Still smiling over his words about her, she crossed the main island road.A little farther up, she saw Dan about to step off the island bus, carefully lowering himself to the curb, one hand gripping the rail while the other hugged a large paper sack.When he saw her, his face lit up with an instant smile, and her stomach dipped and flipped.
Grinning like a foolish teenager, she asked, “Hey, Cranky, where’ve you been?”
“Shopping.”He held the bag closer to his chest.“I bought a new phone, and I had to get more clothes, seeing as I gave most of mine away.Hi, Karim.Did you have fun at the beach?”
Karim was busy sucking on his milkshake.
“Yes, we did,” Libby said, and handed Dan her shake.“Want some?”
“Aw, yeah.”He took a long drag.“Thanks.”
“Up high!”Karim kicked his feet and stretched his arms out to Dan.
“You’ve created a monster,” Libby side-whispered, then told Karim to stay in the stroller.“Dan’s hot and tired, honey.”
“I don’t mind.”
“Are you sure?”
“He’s a good weight workout.”Dan swapped the paper sack for Karim, whose face beamed as he was lifted onto Dan’s shoulders.
But Libby caught the crinkles of discomfort around Dan’s eyes, his face already shiny with sweat and humidity.
“He’s too heavy for you,” she said.
Dan merely shot her a look that said,How dare you imply such a thing?
She sucked on her milkshake.“The Olympian has returned, I see.”
“Not physically, but mentally?I’m… I’m feeling a little like my old self.”
“That’s great to hear.”Libby grinned at him.“And now you have a new phone, so you’ll be connected to the rest of the world.How are you feeling about everything?”
“Excited.Nervous.A bit scared.You?”
“Same.But just like you figured, the break at the beach has given me some perspective.”
“Same,” he said, grinning back at her.“Buying a shirt for dinner grounded me.I think we need to play it cool and survey the aftermath of the bomb we’ve just dropped—good and bad—before reacting.”
Libby couldn’t agree more.They had to plan their next move carefully.Trolls would be rife, and conspiracy theories didn’t die overnight, but she hoped their first post had set the tone of their campaign.Dan Jones was very much alive, and soon, everyone would be able to hear his story—the truth—firsthand, straight from his mouth.
When they got to the hut, Dan set Karim down.As he straightened, his gaze—like hers—went straight to her laptop on the kitchen counter.
Libby glanced back at him.“You ready?”
“Let’s do it.”
They both logged on to their social media—Libby on her phone, and Dan on her laptop.
Dan drummed his fingers on the counter.
Libby held her breath.
“Oh, my…” The number of likes, shares, and comments was well into five figures, and ticking up fast.
“You did it, Libby!”Dan squeezed her hand.
“No.”She squeezed back.“We did it!”They hugged, laughing and whooping.“Daniel Jones is back!”
