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Then one day it had all come crashing down. She’d thought they were meeting up at the wedding venue to talk about the best location for the cakes and the dance floor, maybe where to put the favors. But that conversation had gone a very different direction. Apparently, he was in love with someone else.
And to make it even worse, that someone else also happened to be her maid of honor.
“The thing is, relationships and I aren’t exactly on speaking terms at the moment.”
“Ahhh.” Hadley nodded as if she knew what that felt like. “I’ve been there before.”
“I’m sorry, honey.” Ellyn leaned as far over as she could and squeezed Molly’s hand, offering her a sympathetic smile. “And we promise not to try to set you up with anyone else in Emerald Cove, don’t we, Hadley?”
Hadley held up a hand, defensively. “It is never my intention to set anyone up. I can’t help it if I naturally see connections everyone else misses.”
Hadley and Molly looked at each other and giggled, breaking some of the tension.
“Luckily for you, Ms. Matchmaker, there’s no connection between me and Grant other than working at the same place.” And as far as she was concerned, there wouldn’t be any connections ever. She was officially out of the game.
It was strange to compare her situation to a turtle’s, but she and Hope actually had a lot in common. They’d both shown up in this town with broken pieces and a life that’d taken a strange detour.
If only broken hearts were like turtle shells, and all it took to heal them was a little bit of honey.
Chapter Six
It was still dark whenMolly pulled up to Turtle Rehab early Saturday morning, but she didn’t care. Her insulated coffee cup was full, the address of where they were going was typed into her navigation app, and her fully charged laptop was ready for note-taking. She hadn’t been this excited about something since… Well, it’d been a while.
Grant must’ve been waiting for her inside the gift shop, because she’d barely shifted the car into park before he walked through the glass doors. He paused under the dim light of the porchlight to lock up before he strolled toward her.
For the first time since she’d met him, he wasn’t wearing his standard shorts and flip-flops with his polarized sunglasses hanging around his neck. Instead, he was dressed professionally, with a ECTRR logoed polo tucked into black chinos and actual lace-up shoes. He even had a backpack slung over one shoulder. She had to admit that while his ruggedly handsome, seafarer vibe looked good on him, he wore professional well. Really well, in fact.
He climbed into the front passenger seat of her midsized black SUV, which had seemed sensible when she’d bought it for a life of frosty Kansas winters counterbalanced with hot, sticky summers. Now that she was down here in the sunny panhandle of Florida with the gorgeous weather and sea breezes, she wished she’d at least sprung for the sunroof.
“People in Emerald Cove do own closed-toe shoes. I was starting to think there was a city mandate against them,” she teased.
“We only wear them when absolutely necessary. And it doesn’t mean we like it.” He stared down at his suede dressy sneakers as if talking directly to them.
“Well, you look nice.”
“Thanks.” He fastened his seatbelt. “I have to admit, I’m a little surprised you’re not wearing a full NASCAR flame-retardant driving suit with a helmet for our little trek east.”
“You’re making fun of me, aren’t you?”
Grant grinned. “Maybe a little bit.”
“Everyone laughs until they need something from my emergency preparedness kit.” She threw a side-long glance in his direction. “Don’t come crying to me when you get something stuck in your teeth at lunch and you need some floss.”
“I’m already preparing my heartfelt apology and retraction for such an occasion.” He shrugged. “I’m not saying it’s good, but you’re going to want to have that floss ready.”
His playfulness caused a flurry somewhere deep in her chest, which she promptly ignored. There was no flurrying allowed. Hadn’t she made that clear enough when she’d been talking to Hadley and Ellyn earlier this week?
Just to prove it to herself, she changed the subject to something more professional. “I have to admit, I was so excited about today’s lecture I had a hard time sleeping last night. I’m totally nerding out over these new surgery techniques for sea turtles.” She pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road. Normally, there was quite a bit of traffic, but at this predawn hour, they appeared to be the only ones out.
“Then you’re in for a treat. Dr. Simmons is one of the best.”
“And you said he’s a close friend of yours? How did you come to be such good buddies with the leading turtle expert in the country?”
“He was part of an eight-person research team I was on that spent three months at sea. You get to know someone pretty well when you all live on the same sixty-foot boat for ninety days.”
“Three months? I thought you said working with sea turtles wasn’t all sailing and hanging out on the ocean.”
Grant chuckled. “So maybe there’s a little more of that than I let on. But that was my longest one.”
