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It was less than a three-minute drive. The sign was just along the road.Orchid City Marine Research & Rehabilitation Center.I pulled my car down the long winding drive that led to the main building. There were four smaller buildings that I could see, scattered behind the main entrance. I stopped directly out front, not bothering to park in a parking spot.
I threw the vehicle in park, killed the engine, and hopped out before rushing around to the back of the Jeep. Part of the towel underneath the turtle’s flipper was saturated with blood, but it appeared to have slowed down a bit. Using the towel to cradle the turtle, I lifted it into the air and removed it from my trunk. My movements were hesitant as I carried it to the front door, careful to not jar it at all.
The glass doors slid open as I stepped in front of them and a rush of cold air wrapped itself around me. It was quiet inside and my flip-flops were loud, echoing throughout the space as they slapped the linoleum floor. There was a woman with her back turned to me, but she didn’t turn around as I walked up to the front desk area. I set the turtle down on the floor by my feet and stared at the back of her head.
Her long midnight hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she was filling up some syringes with liquid. I shifted my weight on my feet, my eyes scanning the curves of her body before landing on the back of her head once again.
“Excuse me,” I said after a few more moments of silence passed. She didn’t turn to face me and I was growing impatient. The damn turtle was still bleeding and this woman was acting like I wasn’t even here. She turned her head slightly, but still didn’t acknowledge me. I watched her jaw as she was chewing something and I saw the opened strawberry Pop-Tart wrapper beside her. “Hello?” I said louder this time.
She was arranging the syringes in a tray and my eyebrows were pulled together as I gave the back of her head a perplexed look. I was extremely confused why she was ignoring me. A sigh escaped me and I moved around to the side of the desk until I was about to step behind it. She must have caught sight of me from the corner of her eye. She whipped her head to the side, her lips parting slightly as her bright blue eyes widened.
Holy shit. My breath caught in my throat and I was instantly captivated by her. Her features were completely symmetrical and my eyes traveled across the planes of her face. Her cheekbones were high and prominent, her nose perfectly straight. For a moment, I forgot what I was even doing here.
She smiled brightly at me and her eyes were warm and welcoming. I couldn’t fucking breathe.
“I brought a turtle,” I said in a rush as I ran an anxious hand through my tousled waves. My hair was still damp from the ocean and I pushed the locks away from my face. I instantly wanted to take the words back as I realized how stupid they sounded. “I found an injured turtle on the beach and I brought it in.”
She moved her hands, twisting them around with her arms as she moved her fingers. Her lips moved simultaneously; however, she remained silent. The dots connected and it clicked in my brain. She wasn’t ignoring me. She didn’t even know I was there talking to her because she couldn’t hear me.
I tilted my head to the side as I tried to read her lips, but quickly realized how terrible I was at it. Realization struck her and her face faltered slightly. She shook her head apologetically and picked up a notepad beside her. Her hand moved quickly as she wrote on the paper.
Where is the turtle? How badly is it injured?
I looked at the paper and went to reach for it to write back to her. Her bright blue eyes met mine as she shook her head again and wrote something else down.
I can read lips.
I nodded. “It’s over here,” I motioned to the side of me. “There’s wire wrapped around its flipper and it was bleeding on the beach. I know we’re supposed to call stuff like this in, but I couldn’t just leave it on the beach to potentially bleed out.”
She followed me around to the front of the desk area and she crouched down as she inspected the turtle. Silence settled between us, although there was some sense of comfort in it. She held her finger up to me before she scooped the turtle up and rushed through one of the doors behind the desk.
Curiosity got the better of me. I followed after her, stepping back into the hospital area of the facility. She was a few strides ahead of me and I watched her as she ducked into another room. I stopped just inside the doorway as she set the turtle down on a metal table. Two people in scrubs were instantly looking at it, signing questions to her, and she signed back to answer.
The one guy who was looking at the turtle’s flipper caught sight of me and lifted his gaze to mine. He nodded his head and the woman spun on her heel to face me. I watched as she signed something to the other staff members once more before marching toward me. Her palm was soft and her hand was small as she wrapped it around my wrist. She walked past me, turning me around with her as she led me back toward the lobby.
I couldn’t fight the smile that pulled on my lips.
She didn’t stop until we reached the front desk and she was grabbing for the notepad and pen again.
You can’t be back there. It’s for staff only.
I shrugged with indifference. “What about the turtle? Will you guys be able to help it?”
She nodded before scribbling another note on the piece of paper.We won’t know for sure, but it definitely could have been worse. That turtle is lucky you found her when you did.
“Pop-Tart,” I said abruptly, which had her giving me a quizzical look. “Her name is Pop-Tart.”
You named her?
I shrugged again. “It felt like she needed a name instead of just referring to her as ‘that turtle’. Don’t you guys name the animals anyways?”
She smiled brightly and nodded.
We do. Pop-Tart sounds like the perfect name for her.
“When will you know more about what will happen with her?”
I watched her delicate hand as she began to write something again. I was officially invested in this turtle’s recovery and I wanted an excuse to see her again.
