her, and microphone hogging, hadn’t annoyed her enough to dim the buzz of excited energy she felt from an event gone well. A small after-party with close friends was just what she needed to come down from this social high.

---