I Taught a Siren to Court... Then Became His Mate novel · Chapter 5 of 32

Chapter 5: The Grange Hall

By the next Thursday the morning ferry was full of strangers.

I stood at the top of the town ramp with a coffee and watched them come off.

Two news vans.

A woman with a boom mike.

A man in a brand-new yellow slicker filming the harbor with his phone and saying "the Gannet Song" into it like a movie trailer.

The store owner stood beside me with her arms folded.

"Rooms are booked through August," she said. "Barrows says there's a town meeting tonight about it. Says he's got jobs."

"Of course he does."

I had Jet's pearls in my pocket.

I'd tried to give them back three times.

He'd said they belonged to her, and I was to keep them safe until she was ready.

So I carried them everywhere.

The Grange hall was packed by seven.

Folding chairs, a flag, a long table up front for the selectmen, and a coffee urn that had been on since the Korean War.

Lobstermen stood along the back wall in their boots.

Margie stood with them.

Barrows had the front of the room and a projector.

"This island has given me nine good years," he said, soft and warm. "I'd like to give something back."

He clicked.

A photo of the station boat came up, with a crowd of people on the town dock waving.

"On June 20, the whole world will watch this harbor. We'll need boats. We'll need crews. Two hundred dollars a day for every skipper who helps us set the net."

The lobstermen looked at each other.

Two hundred a day was real money in a bad year.

"We'll need rooms, meals, fuel," Barrows said. "Every dollar stays here."

The store owner nodded slowly.

Somebody started clapping.

I stood up.

"It's not a fish," I said.

Every chair creaked around.

"Whatever's in that cove, it isn't a fish, and you don't know what happens when you drag it into a tank in front of a camera. You don't know if it can breathe out of the water. You don't know if there are more."

← Chapter 4 · All chapters · Chapter 6 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend