“Oh, nice. Funny that as much as things change, they stay the same.” Anita sips her wine and studies me over the rim of her glass.
Yep. I haven’t been included in either my dad’s or mom’s respective holiday plans and have no family to go to for Christmas. It doesn’t matter. I’ve spent less and less time with my blood relations over the years as navigating composite family holidays only left a sour taste in my mouth. When the triplets were born, Mom had zero time for me. I was hardly ten when she divorced my dad, remarried, and we moved to Miami. Soon I was only an inconvenience and a reminder of Mom’s first marriage’s bitter ending. The number of weekends I spent in New York—flying up so Dad could have his fair share of custody—earned me enough air miles to fly around the world first class.
Anita’s comment echoes in my mind.Funny how things don’t change that much. Lexi is by her mom’s side, looking nervous. Over the past few weeks, I’ve gotten accustomed to all her little signals again. She’s shifting from one foot to the other and forever trying to find a stray hair to sweep from her temple and tuck behind her ear. She isn’t used to keeping secrets from her mom, and right now she has a bag full of them.
We aren’t telling Anita about our communal job and fake engagement. The fewer people who know about it, the better. And then there’s the Mia Reed mess. To my knowledge, it’s only me, Evan, and her friend Tessa who know why she was releasedby St Chalamet. Anita is under the impression that Lexi left St Chalamet of her own accord for a promotion with Beaumont.
“Things do change, Mom,” Evan says as he points his barbecue tongs at his sister. “Lexi has finally moved on from St Chalamet.”
“Yes! How exciting! A private island in the Indian Ocean sounds totally dreamy.” Anita raises her glass and clinks it with Lexi’s. “I wonder if I’d be able to sneak in a visit.”
“It’s only for three months, Mom. Plus, it’s my probation period,” Lexi croaks. “And surely you don’t want to travel all that way for your spring break?”
“Maybe. Do you think they’ll give you a family discount?”
“Pfft.” Evan chuckles as he directs his attention to the grill. Vegetable skewers and strip loin are sizzling away, and the scent of a summer barbecue hangs heavy in the air. “That place is more than three thousand dollars per person per night, Mom. What level of discount do you have in mind?”
Anita’s eyes go wide. “What? That’s ridiculous. It certainly sounds like a step up from St Chalamet. Maybe I can share your staff room?”
Lexi’s gaze catches mine as a blush colors her cheeks. Yep, we’ve gone through all the mandatory training and that’s one mystery we haven’t solved yet: where exactly will we be staying?
“I don’t want to rock the boat, Mom. Once I’m a permanent employee, I’m sure I’ll be able to figure out how to let family stay on the cheap at Beaumont hotels.”
Time to rescue Lexi before her mom digs deeper and finds treasure. “Anita, come see what I’ve been working on.” I take her by the elbow and nudge her in the direction of the house. If I can keep her busy until lunchtime, we can then get her talking about her fourth-grade class and plans for the summer. That should keep her going until the pinot grigio demands she takes a nap.
Lexi and her mom are sharing the bigger guest room for Anita’s four-night stay. After Miami, Anita is going to visit her sister who still lives in New Orleans, and we’ll be off the hook.
I’ve squeezed a desk into my small room, and my two monitors take over most of the space. We’ve packed all my diving and photographic equipment in the garage, except for my most expensive cameras and lenses, which are in crates stacked against the wall. It’s cramped.
“Heavens, Tristan, a man your size needs more space,” Anita says as I hold the door for her.
“I’m used to it. Here,” I say as I pull out the chair for her.
“If this is anything like your first two episodes, it’s going to be epic!” She sits with a grin, and I shake the mouse to bring the screen back to life.
“I present to you, episode three. I’ve been wrapping this up with the postproduction team over the past few weeks. Episodes three and four are almost done.” I lean over to close the blackout blinds and raise the volume. With the room pitch black, the only light comes from the screen.
Atmospheric sounds of the deep ocean fill the room with the opening credits. Whale songs. They’re eerie until you realize what you’re listening to. The song morphs into dolphin sounds and a lighter whisper of waves rolling out on the sand, and the opening scene… It stills everything in me. I’m in awe that we were able to catch this with both the drone and in the waves. A school of dolphins slice through the water, cresting and jumping, their bodies etched against the sun-filtered electric blue of the water.
“Oh wow,” Anita murmurs. “It’s giving me chills.”
I smile.This.This is what I need to hear. “These two episodes are about dolphins and sharks and their prey. Forepisodes five and six, we’re going smaller. By seven and eight we’re down to the tiniest of sea creatures. We’ll wrap up with plankton,bringing it full circle with the whales from episode one.” There’s movement behind me, and I glance at the door. Lexi is leaning against the jamb, quiet so she doesn’t distract her mom. “I’ll be focusing on filming that for the first quarter of next year.”
“This is still all your own footage?” Anita asks, not looking away from the screen.
“Yep. I’ve been at it for years. Lots of hours, but it’s tricky to get enough footage to make an engaging forty-minute episode.”
She nods as the narrator adds the commentary I’ve pored over late at night. My fantastic sound team brings the patchwork of clips together and makes it whole. This is definitely a case of teamwork making the dream work, as I have no expertise in these other areas.
Lexi inches closer. “I haven’t seen any of this.”
“No?” Anita shoots her a glance. “Tristan showed me his first episodes over Easter. They’re amazing.”
“The footage is breathtaking.” Lexi steps up, and now she’s inches from my back, looking past my shoulder at the screen.
I step aside to make space for her, and she brushes against me. It’s a tight fit in the room, and my arm touches hers all the way from shoulder to wrist, making my skin tingle.
“You set out to do this and then actually did it.” Anita shakes her head as she looks up and gives me a smile that looks just like Lexi’s.
