Seven Tears at High Tide (6 page)

“Good luck, Morgan,” she says as they near the shore. The sounds of people swimming and talking echo in the distance. Naida flips her tail and swims again, leaving Morgan alone with his thoughts.

He swims to the cove, relieved no one is ashore. He shifts; the morning sun is warm on his bare skin as he walks into the cave. In the hiding spot—a better one than the first, farther into the cave—he finds the clothes that Kevin gave him. Morgan folds his pelt neatly and tucks it next to the blue sweatshirt. He considers wearing the sweatshirt again today, but it's fairly warm and he doesn't want to lose it, should he have to remove it to remain cool.
Human bodies are so strange.

Morgan dresses quickly in the shorts, grabs his kelp-wrapped bundle and makes his way toward Kevin's home.

Five.

The next day
Kevin keeps busy; he's got chores to do. He watches jealously as his sister reads in the cool shade of the porch awning while he sweats, pushing the lawnmower across the lawn in the summer heat. The marine fog layer burned off early in the morning, and now it's nothing but hot, blaring sunshine. Kevin wipes his brow and adjusts his hat, then grunts as he pushes the lawnmower around a tree.

After mowing there's weeding, and Kevin is up to his knees in the flowerbeds with sweat dripping down his face. He rubs at his eyes and makes a face at the dirt he smudges on himself.
Gross. Whatever, that's what showers are for.
It's not as if he's going anywhere.

Kevin is yanking furiously at a stubborn strand of goosegrass when a shadow falls over him. “Thanks, Ann, stand right there, it's perfect,” Kevin says.

He looks up and Morgan is smiling down at him; his sister is still on the porch, eyeing them. She flips her long braid over her shoulder and pretends to read her book.

“Hi, Morgan,” Kevin says, standing up. He brushes the dirt off his clothes, feeling self-conscious about the dirt and sweat stains, not to mention his old Power Rangers T-shirt.

“Kevin,” Morgan says brightly. Even though he's wearing the same board shorts, he looks clean and put together, ready for the beach with his pale chest bare. Morgan wiggles his toes in the grass. He's holding something. It looks like a huge tangle of seaweed with a longer strand of kelp tied clumsily around it, but Kevin can see something silver and sparkling inside the bundle. “I have brought you a food gift.”

“Really?” Morgan holds out the bundle of seaweed, and Kevin unwraps it carefully, grinning as he undoes the first piece of kelp. “Hey, is this a bow?”

Morgan's smile widens and he bounces on the edge of his feet. “Yes! A bow. For the gift.”

“Cool.” Kevin pulls the ‘wrapping' off. The bundle is filled with shiny fish; he recognizes mackerel and snapper in the top layer. “Wow, thanks! Did you catch all these?”

Morgan puffs out his chest. “I'm good at hunting.”

It's a weird way to talk about fishing, but Kevin shrugs it off. He takes the still-wet bundle into the house, careful to not drip on the carpet as he makes his way to the kitchen with Morgan following behind him, humming happily.

“What's all this?” Mike asks.

“Morgan went fishing and brought this for us,” Kevin says, placing all the fish in the sink. He untangles the last of the seaweed and shakes some of it playfully at Morgan. “Nice wrapping.”

Morgan makes a face and dodges the seaweed. Kevin realizes belatedly his dad is just watching them with an amused look. “Oh, Dad, this is Morgan. Morgan, this is my dad, Mike Luong.”

“It's very nice to meet you, sir.” Morgan bobs his head and smiles.

“Oh, you're a polite one,” Mike says, patting Morgan on the shoulder. “Just call me Mike. It's a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for all the fish. I think we can definitely cook these later this afternoon. You're welcome to join us, of course. I just love an excuse to use the deep fryer.”

“I love Kevin,” Morgan says without missing a beat.

Mike laughs and claps Morgan on the shoulder. “Great, I do too. Kevin has to finish his chores, though. But he did tell me you were interested in marine biology! I'm always happy to talk to someone who wants to go into the field.”

Kevin groans. “
Dad.
”

“All right, all right.” Mike throws up his hands. “Chores before boyfriend, remember, Kevin. Morgan, you're welcome to hang out. I'm just working on this syllabus if you want to talk about sustainable fishing practices—”

“Friends, Dad, didn't I tell you…?” Kevin looks at Morgan in an embarrassed panic, but Morgan doesn't seem to notice his father's use of the word
boyfriend.

“I can help Kevin with the chores,” Morgan announces. “I love him.”

Mike raises his eyebrow and makes a show of whispering to Kevin. “This one's a keeper,” he says with a wink. “Just don't let him do all the work. They're your chores for a reason, you know. Builds character.”

“Okay, Dad,” Kevin says, before he gets wrapped into a conver­sation about his dad immigrating to America and working hard his whole life. He loves and respects his dad and his history, but Kevin has a suspicion that Morgan's curiosity and willingness to listen will lead to hours and hours of story time.

Kevin grabs Morgan's wrist gently and leads him back outside. “You can't just say things like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like that you love me. It's weird. We hardly know each other.”

“But I do love you.”

Kevin stares at him, slightly annoyed. He doesn't feel like dis­cussing this right now, or getting into the complexities of like versus love and what's too soon and what's not; he doesn't want to hurt Morgan's feelings, not while they're getting to know each other. It's too hot, and he's got tons more gardening work to do. “Look, are you sure you want to help with the weeding? It's not that I don't appreciate it, it's just a lot of hard work, you know, and you don't have to. You can always come back later. We'll fry up some fish and hang out then.”

“Fried?” Morgan's eyes light up. He looks at Kevin, clapping his hands together.

“Yes, fried,” Kevin says, laughing.

“I would love that. And if helping you with the chores means we can do the fried fish quicker, I'd be glad of it.” Morgan beams at him, as if the prospect of getting down in the dirt with Kevin and pulling weeds for an hour is the most fun idea in the world.

Later, at dinner, it's clear that Kevin's family has taken an instant liking to Morgan, especially his dad. It probably has something to do with how appreciative Morgan is of the food. He goes out of his way to compliment the chef.

“Oh, I don't get much chance to cook, so really, thank
you,
” Mike says, beaming.

Morgan even laughs at Kevin's kelp joke. Rachel wanted to know why there was seaweed in the sink, and Kevin explained it was Morgan's idea of wrapping paper. “Oh wait—I have this great joke. Okay, okay—where does seaweed go to look for a job?”

Ann rolls her eyes, paying attention to her food, and his parents look on with mild interest.

“The kelp wanted ads!” Kevin finishes proudly.

Morgan laughs, even though his face looks confused. “Why would the kelp need to be employed?”

“It's not—it's a play on words, see? You know, help-wanted, kelp-wanted,” Kevin explains.

“Oh.” Morgan nods, even though he still looks uncertain. “That
is
very funny.”

“He's a huge nerd,” Ann teases. “Don't get him started on the rock jokes.”

“What rock—”

Kevin's parents and Ann all groan in unison, and Kevin whispers to Morgan, “It's okay, I can tell you the rock jokes later.” He's pleasantly surprised when Morgan nods as if he actually wants to hear all of Kevin's jokes.

“Are you and your family visiting for the summer, Morgan?” Rachel asks.

“Yes,” Morgan says, eating a piece of fried fish. “I've never been here before. I know my mother visited a long time ago, before I was born, but our family hasn't come back since. It's a beautiful place.”

“Piedras Blancas is lovely,” Mike agrees. “We've lived here for quite some time. The tourist season can get a bit hectic, but the view and the people are worth it. The rookery's quite pretty too; have you two been up there?”

“Oh, that's where all the seals are,” Kevin says. “We could check it out sometime if you like.”

Morgan shrugs; seals probably are boring to him. “Whatever you think will be fun,” he says, giving Kevin a small smile. “Hik­ing, rock collecting, surfing, whatever you want.”

“Morgan, where are you from?” Ann asks.

“My family travels a lot, but we usually go back to
Arcaibh
.”

Kevin doesn't know where that is, but it sounds pretty when Morgan says it, like a chiming bell.

“Oh, you speak Gaelic!” Rachel says. “My mother always tried to teach me, but I could never get the accent right. I've only been to the Orkney Islands once, but they're quite beautiful. All of Scotland is gorgeous, really.”

“You've traveled quite a long way,” Mike remarks.

Morgan shrugs. “We move around every year. My mom is a representative of…” He trails off, looking uncomfortable.

“Oh, a diplomat's kid,” Rachel says. “I know how that feels. I don't think I've really settled at all, even since I grew up. At least until I married Mike and we moved here,” she says, and Mike kisses her on her cheek. “We met on a beach, you know.”

Kevin and Ann share a look.

“It was right after I got tenure,” Mike says, a dreamy look in his eyes. “I signed up to teach a unit for this experimental field expedition that Rachel had helped put together.”

Kevin leans back in his chair and watches his mom throw her hands up into the air, eagerly gesturing as she does when she's excited. “I designed a course that mixed the sciences with the humanities, like when John Steinbeck and his friend Ed Ricketts traveled together in the Pacific.”

Ann jumps in. “Ricketts wrote the in-depth catalog
Between Pacific Tides
and—”

“Steinbeck wrote
The Log from the Sea of Cortez
,” Kevin finishes the sentence, catching Ann's eye.

They finish the story triumphantly together, having heard it many times. “And the two friends found that science and philo­sophy weren't all that different from one another, and so did we.”

“All right, all right, so what, we've told this story plenty of times,” Mike says.

“Only once or twice a summer—”

“Every time you teach that course again together and explain it to your students—”

“Every faculty party—” Kevin teases.

“It's a beautiful way to find each other,” Morgan says.

“Thank you.” Rachel throws Morgan an appreciative smile and then rolls her eyes at her children and turns to kiss her husband on the mouth with exaggerated aplomb.

“Gross,” Kevin and Ann say together as their dad returns the kiss with equal fervor. It's an old joke in the Luong household; both Kevin and Ann are used to it by now. Mike Luong and Rachel Jenners were both innovative researchers in their fields, darlings in their respective departments of marine biology and English at Cal State San Luis Obispo. Kevin was too young to remember the excitement when they got married, but he's grown up with the stories and seen how other professors treat his parents with pride and admiration for their happy marriage as well as their research and joint teaching.

Morgan doesn't seem to find Kevin's parents' affection off-putting at all. He watches them, eating his food happily.

“Well, I'm glad you're here,” Rachel says. She winks at Kevin, making him blush, but at least she isn't referring to Morgan as his boyfriend.

“I'm happy to be here,” Morgan says, and then makes plans with Kevin to go surfing tomorrow.

Maybe summer isn't going to be so lonely after all.

* * *

“You don't have
a surfboard?” Kevin asks, holding up his own longboard and walking up to the lifeguard tower where he agreed to meet Morgan.

Morgan shakes his head. He's wearing the same shorts, the ones he wore yesterday and the day before. Kevin notices now that they were in the heap of lost and found clothes Sally gave him the first day he saw Morgan.

“Okay, so you're body surfing then? Where's your wetsuit? I remember you had one.”

“Safe,” Morgan says. For a second Kevin thinks he sees a flash of worry cross his face, but it's soon replaced by an excited, eager expression.

Kevin tugs the cord at the back of his own wetsuit, pulling up his zipper. It's chilly, and he's sure the water will be even colder. He guesses Morgan is trying to build up a tolerance, but figures if they only swim an hour or two it'll be all right.

They dash into the water, and Kevin shivers. He ducks his head under to adjust more quickly and resurfaces to find Morgan swimming ahead.

All the clumsiness Morgan showed on the hike—walking with an unsteady gait, tripping over his feet—all of it seems to dis­ap­pear. Kevin is astonished to see his new friend joyfully dive head­first into an oncoming wave with his body undulating gracefully in the sparkling water.

Kevin tries his best to keep up, paddling fiercely on his board, blinking salt water out of his eyes. A wave swells and raises him up, heading for shore. They're not quite at that sweet spot yet, but Kevin is already tired just watching Morgan swim carelessly about in small circles, heading forward and then coming back behind Kevin.

He finally gets a chance to rest when they get to a nice spot where bigger swells are visible from a distance and the small waves nudge by. Kevin bobs in the water, catching his breath, with Morgan treading water next to him.

“You okay?” Kevin asks, then immediately realizes his question is useless. It's clear from the contented look on Morgan's face how relaxed he is. “Do you wanna hang onto my board or something?”

“I do not need to rest, thank you,” Morgan says, laughing brightly. Water drops cling to his eyelashes, catching the morn­ing sun, framing his golden brown eyes. Morgan blinks, and the gleaming drops trickle down his cheeks. He flicks his head back so water runs down his throat in rivulets. “Does that look acceptable?” he asks, pointing at an oncoming swell.

“Awesome.” Kevin turns around and paddles fiercely, hop­ing he can catch the wave. He's not the best surfer, despite his love for the ocean and the sport. He's a fair swimmer, but doesn't have the self-discipline to practice surfing on his own, and he's never had anyone interested in going with him. So, he's never actually stood up and ridden a wave all the way to shore.