Seal With a Kiss (7 page)

Sighing, he shook his head and went to change
into his trunks.

By the time he caught up with her at one of the
monstrous water rides, Smitty had his thoughts back
under control. He and Violet were coworkers, nothing more. They'd tried the other before, and she'd
made it painfully clear that they weren't looking for
the same things out of life. So they'd have some fun
at the water park, get the rattling box truck back on
the road, and reach Florida sometime the next day.
They'd pick up Jasper, drive like heck to get home
before either the sea lion overheated or they killed
each other, and find some way to convince Brody
that they were friends again.

Simple.

"Oh good, you're here. I've saved you a place."
Violet grabbed his hand and swung him into the line
just as the family in front of them was buckled into
a fake log and sent on their way. Smitty noticed that
there weren't seats in the logs-the riders were
jammed in together, strapped down and expected to
hold on for dear life.

He heard screaming from the other side of the ride,
and a big splash.

"Our turn!" Violet pushed him towards a bobbing
log. The attendant helped him sit in the soggy hollow, then gestured to Violet to sit in front.

"Put your arms around your girlfriend and hold on
tight," the attendant chirped, and Violet backpedaled.

"Oh, I didn't realize-" The rest of her statement
was lost when the attendant deftly shoved her into
the log, tightened the belt across her hips, and sent
them on their way.

At first, Violet held herself stiffly away from him,
and Smitty smiled grimly when the first series of
bumps and dips earned him an elbow in the ribs. "Vi,
you might want to lean back against me. I don't bite,
honest."

Then the fake log was picked up by a clanking
track that lifted them high into the sky and they both
forgot that they were feeling awkward with each
other and started pointing at the other rides they
could see from their new vantage point.

"Look over there! Let's hit the wave tank next."
Violet grabbed his knee and pointed to a huge body
of water. As they watched, a ten-foot-high swell
started at one end and sped to the other, carrying
swimmers and bodysurfers with it. Squeals of delight
floated up to them, carrying over the rush of water
and the clank of machinery.

And still the fake log was carried into the sky. Short jets of water pumped over them and Violet
squealed as she took a blast in the face. Then they
were at the top of the enormous hill. The little log
teetered a moment and she pressed back against
Smitty as a rush of water pushed them over and
down.

He felt the fake log lunge forward and freefall towards the ground, felt Violet's back mold itself to
his front, and he wrapped his arms around her as they
fell.

Then they were laughing and screaming and the
water was coming at them from all sides, and as the
fake log plunged into an enormous tank and raised a
splash that seemed a mile high, Smitty reached for
the sky-look Ma, no hands!-and felt ten years fall
from his shoulders like they'd never passed.

They didn't make it to the wave tank right away,
though Violet was itching to try it. The one thing she
disliked about being based on Cape Cod was the lack
of decent surfing. The Atlantic was okay, if you liked
that sort of wave. And the Cape's North Shore even
got decent rollers after a storm, but it didn't come
close to the California beaches where she'd learned
to surf.

As they bobbed down an artificial river that wound
around the perimeter of the park, relaxing in separate black rubber tubes, Violet glanced over and wondered whether Smitty ever thought about the time
he'd taught her to surf. Then she ground her teeth,
annoyed that the only things she could seem to think
about were things that had happened between two
dumb kids at U.C. Santa Cruz.

She and Smitty weren't those kids anymore. They
were grown-ups, well-respected researchers. Coworkers. A lot had happened since that long-ago day
at a California water park.

Smitty had been married and divorced. Violet had
spent the two years following Smitty's marriage studying killer whales in Puget Sound. After his divorce,
she had rejoined Dolphin Friendly and the group had
prospered. Each year, they had landed more interesting, more lucrative grants, seen more marine mammals, and rescued more stranded animals. Everything
had been great. Then Brody had married Maddy.

And everything had changed.

It wasn't that she wanted Brody for herself-their
brief relationship had been a big snore because they
knew each other too well-but his marriage had been
a shock to the trio of friends.

After Smitty's marriage failed and Violet rejoined
the group without any rekindling of their romance, it
had seemed obvious to her that marine researchers just weren't cut out for marriage. They were on the
water too many months out of the year, and cared
more for the ocean than they did for most people.

The founding members of Dolphin Friendly were
all single, and they liked it that way. Or did they?

Standing on the sidelines while Brody and Maddy
recited their vows, Violet had felt an unexpected and
unwelcome tug. She'd wanted a family once. Maybe
not as much or as quickly as Smitty had wanted one,
which had been the big stumbling block between
them, but she'd wanted kids. Wanted a husband who
cared if she came home from sea every now and then.
She rarely saw her own family anymore, and when
she did, they asked careful questions and "tsked"
when she said she didn't have anyone and grandchildren weren't in the forecast.

She'd glanced at Smitty and thought she saw her
own regrets mirrored in his face. She had wondered
whether he would someday marry again and once
again leave her the odd man out in Dolphin Friendly.

The next day-when Brody and Maddy were off
on their extended honeymoon-she had filled
Smitty's diving duffel with shaving cream. And the
battles had begun.

"What're you thinking about, Vi?"

She looked over and saw that Smitty's rubber tube
had drifted close to hers. His hair was wet, darkening his sun-bleached highlights to a rich chestnut. He
pushed her tube ever so gently, making her spin. She
let her head fall back and felt her hair dip in the
water. Felt the familiar liquid surround her. God, she
loved the water. The coolness caressed her scalp and
made her think of being under the ocean. In every
image in her mind's eye, Smitty was diving at her
side.

And suddenly she wanted to tell him what she was
thinking. She wanted to know whether he felt the
same way about Brody and Maddy, whether he ever
wondered what it would have been like if he'd waited
for her rather than running off with Ellen two weeks
after that fateful day at the water park.

She wanted to know if he ever thought of her that
way now.

"Vi? Mackerel for your thoughts."

It was an old private joke.

"I was thinking of Brody and Maddy's wedding. . ." she began, then paused to gather her
thoughts, struck by sudden indecision. What if he
didn't feel the way she did? What if he hadn't noticed the way things had changed within Dolphin
Friendly? What if he didn't care?

But she didn't get a chance to continue. Smitty's
face twisted and his eyes shut once, as though he
were in pain. "Oh. Yeah, right. Brody."

With a lurch, he slid off his inner tube and grabbed
hers as well, dragging her into the shallow side of
the lazy river, over to where a cluster of signs pointed
to the next group of rides. He asked, "Ready for the
Tidal Wave?" and boosted her onto dry land before
she could answer.

"I-" Not really, she wanted to say. I wanted to
talk to you about Brody and Maddy. About us. About
Dolphin Friendly. About why we always fight and
what we could maybe do to change it.

And it was then that Violet realized why she absolutely, positively could not voice the crazy feelings
that had started creeping up on her just after that
wedding. Why there was no way she and Smitty
could try to pick up where they'd left off ten years
ago.

She couldn't tell him any of it, because if they
tried their relationship again and it crashed and
burned, she'd have lost his friendship for good. She
didn't think she could stand it if that happened.

So she gave him her best evil look and said, "I
was born ready. Let's catch some waves," then
turned away before he could say anything else.

The Tidal Wave was fun enough, but Smitty
couldn't shake the feeling that Violet was determined
to enjoy herself-come hell or high water-literally. She grinned maniacally when the water level dropped
to its lowest point and came crashing back into the
tank, sending hundreds of wave riders hurtling a
quarter mile or so on its crest. She laughed with the
teenagers who treaded water near her, jostling for
position and arguing which one of them should get
to ride with the pretty lady in the tiny bikini.

But it was that sad, brittle laugh Smitty hated. He
recognized it because that was the sound she'd been
making more often than not of late.

It shouldn't have bothered him that she'd been
thinking of Brody as they floated along. He knew
there were unresolved issues between his two best
friends. But he'd been nurturing the faint hope that
she was enjoying herself, or that she was thinking
fondly of that long-ago water park and those two
young kids who hadn't loved each other quite
enough.

Then again, why should she think of those times?
They clearly hadn't meant as much to her as they
had to him. She'd proven that when she'd turned him
down. But something she'd said earlier bothered
him-that he hadn't wanted her, he'd wanted a family.

Well really, what was the difference? As far as
he'd been concerned back then, Violet was his family.

And in a way, she still was. She and Brody, and
now Maddy, had become Smitty's family. Dolphin
Friendly and his pet catfish Dusty were the sum of
his worldly connections.

He couldn't regret the end of his marriage to Ellen,
though he regretted that his constant absences had
hurt her enough to drive her away. But he did feel a
sort of hollow sadness that he was in his thirties,
single and childless, and looking to stay that way for
the foreseeable future. He had learned the hard way
that marriages between landlubbers and marine researchers were destined for failure from the outset.

"Smitty! Look out, aaaah!" The water surged
around him and Violet hurtled past as she caught a
wave that he had missed.

He watched her surf away from him. And wished
he'd caught the wave that had carried her away from
him ten years earlier.

When she landed on shore, turned, and waved to
him, Smitty shook his head and started to paddle.

Maybe this time he could catch her. And keep her.

Then again, maybe not.

By late afternoon Violet had been splashed,
dunked, doused, whistled at, and for a very brief moment had been in danger of parting company with
her bikini top. She was tired, waterlogged, and supremely happy. Or she would have been, if it hadn't
been for Smitty's rotten mood.

They were sitting under a cheerful striped umbrella
sipping sodas and munching on a shared nacho plate.
Well, Violet was munching and sipping. Smitty was
glaring at his straw.

"What's your problem?" she finally asked. He'd
been grumpy since they left the Tidal Wave, or
maybe a bit before. She wondered whether it had anything to do with their aborted conversation in the
lazy river. Maybe he was worried about the changes
happening in Dolphin Friendly too, but wasn't ready
to talk about it.

"No problem," he said, looking up from his straw.
"What do you say we find a hotel, grab some food,
and hit the sack? Then we can be up early in the
morning and make it to Seaquarium before lunch."
He glanced at her sideways. "There's almost a hundred bucks in the pickle jar. We could go out for a
nice dinner if you like. Get dressed up, even."

Violet felt a flutter in her chest. It might have been
panic. It might have been the nachos. Or else it was
the thought of dressing up and going out with Smitty.
Like a date.

Then she thought of her new vow. No matter how
lonely she might get, and how cute the blond streaks
in Smitty's hair might be, she wasn't jeopardizing
her closest remaining friendship to try something that
had already failed-spectacularly-once before. She
shook her head and ignored the thump of regret. "I
don't think that's such a good idea, Smitty. Maybe
we should just drive through to Florida tonight."

He grinned crookedly. "Aw, come on, Vi. For old
times' sake? I'd like to take you to dinner." He
paused. "Although, since we both put about the same
amount of money into the jar, I guess I wouldn't really be taking you to dinner, would I? We'd be
taking each other, really."