Page 140 of Sharkbait
This was my mistake, and I am deeply apologetic. If people gave up on me every time I made a dubious personal choice, I would have no career. And I think we both know, I’ve made plenty of dubious choices in my personal life.
I recently learned about the work you’ve done with the sea lion training team at Philly Aquarium and how it’s led not only to increased funds for combatting ocean pollution—a cause I am deeply committed to—but to a promising partnership between the aquarium and the CMM prosthetics team in Monterey.
I find it inspiring and heartening seeing a young mind like yourself combining your passion for art and science to make a better world for marine life and for people too.
I hope you will accept my sincerest apologies for my misstep. Should you like to return to the marine biology program at UPenn, your scholarship will be reinstated in full, effective immediately. Furthermore, should westill have your interest, the “Keys to the Coral Kingdom” internship you applied for in Florida this spring is yours.
It would be our pleasure to welcome you aboard.
With Respect,
Corbin Bellows
Iris is suddenly back beside me.
“Rissy, don’t you want to watch from the front?”
“No. I want to watch with you.” She points at the top of the tank. “Look! It’s Daddy!”
Right on cue, James lowers in the center of the tank in a cloud of bubbles, waving to the excited crowd of kids and parents. He’s decked out in full Scuba Santa gear. He even has a sack of “presents” on his back.
He spots us right away and makes what I think is the “hang loose” sign he gave me all those months ago outside Mabel’s apartment. But when I look closer at his gloved hand, I realize his index finger is extended as well.
It’s the sign for “I love you.”
I know it’s for Iris and not for me, but when I look down, I see that my hand involuntarily formed the same shape, like my body knows my heart better than I do.
I lift the shape and move it side to side, silently saying two things at the same time.
“I love you” and “goodbye.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
James
It’s a dark December morning with just a sliver of the sun starting to rise.
Louise was all smiles and hugs while saying goodbye to Iris, but since we got in the car, the vibe between us has been tense and eerily quiet.
We head farther away from the airport and follow the signs toward Valley Forge.
“That was hard,” she says softly.
“You’ll see her again,” I say and place a hand on her thigh.
“Will I?” she asks.
“Won’t you?”
“Are you really asking me that question?” she fires back.
“I am, yeah.”
The only response this gets is her sighing and looking out the passenger window.
“Lou,” I start. “At some point, we do need to talk about this. We’ve been pretending this countdown isn’t happening for months now, but pretending doesn’t change the fact that I’m moving to Hawaii in ten days, and we still don’t have a plan.”
“What kind of plan can we possibly have, James? You leaving was the deal from the very beginning. That is the plan. That is the only plan.”
