A line in the sand, p.20
A Line in the Sand, page 20
Where to start?
Molly sat down at the counter and gathered Ursula into her lap. “I’m sorry I haven’t been by all week, but things have been crazy busy at the aquarium. Plus I’m finally putting together that grant proposal I’ve been wanting to write for ages, and it’s required a lot more energy than I expected.”
Understatement of the century. Molly had been walking around with a gnawing sense of dread in the pit of her stomach for five days running. Her only saving grace was that Max hadn’t yanked the grant application away from her. He’d been stunningly supportive, showing up at every training session and effectively acting as a cheerleader to the search teams. And in the moments when Molly’s confidence started to crumble and she let her anxiety show, he promised her that everything was going to be just fine.
She kept waiting for the dam to break…for him to point out that they were over halfway through the training period and thus far—other than Cinder, who was already a trained working dog, and Ursula, the class wunderkind—only one dog had successfully identified and alerted to a turtle sample on command.
One dog on one occasion.
The entire class had whooped and hollered when Betty White had pressed her nose to the correct sample container and then lowered herself into an immediate sit position—the signal that Sam had taught the dogs to use when they needed to alert their handlers. Molly had whooped and hollered right along with them, but deep down, she couldn’t help but wonder if it had simply been a lucky guess.
“I know all about your sea turtle tracking project.” Caroline slid a frozen Milky Way latte across the counter toward Molly. “Violet’s been giving me updates when she comes in to drop off cupcakes for the bakery case. For the record, I’m deeply hurt that you didn’t ask Sebastian and me to participate. He’d make a way better search cat than Skippy the Persian.”
Molly regarded Caroline as she took her first sip of her coffee drink. She had to hold back a moan when the chocolate, caramel, and espresso flavors hit her taste buds. It had been way too long since she’d had one of these.
“You’re joking, right? You don’t really want to try and train Sebastian,” Molly said.
Caroline bit back a smile as Sebastian purposefully knocked a book from the shelf with a swipe of his paw. “What do you think?”
“Okay, good. You scared me for a minute.” She set her cup down. Ursula whined in Molly’s lap, clearly displeased that no one appeared to be paying any attention to her.
Caroline opened the glass jar full of dog treats that she kept on hand for canine customers and slipped one to Ursula. “No worries. Sebastian and I are happy to leave the turtle egg saving to Skippy and Larry.”
“That’s the thing.” Molly cleared her throat. “I’m not sure there’s going to actually be any egg saving going on.”
“What do you mean? Your dog is a genuine turtle hero. Everyone on the island is talking about it.” Caroline offered Ursula another treat. Sebastian hissed as she crunched loudly on it.
“That’s definitely true.” Molly pressed a kiss to the top of her puppy’s head. There’d been so much going on the past few days that she sometimes lost sight of how the training class had started. “I’m just worried about what will happen if she’s the only one.”
A man approached the counter to order a plain drip coffee and buy a copy of the latest hardback legal thriller from the fiction table. Molly polished off her latte while she waited for Caroline to ring him up.
After the customer had gone, Caroline refilled Molly’s cup. “Here. You really look like you could use more chocolate.”
“Thanks.” She took a long pull from her straw.
“Why are you stressing yourself out so badly over whether or not you can train other dogs to do what Ursula does? It’s a pretty amazing feat. Maybe your dog is just special and that’s that.” Caroline reached across the counter to scratch Ursula’s dainty chin.
“Of course she’s special.” Hadn’t Molly been saying as much since the day she’d adopted her? “But the grant is worth almost a million dollars. What if I mess it all up?”
Caroline’s gaze narrowed. “You’ve been talking to your parents, haven’t you?”
“Maybe.” Molly groaned. “Okay, yes. I have. You wouldn’t have believed how proud my dad sounded when I told him I was heading up the entire grant effort. It was the best conversation we’ve had in a long time.”
Caroline sighed. “But now you feel pressured to win the grant, not only to save the aquarium but also to please your folks, am I right?”
Molly nodded. “Exactly, except you also left out the part where I’ll feel like I let Max down if I’m unsuccessful.”
“You won’t be letting anyone down, Molls. Ursula alone is going to make a big impact on the island’s conservation efforts. Anything else is just icing on the cake.” As if to prove her point, Caroline reached into the bakery case for a cupcake and set it down in front of Molly. It was one of Violet’s special Sidekick Snickerdoodle cupcakes, decorated to look like Ursula.
“I’m not sure I can eat that after having two frozen lattes,” Molly said. “But I love that Violet’s still making these. I thought they were just a one-off for bingo night back when I was still fired.”
“They were. Violet brought them back by popular demand because everyone in Turtle Beach is so proud of your smart little dog.”
Molly felt the tension in her shoulders ease just a tiny bit. “Really?”
“Yes, really. And we’re proud of you too, Molly. All of us.” Caroline’s mouth curved into a knowing grin. “Even Max.”
“Don’t be so sure—I begged one of the local firemen to help me train five dogs and a cat to sniff out sea turtle nests on the beach. When I stop and think about it, it sounds legitimately crazy pants.”
“Exactly.” Caroline dropped the snickerdoodle cupcake into a pink bag with Violet’s Sweetness on Wheels logo and handed it to Molly. “No one on the entire island would take something like this on. Only you, Molls. That in and of itself is pretty special and don’t you forget it.”
Ursula’s nose twitched in the direction of the bakery bag. Sometimes Molly wondered if her favorite British baking show might be a bad influence.
She smiled at Caroline. “Thank you, and I’m not just talking about the coffee and cupcake.”
“Anytime. Now go be a mermaid. I’ll see you later this afternoon for the Under the Sea Ball planning meeting.”
Go be a mermaid. At least that was something Molly had a decent handle on. Plus the Under the Sea Ball was already coming together. The Turtle Team just needed to go over a few final details.
Something miraculous happened just a few minutes later when Molly arrived at the aquarium for her mermaid shift—something almost as miraculous as Betty White correctly identifying the scent of sea turtle eggs. Silver the seahorse at long last gave birth to over a thousand tiny seahorse babies.
The blessed event happened just after Molly finished changing into her glittering fishtail. She rounded the corner into the lobby with Ursula trotting alongside in her lobster costume and found Max and Nate staring intently at Silver’s tank, their faces just inches from the glass.
“What’s going on?” Molly asked.
Max’s gaze swiveled toward her. The grin on his face was so boyish and goofy that her heart felt like it was being squeezed in a vise. “Seahorse babies. Come see!”
She mermaid-stepped toward the tank and nudged her way in between Max and Nate. Teeny-tiny seahorses floated everywhere, like an explosion of confetti. Each one was smaller than a grain of rice, with tiny little snouts and curlicue tails.
Her hand flew to her throat. “Oh my gosh, they’re precious. How many do you think there are?”
“So far I’ve counted four hundred and twenty-three,” Nate said.
Molly and Max laughed, but when Molly glanced at Nate, his expression was dead serious.
Max grinned at her, and when they switched their attention back toward the tank, she felt his hand reach for hers. They stood there quietly watching the newborns float in the water, dainty little miracles. The moment was complete and utter joy, and the warmth in Max’s fingertips made Molly feel like everything truly would be okay. It was crazy how so much hope and newness could be wrapped up in a thousand tiny packages.
“I’ll go move the newborns to the rearing tanks,” Nate said.
He pushed through the door to the aquarium’s behind-the-scenes area. Molly expected Max to follow, but he stayed put. Through the glass walls of the seahorse tank, they could see Nate on the other side. He reached into the aquarium with a glass beaker and began scooping out some of the floating babies and moving them into smaller tanks.
“He’s literally getting rid of the baby and the bath water.” Molly glanced at Max. “Why doesn’t he use a net?”
“Because newborn seahorses can’t be exposed to air. They’ll swallow it and it’ll lead to fatal buoyancy problems.” Max pointed at the four smaller tanks in the wall where Nate was carefully relocating the newborns by submerging the beaker into the tank’s clean water and waiting for the babies to make their way out. “The newborns are moved into smaller tanks with brighter lighting so they can spot food more easily. Also if they’re not removed from the tank with Silver, he might eat some of them. These little guys are really fragile, and we want as many as possible to thrive.”
Ursula stood on her hind legs in an effort to get a better look at what had captured everyone’s attention. Max released Molly’s hand to gather the puppy in his arms. He lifted her up and held her in front of the tanks so she could see. Ursula went wide-eyed at once.
Molly couldn’t take her eyes off of the two of them. They couldn’t have looked more adorable together if Max had gone full-on dog dad and worn Ursula in a baby sling on his chest. She could never have imagined Max treating her puppy with such tenderness back when he’d fired them. So much had changed since that terrible morning.
Molly swallowed hard and turned back toward the collection of tanks in the seahorse dude ranch.
“Did you know that the proper term for newborn seahorses is ‘fry’?” Max said quietly.
Molly shook her head.
He shrugged and that goofy, boyish grin made a comeback. “I’m starting to prefer ‘babies.’”
Molly’s heart did a full-on flip-flop and she realized she’d been wrong just now. Yes, so much had changed since the morning Max had fired her and Ursula. But more than that, he’d changed. She wasn’t sure if it was Turtle Beach or the aquarium or being so close to his uncle again, but Max was becoming a different man…a good man. A man who just might be able to make her forget all about her no-dating rule.
No. This is not the time. You have far too much going on right now to lose your focus.
So she did her best to put those forbidden feelings in a box and lock them up tight, like a sunken treasure chest. She pasted on a bright mermaid smile, greeted aquarium guests, and painted seahorses on children’s faces.
But while she presided over the planning meeting for the Under the Sea Ball, Max strode into the conference room with handfuls of pink and blue bubblegum cigars. He passed them out like a proud dad, and despite every effort to keep her treasure chest of feelings buried in the deepest possible part of the ocean, Molly felt it rising up to the surface.
Then its rusty old padlock fell away, and the lid creaked open…just enough for her to catch a glimpse of the riches hidden inside.
***
Max had never thought he’d be in a position where all his hopes for his professional future would rest on the shoulders of a poodle named Betty White, but alas, here he was.
The dogs, plus Skippy, were due to arrive at the dog beach for the final night of scent training class in just a few minutes. It would be their last chance to show promise and give Molly some good data to work with before she put the finishing touches on the grant proposal and turned it in. Max couldn’t stand still. If he didn’t stop pacing, he was going to wear a trench in the sand.
“Can I give you a hand?” he asked Molly. Surely there was something constructive he could do.
She glanced up from the park bench where she was unpacking the little metal tins she’d prepared that contained small amounts of packed sand—some from the sea turtle nests and others from neutral places on the beach. “Do you want to help me spread out the scent samples?”
“Sure.” Anything to get his mind off of the fact that thus far, Betty White and Ursula were the team’s saving graces. And in an hour, their time would be up.
Max didn’t know for certain whether or not the grant team would dismiss their proposal outright if only two dogs on the island had shown any real promise, but he didn’t feel good about the odds. If they could get lucky enough for even one more dog to alert to the hidden turtle sample tonight, their proposal might have an actual shot.
Molly had worked so hard. The entire proposal was written and ready to go out tomorrow morning, just in time for the noon deadline. All she had to do was plug in the final numbers. Max did his best to give off a supportive, confident air as she instructed him on where to put the sample tins.
There were eight samples in all, with only two containing sand from the sea turtle nest. Max had excavated fresh sand from close to the egg chamber just half an hour ago so the scent would be as fresh and strong as possible. He and Molly placed the tins in random spots around the dog beach, while Sam and Cinder waited by the dune for the teams to arrive.
Tonight’s class was to be a test of sorts. One by one, each team would search the beach. The handler would follow the dog’s lead, letting the pup sniff the ground and any scent tins they came across. The goal was for the dogs to immediately sit down when exposed to the correct sample scent. If they barked too, even better.
Max would take a silent sit. He’d even take a meow at this point—from any of the trainees, not just Skippy.
“I think we’re ready.” Molly wrapped her arms around herself. She was wearing a Turtle Team T-shirt, her hair was piled into a messy pink and blonde bun on top of her head, and her nails were painted a shimmery, iridescent mermaid-blue.
She looked as lovely and quirky as ever, but she seemed a little lost. Max knew she had to be nervous about tonight, but he wasn’t crazy about the way she kept crossing and recrossing her arms as if trying to hold herself together.
Then he realized what was missing.
“Where’s Ursula?” he said.
“Sam and I decided she probably shouldn’t be here tonight. We didn’t want her accidentally giving hints to the other dogs.”
“Throwing them a bone, so to speak?” Max said.
“Max Miller. Did you just make a dad joke?” Molly poked him gently in the ribs. “You must really be invested in those seahorse babies.”
He held his finger and thumb a fraction of an inch apart. “A little bit, yes.”
She laughed. In the distance, Max could see the teams lining up at the beach access and Sam issuing instructions for their test. A thought crossed his mind, one that he’d been tossing around for a while and trying not to act on.
“Speaking of infant sea life,” he heard himself say, “are you busy tonight around ten p.m. onward?”
Smooth. Real smooth. He was trying to ask her on a date of sorts, and he couldn’t manage to avoid mentioning marine biology.
Molly studied him for a moment and her lips curved into a promising smile. “The only thing ordinarily on my agenda at that time of night is sleeping, but what did you have in mind? I’m intrigued.”
“Would you like to babysit the turtle nest on the beach by our houses with me? The hatchlings are due to arrive soon.” Max cleared his throat. Why did he feel like a teenager trying to invite a girl he liked to the prom? He was suggesting she join him for a quasi–work-related activity.
On the beach…
In the moonlight.
His chest clenched as he waited for her to respond. Then a loud cheer erupted on the other side of the beach, dragging their attention to Bingo the pug, sitting completely still—goggles and all—in the exact spot where Max had put one of the sample tins that contained sand from the turtle nest.
“Look!” Molly grabbed onto Max’s arm. “He did it. Bingo alerted!”
They looked at each other, eyes wide and frozen for a split second, until Molly threw herself into Max’s arms.
It was almost too much—her softness, her scent, her joyful energy—like trying to hold sunshine in his hands. Max closed his eyes and held her tight, until she finally backed away to meet his gaze.
The dizzy smile on her face changed into something more private, like a secret she’d been holding onto just for him. “And yes to tonight. Let’s babysit a turtle nest together.”
Max felt himself exhale. “It’s a date.”
***
“Just calm down,” Molly told Ursula as they walked down the steps of the cottage toward the beach below. The ocean looked inky-black under the night sky. The moon hung high overhead, shining bright like a pearl. “I don’t know for sure if this is a date.”
Ursula scrambled her paws so fast that they almost ran right out from under her. Down on the sand, Max held up a hand and grinned. Molly’s stomach fluttered, beating with the excited wings of a thousand summer butterflies.
Okay, maybe it was a date. Max had said so himself, after all. Molly just didn’t want to get her hopes up about anything. Her track record with dates wasn’t exactly stellar, and with discovering Ursula’s special talent, the birth of the seahorse babies, and the enormous success of today’s training test, so many miraculous things had happened lately that she knew she had to be headed for a fall. The good luck streak couldn’t last forever.
