Chapter Thirty-Two
thirty-two
hope
I shift the plate with the remnants of my lunch to make room for my laptop. Parallel-parked cars line the shady street outside, and there’s a constant flow of people in and out of the café, but I’m one of the few patrons dining in, and opt to stay unless it gets crowded.
In between work and spending time with Adrian, I’ve been prepping for the internship interview and searching for other jobs. Many of the ones I’m interested in require a PhD, but instead of being disheartened, I’m excited at the thought of embarking on the journey I planned to start three years ago. The only question is where, not if.
Adrian’s been wholly supportive, and his positive reaction to me potentially leaving validated my decision to trust him with my heart again. I know we’ll be fine if I go to California, but the question is, what happens after? The interview is tomorrow, though, so I keep my focus on the task at hand. I angle the screen out of the glare, pop in my earbuds, and get to work on sample interview questions.
After about an hour, I get a text from Marissa, and look up to find her in line at the counter. I give a wave and return to my prep work, but my concentration is broken, and it’s all too easy to navigate to the Shark Science Crew page, where I discover Gabe’s uploaded the latest video.
Nerves rise like clockwork at seeing myself on-screen, but I take a sip of icy green tea to settle my stomach. In the thumbnail, Adrian and I are standing side by side onboard the Praespero , green-blue ocean stretching to the horizon behind us, the wind whipping curls across my cheek, which I’m totally ignoring because I’m too busy gazing at him. Good lord, I look smitten. Well, I am, and judging by the way he’s smiling down at me, from the way he’s put his trust in me—Adrian is too.
The moment of eye contact lasts only a moment, though at the time it felt like a lingering look, one that gave me confidence to continue. Adrian faces the camera and smiles, teeth flashing bright against his beard. “So, we have some exciting news. Next week we’ll be diving with a team from a regional nonprofit to retrieve acoustic receivers.”
The Hope in the video pulls a face. “You made that sound level zero exciting.” My grin is at odds with my words, though. Like I said, smitten.
“What’s the alternative?”
On camera, I scrunch my nose in apparent thought. “We’ll be diving beneath the waves to bring you sea-worthy content?”
“I think you meant watch-worthy... Oh.” His face clouds over, but there’s a smirk tugging at the edges of his mouth. Gabe’s got steady hands, so you can’t tell, but he was totally cracking up at this point.
“I feel like we ought to have a challenge where y’all send us your best ocean puns,” I tell viewers. “Anyone up for that?”
Hearing this, Adrian frowns down at me, and watching it, I swoon. He’s so freaking handsome, and his presence is magnetic, even through the screen. No wonder people flocked to follow him. “I didn’t sign off on this.”
On-screen Marissa pops in the frame. “I did. Post them in the comments and we’ll pick some of our favorites to share.”
“Watching our latest video?” I look up and see real-life Marissa has returned from picking up her order at the counter.
I close the laptop, feeling silly. “Watching these is one of my strategies to feel more confident about being on camera.”
“Okay, we’ll pretend you weren’t just watching it because of my cousin.” She pulls a foil-wrapped sandwich out of the bag. “You two are so mushy. I thought you would’ve mellowed out with some time apart, but it’s gotten worse. Being around y’all ruins my appetite.” The last sentence is spoken around a mouthful of bacon and lettuce, and I laugh.
“Clearly.”
She gestures at her mouth, then swallows. “This? This is fuel to endure all the love vibes floating around.” She takes another bite. “The last thing I need is to be caught up in a relationship. I’m happier on my own. But Adrian’s my baby cousin. I’ve known him his whole life, which is how I knew he was happier with you.”
For a moment, I think I misheard her, but her mischievous smirk proves I didn’t. “Is this you admitting you’ve been matchmaking all along?”
“I can neither confirm nor deny, but I will say, y’all did not make my job easy.” Grinning, she wipes her hands on a napkin and reaches for the mouse, waking up her computer, like she didn’t just admit to orchestrating our reunion.
“Maybe I should say thank you, but since you pushed me into the marina—”
“How many times do I need to tell you, tripping you was an accident?” At this point, I truly believe her, but her reactions always make it worth bringing up.
My phone vibrates with a new message, halting our bickering. Figuring it’s Adrian replying to my last text, I shield the screen from Marissa—she may be an unlikely cupid, but that doesn’t mean she’s got a right to be all up in our business now that we’re officially back together—but it’s not from Adrian, it’s from Gabe. My mood plummets as I reread the text.
“Hope?” Marissa questions. “What is it?”
Gabe’s message causes my eyes to flick upward to my laptop screen, frantically scrolling. “Have you checked the comment section lately?”
She wipes a smear of mustard from her lips with a napkin. “No, why? Did someone post another cringey pun?”
My phone is buzzing insistently; Adrian calling. But I need to see this for myself. Hands shaky, I click on our most recent upload. The comment has already racked up several replies.
WaveChaser58: Hope Evans, this you?
Below, the user posted a link, but I know better than to click it. Gabe did though, so I know exactly where it leads—to the Shoreline Dunes official page and the post of me ruining the chance for conservation funding.
There are already thirty replies to the commenter, but I don’t look at those either. Marissa comes over to stand at my shoulder. “Shit.”
My phone rings when I’m on the way to the car, Marissa by my side, and when I see that it’s Zuri, I put her on speaker. “Is Owen seriously this upset over high school grades?” I ask.
“I saw your text, and that’s why I’m calling,” she says. “His brother stopped in the shop this morning, and you know how people love to talk when they’re at the checkout.” She acts like chitchat is a hardship, when I know it’s her favorite part of working the register. “He was saying Owen’s wife just had a baby and they’ve been at the hospital for the past few days while she recovers.”
“He’s married?”
“News to me, but I can’t see someone being up to no good in the delivery room, or having the energy for it, for that matter.”
“You would know.”
Marissa gives me an inquisitive look and I hold up three fingers. “Three kids?” she asks, eyes wide.
“Who’s that?” Zuri asks.
“Sorry, it’s Marissa,” I say. “You’re on speaker.”
“As in your cousin-in-law?”
“Don’t even start, Zuri.”
Her husky laugh comes from the phone, and Marissa joins in. “Anyway, Owen did have a part in it, in a roundabout way, by posting the video originally,” Zuri says. “But I felt like you should know he doesn’t seem to like, have a vendetta against you.” Kids are laughing and yelling in the background, and I’m guessing she’s at the park. “Not sure if it being random helps any though. Regardless, this sucks. How are you doing with it?”
“Honestly?” I lean against my car, then regret it when my skin touches the hot metal. “I’m kind of relieved. The fear that people would see that video has been hanging over my head all summer.” I never wanted to talk about it, because I figured it made me weak. “But now that they have, nothing happened. A few comments, sure. But those people don’t know me, and they don’t have a bearing on my real life.” The damage to the freshwater conservation effort is already done, and no amount of people watching can make that worse. I’ve come to terms with the loss, and so have all my old colleagues, who are working on other projects, pushing forward. Just like I am. “I have an interview coming up for what would be an amazing internship, I have Adrian.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Marissa start to make a gagging face, but I shake my head. “Don’t even start. Not when I know you wanted us back together all along.”
“Wait, what?” Zuri’s voice is full of eagerness. “You didn’t tell me this.”
“Another time.” She’s going to be stewing, waiting to hear the tea, but right now I need to deal with the video situation. “Adrian’s calling, so I’m going to let you go.”
With a quick promise to call later, I switch to the other line. I’m doing all right, but someone used Adrian’s channel to try to hurt me. I have a hunch he’s not okay with that.