Sink or Swim: A Mirandy Mermaid Tale

Chapter 8

Andy winced as she hauled her laptop onto her stomach. For some reason, her ribs felt worse after three days at home.

Or maybe it was just her shitty mood. After insisting she take the entire week off to recover, Miranda had called exactly once, asked in a perfunctory tone about her injury, and then excused herself to tend to the twins. Since then, Andy had left three messages, and none had been returned.

Andy knew that Miranda was dealing with a lot. An attempt on her life, her new status as a mermaid, and a media frenzy. Still, it hurt that she didn't seem to want Andy at her side.

In the past few days, Andy had learned more from the internet than she had from Miranda—or the cops, who seemed to be treating Miranda's attorney as their main point of contact.

She'd learned from TMZ that Crystal had been arrested and held for questioning. The same website had been posting photos of Miranda back at work, with a gaggle of reporters following her everywhere.

Andy clicked on TMZ and sure enough, there was new footage of Miranda strutting from her car to the office building, ignoring a group of reporters. She declined comment every time, referring all questions to her attorney.

As for Andy, she didn't have an attorney, so her only defense was to screen her calls. Reporters were much less interested in her—they had only staked out her apartment for a single day—but with Miranda refusing to comment, they kept trying Andy just in case.

Andy clicked on one of the photos and zoomed in. Miranda was wearing a flowing white dress with high heels, plus a shimmery necklace of orange jewels. The color reminded Andy of Miranda's mermaid tail. She wondered if she'd thought the same thing when she put it on.

In the photos, Miranda's eyes were hard, and her mouth was a thin line. Andy desperately wanted to know how she was feeling, and why she hadn't called. What she wanted, or didn't want. Andy wasn't even sure if she'd be welcome back at work after her week off, now that everything was different.

Blowing out a frustrated breath, she slammed her laptop shut. Why did everything have to be so confusing and hard?

~ * ♥ * ~

"Emily," Miranda said sharply, "it's raining."

"Oh, well...er...yes." Emily squirmed. "Does that mean something?"

Miranda blew out a huffy breath and walked back into her office. Useless.

It's not supposed to rain. Miranda checked the weather each morning, without fail, and it was supposed to be partly cloudy. The idiot weather people had fucked her, and now she'd have to walk past reporters in a plastic tarp, or whatever waterproof nonsense she could find in the office.

She wondered how Andrea handled rain. The girl never missed work, which meant she managed to commute in bad weather somehow.

Miranda's eyes fell to the phone on her desk. She picked up the receiver, twirled it, and then slammed it down with a sigh. Her guilt increased with each passing day, but she just couldn't bring herself to dial.

Emily hesitantly knocked on the door frame. "Your three o'clock meeting..."

"They're here? Fine. Show them in."

She was meeting with cosmetics executives to discuss a potential collaboration. It had been on the books for weeks, but now of course she'd have to suffer through their performance of sympathy before they could talk business.

Stacie and Jane were barely through the door before they started. "Miranda!" said Stacie. "How are you? Gosh, I couldn't believe it when I heard."

"I'm fine, thank you." Miranda accepted the air kisses. "Won't you sit down?"