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“Oh, right. This is the part where I’m waiting to see if I’m going to be some shark’s midafternoon snack or not,” Molly joked.
Grant grinned. “Exactly.” He looked around, as if taking in the surroundings for the first time. “There are a few more people here now than when the three of us were last in the ocean.”
“It’s probably a good thing because if there was even one more person, I wouldn’t have gotten in the water that day.”
“And aren’t you glad you did?”
Molly nodded. “Glad” didn’t even cover it.
“Grant, you’re a go!” The words rang out over the speaker system.
Grant gazed into her eyes. “You ready for this?”
Molly shook her head. “Not at all. But let’s do it anyway.”
They took four more slow steps, until the surf was washing against Molly’s ribcage and it was getting hard to hold the turtle above the water.
“On three,” Grant said.
“Okay,” Molly agreed. Delight, pride, sadness, and a whole lot of other feels she couldn’t quite identify overtook her and she had to blink back the tears as the cheers from the crowd behind them rose to a fever pitch.
“One, two…”
“Three,” Molly said and lowered the turtle to the water. “Be free, my friend.”
“Godspeed, Hope.”
Hope didn’t falter. The second her flippers hit the water, she took off, diving under the surf and heading straight for sea.
Grant threw his arms around her, and they bounced together in the water, cheering as they watched the turtle they’d both grown to love return to the place she belonged. Molly couldn’t be sure, but she could’ve sworn Hope paused for a fraction of a second and looked back at them before she dove deeper into the emerald waters of her home and out of sight.
The noise of the crowd shifted directions as they turned from watching the live action in the ocean to the computer tracker being displayed on the big screen behind them. But Molly and Grant stood there, still holding each other and staring out toward the horizon.
“I don’t think I’ve ever felt more inspired in my whole life while also completely sad at the same time.”
Grant pulled her close to his chest, rubbing her back. “Spoken like a true turtle rehabber.”
It felt good to be in his arms, and for a moment the thought that she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else or with anyone else flashed through her mind. But as soon as she realized what she was thinking, she stepped back, using both of her hands to wipe the tears from her cheeks.
He held his hand out to her, a mist in his own eyes. “What do you say we celebrate?”
“As long as you don’t mind if I spontaneously burst into tears, I’m all in.” She took his hand. The hand of the one person who knew exactly how she was feeling. The hand of the man who encouraged her more than anyone else in the world. And together they trudged through the waves toward the shore.
They stepped onto the dry sand, and Mateo held out a towel for each of them. “Well done, you two. According to the GPS tracker, Hope is almost a kilometer offshore already.”
Grant accepted the towel and wiped his face. “A kilometer out? I’d say she’s in the clear.” He turned to Molly to see if she agreed, but she was engulfed in a sort of hug sandwich by her two neighbors, who were wearing shirts that matched hers.
Molly wrapped the towel around her as her friends swept her up the beach to where the party was in full swing. Grant watched her walk away. A faint ache started to edge in somewhere deep in his chest and he wondered if Hope wasn’t the only one he’d let go today.
“I’d say it was a hundred percent success. The media coverage we’ve gotten is outstanding. We have two local news stations, two influencers streaming live, and our own live video feed,” Mateo chattered, looking more animated than he had since Grant had informed him he’d be running point.
“It has been a perfect release,” Grant agreed, although he was only partially invested in the conversation. He was having a hard time keeping his eyes off Molly, who was now halfway up the beach talking with a group of people he didn’t recognize.
“There’s a reporter waiting for an interview. I thought you’d be the best person to do it. Do you mind?”
“Mm-hmm. Okay,” Grant agreed, gaze still following Molly. He was confident she felt the same thing he did, so why was she pulling away?
“Grant,” Mateo said, more forceful this time.
