“Margaret,” she says as she wraps her arms around me. “I’m going to try not to fangirl, but I’ve studied all your work. You’re a genius.”
“Clint.” A younger man shakes my hand.
“He’s our pollywog,” Jamie quips.
Clint gives him a closed-lip smile. “You mean boat captain.”
Sid introduces me to everyone on her team. Little by little, I learn I’m something of a legend on the island. I manage to smile and laugh, but every compliment slides off as if it’s meant for someone else. It doesn’t fit right, like I’m wearing the wrong clothes.
“Finn told us he’d worked with you before,” Sid says. “Professionally.” She scans the beach. “He’s around here somewhere.” She points. “There.”
I follow her gesture to a blue Prius parked near the dunes.
A tall black man steps away from it, dressed in a white linen button-down and trousers that look pressed. Wireframe glasses. He’s polished, but not the kind that belongs on a beach. And he walks like he’s late for an academic conference. He’s carrying two six-packs that he drops into the cooler. He takes out one can, walks straight to me and extends his hand.
“Dr. Nathan Carter.” His smile is broad. Genuine. “It’s fantastic to see you. The world’s a better place with you in it.”
We shake.
“I’d offer you a beer, but you don’t drink.” He cracks the can open and takes a swig.
“All right,” Sid says, clapping her hands. “Time to break out into teams. I’m with Liam.”
CHAPTER 14
The Widow
I wake to the shrill bells of the four a.m. alarm after a restless night.
Reaching for my phone, I turn it on. The photo fills the screen, and there’s Nathan. Standing by my car window, waving goodbye.
I’m so exhausted I can’t feel my body, and I don’t care. This is a good kind of tired to be. I feel lighter today. Less burdened. Ready to get to work and make a difference. I feel like myself again.
I glance at the made side of the bed. Is it wrong to want him here? I picture him asleep in the cottage right now, alone in that bed. Our bed.
A darker thought follows. What if he wants different things as he moves forward? What if he doesn’t exactly find his way back to me when he finds himself?
No stinking thinking, Crystal. Get up.
Usually, I drop Natalie off at the school’s daycare around seven and go straight to City Hall. Today, I move through the house on careful feet, leaving her with my next-door neighbor before sunrise to meet my team at the marina at five.
As the city’s lead marine biologist, I’m overseeing the operation to start temporary mitigation efforts at the reef. It’s the first day, and I expect it to be long, but if we turn things around, even a little, it will be worth the hard work. After today’s setup, I’ll split my time between the conservation dives and office days and try to find a balance with what I’ve got going on at home.
We have all the support we need with NOAA’s CERF money and a few wealthy locals who are bridging the gap until those funds are released.
This is the first time we’re using these quick-hit methods for coral preservation. Anything is better than nothing, but these techniques are limited in scale and impact. We’re only talking about a reduction of one to three degrees Fahrenheit. But it matters. One thing that we have going for us is that we’re in the late fall, heading into winter. The dropping ambient temperature helps. This would have been ten times worse had it been summer.
The reality is we may fail. If the conditions can’t be reversed and continue to deteriorate, we’ll need to consider what to do next. We’re discussing the salvage extraction of unique genetic lines if it becomes necessary. We’ve already identified the coral we’llsave.
The thought of those choices and of our beautiful coral reef seascapes being reduced to lab specimens sickens me.
God, please don’t let it come to that.
After our morning prep and briefing, the six of us meet Fred and a couple of NOAA officials at theReefing Aroundand begin loading. Shade canopies. Submersible cooling fans, LED lights, and ancillary equipment are packed onto the deck. Somehow, we all fit.
Fred casts off, and we head to Coral Fang.
The dive meeting is in full swing when I walk into the inn’s dining room.
