The Best of Me

by Tina Wainscott

  Above the sound of the waves lapping against the shore, she heard Liberty come to the surface, a distant gust of mist that made her smile. Behind her, she heard Chris’s steady breathing, felt his heartbeat and the length of his body against hers.

  “Do you think I’ve changed from the woman who arrived here three weeks ago?” she asked.

  “I think I’ve found a different part of that woman.”

  She turned slightly. “Are you saying I’m schizophrenic?”

  He chuckled. “No. There are just different layers to you. When you left here, you went back to the business layer, didn’t you? You became the woman who runs a successful company, who people listen to, who is happy with her life and her apartment and car. When you returned, you became the woman I know.”

  “And who is she?”

  “Didn’t I ask you that once?”

  “Yes, and I answered you.” She turned to him. The moonlight cast his features in the bas-relief of a statue. “But who is the Lucy here? To you?”

  His fingers trailed across her jawline and over the curves of her face. “Beautiful, compassionate, sexy and perhaps a little more vulnerable than she’d like to be.”

  “You think I’m vulnerable?” She’d never considered herself that.

  “My guess is you’ve discovered a woman inside you, and you don’t know what to do with her. Or what it means to be her.”

  “You’re good. I am a different woman here, and I didn’t know she existed until I came here the first time. But you’re wrong about one thing. I didn’t put her aside when I went home. Yes, she was lost in my other world, because she wanted to feel ocean breezes and watch you work with Liberty, and to be with you.” Her eyes widened, because now she knew why she’d felt the desperate urge to return. “And when she started going away, it scared me. I didn’t want to lose her.”

  “So you came back to find her?”

  She nodded, feeling a tightness swirling inside her. “And when I go home for good, what will happen to her?”

  He took her hand and pressed it to his heart. “She’ll be right here.”

  She closed her eyes at his words, feeling the ache fill her heart, feeling love fill it, too. A rush of warmth and dizziness washed through her. He did care about her, did feel something for her even if he didn’t want her in his life permanently. She would keep those words inside her forever, to keep her warm on cold Minnesota nights and through long, hectic days. But she had a feeling those words wouldn’t bring her peace. They would torment her and make her question everything she held dear.

  CHRIS AND LUCY worked with Liberty that next morning, and he took some pictures of her and the dolphin, to document his progress. She hoped it was to remember her by, but she dared not ask.

  A while later a cheery voice called to them from the shore. Ima waved at them, her flowered-print dress flapping in the breeze. They had met the reporter for the Bahama Journal last night at Barney’s, and Lucy had gotten her interested in interviewing Chris for her magazine.

  The rest of the morning they spent with Ima as she took photos of them with Liberty. Then she interviewed Chris about his organization and his work, and surprisingly, even asked Lucy a few questions.

  “This should run in tomorrow’s paper if I can get it written in time. Thanks for your time, both of you.” She smiled. “You two look like you’re into what you’re doing. You love your work and it shows.”

  “Oh, I’m not—” Lucy faltered. “Thanks.” She turned to Chris, who smiled in encouragement. “We do love what we’re doing.”

  LATER THAT AFTERNOON they went into town for lunch and then picked up some steaks for dinner. Lucy wandered the aisles of the tiny grocery store, delighting in the brands and foodstuffs unique to the islands.

  “How about some Ting?” she asked Chris, holding up a green soda bottle.

  “Sure, grab a few.”

  She wandered to the back of one of the aisles and turned the corner to find herself face-to-face with Crandall. He wore his usual expensive clothing and the debonair exterior she now knew to be phony.

  He gave her a smile that reminded her of the shark whose tank she’d knocked him into.

  “I see you prefer to shack up with the more primitive sort, Ms. Donovan. No wonder you didn’t know what to do when a man proposed civilized sex.”

  Her eyes narrowed, but she kept her voice calm. “The only creature less primitive than you is the jellyfish, but perhaps I’m being unfair. After all, I’ve never even met a jellyfish.”

  He smiled, as though she were an amusing child. “You will regret not doing business with me, Ms. Donovan.”

  “I don’t swim with sharks. Although I hear you do.” She saw Chris peering around the end of the aisle looking for her. “And not very well, either.” She turned to meet him as he made his way toward her. She shook her head slightly, not wanting to cause a fuss or spoil their perfect day.

  “Was he bothering you?” Chris asked at the checkout counter.

  “Just being his usual gracious self.”

  CHRIS LET LUCY drive the moped to the park, though his wandering hands made for distracted driving. He tucked them beneath her T-shirt and traced tantalizing lines around the curves of her breasts.

  “We’re going to crash if you keep doing that,” she said, though the threatening tone was sabotaged when her voice crept up in pitch as he cupped her breasts.

  “But what a way to go.”

  The park was fairly deserted. Bill was dusting the Bahamian paraphernalia on the cart behind him. Bailey was pushing a large broom across the white pavement. When he saw them, he leaned it against the fence that kept people away from the empty dolphin pool and sauntered over.

  “Hello, Miss Lucy, mister dolphin fish man.”

  Chris winced at the term, but managed a smile anyway.

  “His name is Chris,” she corrected.

  “And a dolphin is not a fish,” Chris said. “It’s a dolphin, period.”

  Bailey smiled. “I know, I know. Miss Lucy, my friend is here right now, the one I told you about. He is walking around the park with big visions in his eyes.” Bailey’s eyes widened to demonstrate.

  She saw a short, dark-skinned man wearing a colorful frock that hung over black cotton pants. He walked out of the aquarium building, and Bailey waved him over.

  David Gevauden’s smile was genuine as he extended his hand to Lucy. “It is nice to meet you, Lucy. I didn’t know you were returning so soon.”

  She glanced at Chris. “Me, either, actually.”

  “And this is your husband?” David asked, shaking Chris’s hand.

  “A friend.”

  “He the guy who take the dolphin I was telling you about,” Bailey explained.

  David nodded. “Oh, yes, the dolphin fish man.”

  Chris rolled his eyes, but gave up on correcting him.

  David looked around. “This is a nice park, but the property is more valuable for use as accommodations. Have you made any decisions on selling it to me as we discussed?”

  “My financial advisor is looking over the details now, though at first glance he seemed to think it could work. As long as Bill and Bailey have guarantee of jobs.”

  “I am pleased to hear that. Yes, of course they will. I would be most interested in acquiring the marine specimens as well. I thought using the ocean life motif would be nice, having aquariums scattered throughout the grounds and in the restaurant. I’m sure we could work something out financially.”

  “I’ll have to think about that.”

  Chris crossed his arms. “You weren’t thinking of having dolphins as part of that motif, were you?”

  “No, mon, just the smaller ones.” He gestured at the park in general. “What else would you do with all of them if not sell them to me?”

  She looked out at the ocean. “Free them?”

  David made a deep laughing sound. “When you can make money from them? Why would you do such a thing?”

  “Maybe they deserve to b
e free.”

  David’s smile was half-teasing. “Maybe you should discuss this with your financial advisor.”

  “That’s a decision I can make without him. I’ll think about it. I’m sure we can work something out.”

  He shook her and Chris’s hand again. “I hope so.”

  “It was nice meeting you. I’ll be in touch with you soon.” She turned to Bailey. “How’s it going?”

  He shrugged. “Earlier we had a few groups through, but when the cruise ship left, it got quiet. Everybody want to see the dolphin.”

  Chris shrugged. “Tell them to watch the educational channel.”

  Bailey smiled. “Miss Lucy, dat man of yours has a smart mouth. But he ain’t a bad guy.”

  Chris slid his fingers through hers and leaned close to nuzzle her neck. “Gee, honey, we got his approval.”

  She shivered at his words.

  Bailey waved them away. “Ah, go on, mon. You look like you have better t’ings to do den harass me.”

  THE ARTICLE on Chris came out the following day. As promised, Ima did not reveal where Chris and Lucy were staying, and the pictures could have been of any beach on the island.

  Lucy was reading the article aloud from the beach as Chris set fish free for Liberty. “‘A creature as intelligent as the dolphin should indeed be left to live its life in the wild. Dolphins have a strong ally in Maddox.’ Not bad, eh?”

  “One down, millions to go.”

  “Ah, I’ve been wondering where the cynic’s been hiding,” she said, a teasing smile on her face.

  He lifted his sunglasses. “I guess I’ve been too busy enjoying a little of the good to think much of the bad.”

  She hugged herself at the genuineness of his words, and of the eyes that told her how much he needed that goodness for a while. And while she was with him, she felt worthy of that opinion. Back at home, well, that was another story.

  Her mother wouldn’t be so pleased if she knew what Lucy was up to here. She would call it a phase. Maybe it was. Maybe coming back was a way of finishing what she felt had only started, a way of living out a fantasy, perhaps. At some point her sensibility would kick in, and she’d embrace her life as always. Well, at least tolerate it as always.

  Why did Chris’s assurance that her feelings were a phase bother her so much? He was so damned sure. Couldn’t he let himself for one moment wonder if she might be persuaded to stay with him?

  Her insides felt pulled in a hundred directions. Coming back had complicated things. Being here made her question her life as she’d never done before, made her want things she’d never wanted before.

  That morning she’d found her business card lying on the corner of one of Chris’s crates. She’d picked it up, fingering the worn corners. He’d been touching it, thinking about her.

  All or nothing. His words floated through her mind. He wanted it all, but he’d asked for nothing.

  CRANDALL HELD the Bahama Journal in his hand, a picture of the tease and the arrogant dolphin man on the front page. She thought she was hot stuff.

  He had the phone tucked between his ear and shoulder. The ringing abruptly stopped, and someone answered, “’lo?”

  “Mike? This is Crandall.”

  “Hey, what’s up? Did you ever sweet-talk that chick into selling the park to you? I’ll bet you had her right in the palm of your hand. Once you start the high-rise, she can’t say a thing about that quaint little hotel you said you were building.”

  “Actually, she’s the reason I’m calling you. Didn’t you have a friend who caught dolphins and sold them to marine parks?”

  “Yeah, Dover Pike, out of Miami. Why?”

  “Let’s just say I owe my little girlfriend a favor. Take a look at the Bahama Journal today. Her friend is that guy who goes around freeing dolphins, and they’re about to release another one, the one that used to be at the park. There will even be other dolphins in the area. If, say, Dover were around when the dolphin was released, he could catch it and sell it at a premium. After all, it’s already been trained to do tricks.”

  “Ah, I see. And what do you want from the deal?”

  He narrowed his eyes at the picture of Lucy touching the dolphin, a warm smile on her face. “The satisfaction of teaching her a lesson. Let me know what your friend says.”

  “I’ll call him right now.”

  A few minutes later, Mike called back. “Dover already had a trip planned for this area. He’s going to move it up a week and head on down. When do you think they’ll release the dolphin?”

  “In a few days, according to the article. All Dover has to do is anchor offshore and wait. It’s as easy as that, and there’s nothing either Lucy or the Maddox guy can do. According to the article, it is, after all, the chance they take in releasing them. We’re going to up the odds, that’s all.”

  He hung up the phone, a slow smile spreading across his face. Nobody messed with Crandall Morton without paying the price.

  EVERY MORNING was beautiful and filled with sunshine, and reminded Lucy that the time to leave was coming soon. Ima had stopped by a few days later with some letters in response to her article, and even a couple of checks.

  Chris was spending less time with Liberty now, hovering close enough to monitor his eating but not touching him. Chris didn’t have to cut the fishes’ tails anymore. In fact, Liberty was catching his own fish when schools swam through the nets. Last night she and Chris had cuddled in the hammock and listened to Liberty splash through the water as he chased them. She heard Chris’s satisfied sigh, joined by her own. This was his project, but she felt a part of it, a proud parent of sorts.

  “He’s almost ready, isn’t he?” she’d asked. Liberty had stopped eating dead fish altogether, another good sign.

  “Almost. He’s anxious to get going.”

  “Is this how long it usually takes?”

  “No, sometimes it takes months, even longer than a year. It depends on how they’ve been trained and how they were treated. Liberty’s responded fantastically.”

  She watched from her usual perch as Chris released five fish at once, giving Liberty practice at selecting his prey from the school. She glanced out at the ocean and saw the sight she’d been waiting for. Getting to her feet, she got Chris’s attention and pointed at a pod of dolphins passing outside the reef. Their dorsal fins gracefully broke the surface with a small gust of exhale from their blowholes, then disappeared into the water again. She watched as one of them made its way to Liberty’s pen. Sappy romantic that she’d become, she wanted to think it was a female who had fallen in love with Liberty.

  Liberty knew she was coming long before he could probably see her, because he swam to the edge of the net nearest her approach. Chris watched from the beach, making a shelf of his hand against the glare of the sun. He was smiling as he made his way to the boardwalk. When he reached where Lucy was, he looked for the rest of the pod, playing several hundred yards away.

  “There’s a boat out there,” Lucy said, spotting the anchored vessel far out in the ocean.

  Chris narrowed his eyes. “It almost looks like…nah, can’t be. There’s probably about twenty dolphin in that pod.” He turned back to the two dolphins near them. “The next time they come by, I’m going to let him go.”

  In those words she could hear anticipation, worry, but total resoluteness.

  She inhaled softly. “Really?”

  “Yep. I think he’ll be ready then. We’ll take the boat and follow them for a while.”

  She found herself smiling at the word we. They were a team, sort of. He had included her in his special task. To hear him say it made all the difference. She watched as the lone dolphin made her way back to the pod.

  “It’s hard to believe Liberty will be out there swimming with other dolphins, never having to do what a human wants again.”

  Chris had a look of satisfaction on his features as he looked at the pod, too. “It’s what they all deserve.”

  She could see determination, lov
e and a sense of purpose emanating from him. He was born to this. Nothing else in life would be as important to him.

  Maybe if she was a different person, she could make him love her as much as his work. If only she was this Lucy, and not the one who thrived on success and confirmation.

  THE WAY THE SCHEDULE was shaping up, Liberty would be released Saturday, and Lucy would fly home Sunday. Chris was happy about the first and wasn’t letting himself think about the second. He should have been pounding it into his head day and night, instead he pulled her closer and relished her warmth even in the hot, muggy night. He wasn’t the type to lie awake through the night and think about things, but he was doing exactly that.

  He could feel the bracelet between his and Lucy’s skin, though not even that reminder had kept his heart from absorbing her. Forget that, he told himself, even as his arms involuntarily squeezed her tighter. Her breathing was light and steady, held in dreams rather than tormenting thoughts. She did not belong in his world, even if she said things that indicated she wanted to think she did. So had that college student—whatever her name was—and then she’d gotten bored and gone off to better things. He’d missed the student, but Lucy would rip his heart out when she left him for things he couldn’t give her.

  He couldn’t tell her that, because saying it aloud would make it that much more real and painful. He had to send her home and know she was never coming back.

  “Lucy, Lucy, Lucy,” he whispered. “What have you done to me?”

  SATURDAY DAWNED as bright and beautiful as the rest of the mornings, yet Lucy felt as cloudy inside as a wintry St. Paul day. It was almost over. Today Liberty would go free, and tomorrow so would she.

  Chris was already out with Liberty, making sure he left with a full stomach that he had filled himself. As she stood in the doorway watching him, a veil of frustration dropped over her. Why fall in love with him? Why not that accountant she’d gone out with? No, she had to go and fall for a man who chased dolphin dreams.

  She’d lain awake for hours in the night, imagining packing up her office and bidding everyone a farewell as she left for the Keys. Her mother called the men in the white coats and they’d captured her before she’d even gotten out of the building.