“That must have been so traumatic. For everyone.”
“My parents were beside themselves. It’s hard to imagine that level of grief. They were sort of lost to me, for a long time.” Tariq threw the device overboard and brought up several bottles full of water. “Frankly, witnessing that made merethink having children and running the risk of that kind of pain.”
Loving anyone means taking a risk, no matter what, Harper thought.
“Anyway, after Wyatt died, everything changed. For a while, my parents found it hard even to look at me.”
“How awful. They didn’t blame you, did they?”
“Not in so many words. They never said anything about it. But I felt like it was my fault, and thattheythought it was my fault. At the very least, I felt like I was a daily reminder that their real son had died, and they were stuck with me.”
Harper lost her breath for a moment. “I can’t believe that.”
“I couldn’t help but think that it would have been better for everyone if I had been the one who died,” Tariq said with a shrug. “Anyway, my grades took a nosedive, and I started getting into trouble. Eventually I was sent to counseling, which was a blessing for all concerned. I had a really good therapist, who helped a lot. Still, I miss Wyatt. A lot. It’s been almost thirty years, and I still think of him every damned day.”
“I understand. I have a sister, you know.”
He glanced at her. “No, I didn’t know. You’ve never mentioned her.”
“As kids, Scout and I were pretty close, too, like you and Wyatt. She’s just two years younger than me, and when we were growing up, we did everything together, and I mean everything. Our mother used to say we were two peas in a pod.”
“What happened?”
“I went away to college, so we didn’t see each other as much. Then she went to a different college, and we saw each other even less. I spent all my time in the library, and Scout spent most of her time partying. Flunked out of school, got alow-wage job, and followed in our dad’s footsteps until she was a full-blown alcoholic.”
“Are you in touch at all?”
“For a while we were. Mostly I heard from her when she was in trouble or needed money. I talked to her about getting help, but as you probably know, until someone is ready to admit they have a problem and are willing to address it, nothing will change. Scout was in and out of rehab for years but couldn’t stay sober. The last straw was when she showed up to our mother’s funeral roaring drunk. Our mother, who had stood by Scout through the bad times and the worse times, had supported her for years, had always,alwayscome through for her. And when Mom died, Scout was too drunk to care.”
Tariq winced in sympathy. “I’m sorry.”
“I went to Al-Anon, learned how to draw boundaries. That really pissed Scout off, and she stopped speaking to me altogether.” Harper’s voice got tight, and tears stung the back of her eyes. She cleared her throat. “Just as well, I suppose. That’s probably one reason my heart went out to Asher. Those sibling bonds are so strong and can be so painful. I don’t think people always recognize the importance of siblings, and the pain of losing that relationship.”
“I suppose you’re right. Hey—cuteness alert!”
A dark, sleek creature was bobbing in the waves, big black eyes shining and huge nose twitching: a sea otter. It flipped onto its back and floated belly up, rubbing its furry honey-blond cheeks with its front paws.
“Awwww! She’s washing her little face,” Harper said. “She’s adorable!”
“As a dedicated and impartial marine scientist, I feel obligated to say that otters are just about the cutest thing in theanimal kingdom. I mean, they don’t hold a candle to jellyfish, of course…”
“Is it true sea otters were once thought to be extinct?”
Tariq nodded. “They’re curious creatures and not particularly afraid of humans, which may well have doomed them. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, hunters killed so many for their fur—otters have the densest coat of any animal—that their population was devastated. But in 1938, fifty of the clever little critters were discovered hiding off the coast of Big Sur. Eventually, with conservation efforts, they’ve staged a comeback. Here in Monterey Bay, we have southern sea otters, who play a key role in maintaining the health of the estuary and the bay. Otters love to feast on sea urchins and consume enough of them that the sea urchins don’t destroy the kelp forests. They also eat crabs, which helps the sea slug population to thrive, which in turn keeps the eelgrass healthy by eating algae off the leaves.”
Harper smiled. “This sounds like a practiced speech.”
“Welcome to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Dr. Grae. I’m Dr. Tariq B. Johnson, and I’ll be your tour guide today,” he said with a grin. “You should come by and let Penny show you around the surrogacy program. We have five nonreleasable females who act as surrogates to orphaned otter pups, teaching them how to groom and forage so they can eventually be released back into the wild. The otter we’re looking at now may well have been a rescue—see the tag on her flipper?”
“The aquarium does amazing work.”
“It sure does,” he said with a nod. “I’m lucky to be part of it. Oh, one more thing: If you keep an eye out, you might just see the makkeweks.”
“The what, now?”
He smiled. “The Rumsen peoples—who lived here longbefore Europeans arrived—believed an aquatic creature they called a makkeweks lived in these waters. Neither shark nor seal, it was a huge creature with a massive dorsal fin. Every once in a while, someone claims to have captured an image of it in a photograph, but as yet there’s no scientific evidence that makkeweks exist or ever existed. It’s sort of our local version of the Loch Ness Monster.”
Out on the water, the brisk wind mussing her hair, far from haunted mansions and menacing mirrors, Harper was able to breathe again. This was a needed reset. She should do this sort of thing more often.
