Excerpt: The Mermaid's Spring Fling Romance

 

Aarden had a theory about work. His theory was that if you combined work with fun, then it would be more like having fun and getting paid for it. He had three rules. It had to be outside. It had to be challenging. And it had to be fun. As it turned out, he never found one job year-long that met all his requirements, but that wasn’t a problem. He did seasonal work, but he did it regularly, returning to the same companies here after year. In the winter, he worked for Corazita Valentino, the local wedding planner, who also ran a winter park of fabulous ice statues.

In the spring and summer, he worked as an adventure guide for river rafting groups. In the autumn, he worked for the town as an electrician on call for Halloween and Harvest events, followed by Winter and Christmas festivals. He usually took the months of April and September off, relishing vacation time that didn’t fall along the same patterns as everyone else. He usually spent that time outdoors himself, but doing other fun things, such as bicycling, rock climbing or hiking.

Aarden checked his email right before he left to report into work. It was the first day of the new season, and he wanted to make sure that Mr Rivers was going to open on time. The last time he had talked to Mrs Rivers, his wife and partner, she had expressed some doubt. She was trying to convince her husband to retire, for health reasons. Mr Rivers knew he needed to do it, but he was the kind of guy who didn’t know how to turn off and relax. He just kept going and going. He had told Aarden he might appoint him to a position of greater responsibility, if he was interested. Aarden had said that he was. But Mr Rivers hadn’t mentioned it again since then, and Aarden didn’t want to look like he was jockeying for the old man’s job.

Aarden found two emails from work. One was from Mrs Rivers, welcoming him back, but warning him that Mr. Rivers had suffered a heart attack and therefore their daughter, Artesia Rivers, would be taking over day-to-day oversight of the company in his place.

He re-read that, then leaned back in his chair and frowned. He knew they had a daughter, but as far as he remembered, she had gone to some fancy college on the coast and not returned to the little town where she grew up. He had never met her. He hoped she wasn’t stuck up. He really liked his boss, but he didn’t like having to get to know a brand-new boss.

The next email was from Artesia Rivers.

She basically fired him.

He stared at the email, anger building slowly. He wasn’t given to fits of temper, but this was complete bull. She hadn’t even met him yet, and she has decided to cut him loose.

As a part-time worker, he didn’t have a lot of recourse, but he could at least demand to know why she decided to let him go. If he was good enough for her father, why wasn’t he good enough for her?

Aarden took his Jeep. It was a good thing that Sheriff Lawson didn’t see him, because Aarden broke that small town speed limit like it was a twig. He tried to collect himself before he stormed into the office of the company. He took a breath deep breath and then entered.

The woman had her hair up in a bun and she was wearing a business suit, like she thought this was New York. He detested her already. 

“If you’re going to fire me,” he snapped, “you better at least have the balls to do it to my face.”

She whirled around, an angry retort on her lips. “You could have the courtesy to knock before barging into my…”

She broke off and stared at him.

He felt a flush rising up his neck and into his face. He recognized her now, despite the severe hairdo and the fancy suit.

Artesia Rivers, his new boss, was the beautiful mermaid who had saved his life.

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