Every dawn, Brennan climbed his lifeguard tower before the crowds woke, and every dawn he saw her. A mermaid, far past the reef. Purple hair with bits of coral tangled in it. She held something small against her chest and never once looked his way. He was the lifeguard at Turtle Bay Party Beach, trained to spot a drowning swimmer in a hundred drunk bodies. But he could not spot a way across that reef. It broke the water in a jagged line, too shallow to swim, too sharp to walk. She stayed on her side. He stayed on his. The distance was the whole problem. This morning the sand was a mess. Empty cups. A foam noodle from last night's water fight. He climbed down and started grabbing trash, keeping one eye on the horizon. She was combing her hair with her fingers, calm, like the ocean belonged to her. Then a girl stumbled out of the tide line. Sunburned, wobbling, a flower lei crooked on her neck. "Okay so I lost my phone, no wait, my friend's phone, and then I lost my flip-flop, and honestly the whole beach is spinning a little," the girl said. She grabbed his arm to stay up. "Are you the lifeguard? You look like the lifeguard." "I've got you," Brennan said. This was the job. He looked once at the mermaid, still there, still glowing. Then he looked at the girl in front of him, who could crack her head on the pier posts if she fell. "Cassidy," she said, pointing at herself. "My friends are at the pier. Somewhere. So many friends." He walked her across the sand, slow, his hand steady on her elbow. She talked the whole way about a cooler and steps and a boy who kept asking questions. He got her to the pier. Her friends waved and pulled her into their circle. "You're a legend," Cassidy called back. "A wet, tan legend." Brennan returned to his tower. The sun was higher now. The mermaid still floated past the reef, unaware, running her fingers through her hair. He watched her the way he watched everything from up here, careful and quiet. Then he did something he had never done. He lifted his hand and waved. Her head snapped up. For one second their eyes met across all that water. Her whole face changed. Shock. She had never known he saw her. Never known anyone did. She dove. Her blue fin flashed once and she was gone, deep, hiding. Brennan lowered his hand. The horizon was empty now. But something had changed. She knew he existed. And now she was afraid. Getting close was no longer the problem. Now he had to make her come back.