Chapter 38 #2
Belle shook her head. She only seemed to have bad news.
“There isn’t going to be a next group. Yours is the last one today.
The weather report is unfavorable, and they are cancelling the rest of the sessions today.
” She sighed. “Please don’t blame me, this comes from the management, they have to take special care with the dolphins. ”
Leanne cursed under her breath, and Daniel’s eyes went wide. He hadn’t known she even knew that word. Belle pretended she hadn’t heard it.
“Daniel, you go. You swim. One of us ought to enjoy it,” Leanne said, forcing her voice into something close to her usual calm tone. But he couldn’t. She was injured, he had to go with her to first aid.
“Leanne…”
She grabbed his hand, squeezed it hard. “I mean it! This sucks, but I don’t need any moral support to have a cut cleaned and taped up. Please. Go and swim, and you can tell me all about it afterwards, so at least I’ll be able to enjoy it vicariously.”
She wasn’t going to change her mind—and he doubted he could change it, either. So he kissed her forehead, apologized to her, and went off to the changing room.
Nora , ten minutes later
The previous swimmers were out of the water, and now it was her turn. In just a minute or two, she’d be nose to nose with a dolphin.
The trainer, a tall, redheaded man who looked like he was barely out of high school, beckoned her group over.
“Right, I’m Mitch, I’ll be with you in the lagoon.” The Australian accent didn’t surprise her; after five days aboard a ship with crew from thirty different countries, she was used to it. “I hope you’re ready for the experience of a lifetime, but first, some very simple rules…”
He didn’t finish; Belle’s voice rang out from behind her. “I’ve got two more for you, Mitch! And then you’re done for the day.”
Nora turned to see the two new arrivals: a young woman in a red one-piece swimsuit, and…
Oh, God.
Daniel.
They had a plan! She left a note, exactly like he’d said! What was he doing here? He wasn’t supposed to be here! He was going to ruin everything!
And yet, in the midst of her panic, another thought rose up. It was clear and it was bright and it was the most true thing she’d ever known:
She was glad he was here.
Overjoyed.
If this was going to be the experience of a lifetime, she wanted to share it with the love of her life.
And that man wasn’t Greg.
She couldn’t pretend anymore. She couldn’t keep lying to herself.
It was—it had always been—it would always be Daniel.
Daniel , the same time
He said a quick prayer that Nora had already finished her swim, that she was already drying off in the changing room, anywhere but here.
No such luck.
There she was, standing by the water in a blue two piece bathing suit, staring right at him. Her face was full of fear and confusion—and then it changed.
That smile appeared suddenly—the one that was only for him. Her eyes lit up, wide and bright and shining. And he was smiling back at her before he even realized he was doing it.
Whatever had been on his face an instant ago—worry, guilt, fear—it was gone. There was no way to deny it anymore.
He loved her. Only her. Only ever her.
He wanted to share this experience with her. Only her.
Leanne was an amazing woman. She was sweet and generous and smart and funny and a thousand other great things. She’d been nothing but kind and loving to him. But she had one overriding flaw none of that could overcome: she wasn’t Nora.
For nine months, he’d convinced himself that didn’t matter. That he could learn to love her. That she could be the one for him. That they could build a life together.
He’d kept trying to believe it even after he saw Nora in the atrium on Thursday night.
But it wasn’t true, and he had to admit that it never had been.
All he could do now was surrender to the truth. Swim with Nora. Share this moment with her.
And then tell Leanne the truth. That he couldn’t give her his heart. It wasn’t his to give. It had belonged to Nora from the very first moment they’d met.
Nora , five minutes later
The moment she jumped into the lagoon, hand-in-hand with Daniel, all her worries and fears vanished.
The cold water shocked her; she’d expected it to be warm as bathwater. But even that surprise faded an instant later when the dolphin swam up to her.
“Benny likes you!” Mitch the trainer called out. “You can touch him, don’t be afraid!”
She was anyway, despite his encouragement. What if he didn’t want her to?
But she felt Daniel grabbing her hand, gently placing it on the back of Benny’s head. The dolphin’s skin felt strange, slick and almost rubbery; her hand sliding as the dolphin bobbed in front of her. That made sense, though. Smooth skin meant less friction in the water, right?
Forget science. This was about being in the moment.
She put her other hand on Benny, and then before she even realized it, she was loosely hugging him, and he was letting her. At the same time, she felt Daniel’s arm wrap around her.
“You totally made a friend, Nora,” he said softly.
Benny was beautiful. He—Mitch had said it, but how did you even tell with dolphins?—was light gray, which surprised her a little. Weren’t dolphins supposed to be black?
It didn’t matter. Benny was perfect exactly as he was.
Just like Daniel.
Daniel , a few minutes later
Daniel didn’t notice the second dolphin until it swam right up and nudged him in the ribs.
“Say ‘hi’ to Annie,” the trainer called out. He assumed that meant this one was female, not that he could see any difference between Annie and Benny.
It didn’t matter anyway. It was more than enough that she wanted his attention. Her skin was sleek and cool, and he could feel her powerful muscles underneath.
“The boy came to me and the girl went to you,” Nora said, splashing water at him. “What do you think that means?”
“I guess Annie has the same good taste you do,” he said, grinning.
That earned him another splash, right in his face. He laughed as he wiped the water from his eyes. He definitely deserved that.
“What about Benny having good taste, too?”
Benny hadn’t left Nora’s side the whole time. Daniel didn’t blame him one bit.
“That goes without saying.”
But not everything could go unsaid. Not anymore.
He paddled slowly beside her, Benny and Annie bobbing between them.
“Nora,” he said, barely above a whisper. “What do we do when this is over?”
Nora , a few seconds later
Why did he have to ruin this moment?
Because he knew, just as well as she did. This was their only chance to talk about what had to happen. And he was right.
“I hate it, but…” That was all she could get out.
He met her eyes. “I do, too, Nora. It’s horrible. I don’t even want to think how much it’s going to hurt Leanne.”
It would break Greg’s heart, too. Wouldn’t it?
He loved her. He’d never said the words. She suspected he was waiting for her to say them first. How could he have known she never would? She hadn’t known it herself, not until she saw Daniel across the atrium a few nights ago.
“It’s going to be just as bad with Greg.”
What would he do? Would he scream, or cry or just take it in quietly and walk away to collect himself?
He’d shown a flash of jealousy in Charleston, when she’d crossed paths with Daniel at the market. Just a flash, but that was more than she’d ever seen from him. Then again, she’d never given him any cause to feel jealous—until this cruise.
Which only showed how much she didn’t know about him. And how much of herself she’d kept hidden from him.
Somewhere deep down, she must have always known: Greg wasn’t the man she could trust with her whole heart. There’d only ever been one man, and she’d handed him her heart—all of it—in a dorm room nine years ago.
“We have to tell them,” Daniel said quietly, “no matter how hard it is.”
Annie was nuzzling up against him again. Of course she was. Even the dolphins knew they belonged together.
“When? There are still four more days after today.”
And four more nights.
If she told Greg this afternoon, he wouldn’t want to spend another minute with her. She wouldn’t, in his place. It wasn’t like they could switch cabins, or hop off the ship and drive home separately.
Daniel nodded; he must have thought the same thing. “It would be—I don’t even know a word for how awful it would be, making Leanne stay in the cabin with me for four more days after I tell her it’s over.”
She chuckled, not that there was anything funny about any of this. “If this was a movie, you’d switch cabins with Greg, and the Captain would perform a double wedding on the last night of the cruise.”
He smiled, but there was no humor in it. “Yeah. I could see that. But—there’s not going to be any wedding at all.”
No, there couldn’t be. She loved Daniel with all her heart. But they couldn’t jump into a relationship after this. How could they?
“Nothing good could come of it,” she said. “It would be poisoned from the start.”
She ran her hand along Benny’s back, in hopes he’d somehow pass on some dolphin wisdom. “But that still leaves the question—when do we tell them? If we don’t tell them today, then, what? We keep lying to them for four more days?”
He was quiet for a long time. Then he paddled the last couple of feet over to her, and wrapped his arms around her. She melted into him; nothing bad could happen with him holding her.
“Maybe—if we can do it—we make it like that last night before the semester ended.” The night they’d broken up.
“You said you wanted one last memory. Maybe we can give them that. Four days instead of a couple of hours.” He squeezed her tight, and she could feel everything —his love for her, but also his anxiety, his fears.
And his sadness. “We owe them that much.”
She squeezed him back, and then she kissed him. She meant it to be just a momentary brush of her lips against his, but that was impossible for both of them.
When she finally pulled away, she whispered, “We can do it. You’re right, we owe them.”
She rested her head against his chest. She felt the necklace against her cheek, and she heard his heartbeat, strong and steady. He made anything seem possible. “Four days, and then we tell them, and then…”
“And then we go our separate ways,” he said. “And maybe—if we can ever forgive ourselves, we can keep our promise.”
Maybe three and a half more years would be long enough.