Seal With a Kiss by Jessica Andersen

felt an odd stirring in his chest. Possibly the
extra spicy calamari.
    Or else it was something else.
    "Don't go," he blurted out.
    She raised an eyebrow. "Where? To my room? In case you hadn't noticed, it's almost midnight. You
and ... Candi must've lost track of time."

    Which made him wonder how long she'd been
back at the hotel. She and Chaz the Magnificent must
not have stayed at the restaurant long. He smiled at
the thought, but felt his nerves sizzle when he said,
"No, don't leave Dolphin Friendly. Don't take the
job here."
    She froze and his stomach sank. "Oh. That." She
stepped away from his door and he stuck a foot in it
so he wouldn't have to wrestle with the key again.
"Well, it's a good position, a good group of people,
and the manatees...."
    He knew she loved manatees. And since they
weren't found in Smugglers Cove-or anywhere
north of Florida for that matter-that was the one
thing Dolphin Friendly couldn't offer her.
    "Still," he said, looking for the words to make her
stay. "Dolphin Friendly is expanding. There'll be
those new boats soon, assuming we get the grants,
and then who knows what? New people, new projects-just think of it!" When she shook her head
and turned towards her own door, he called after her,
"Will you think about it? Please?"
    She turned back. "Things are changing at Dolphin
Friendly, Smitty. You know it and I know it. It's time
for us to recognize that and move on. It's time to grow up. Let's be realistic, pretty soon there'll be nothing
really keeping me in the group."

    Looking at her, seeing her with both the eyes of a
lonely young grad student and the eyes of a grown
man who'd only just begun to realize that he was
still lonely, he thought she'd never looked more
lovely as she did standing barefoot, holding a plastic
bucket of melting ice.
    "I'm in the group," he said quietly. "And if things
are changing, we need to make sure they're changing
for the better. Besides, Brody would miss you."
Smitty figured that had to be worth something. He
wanted to make some sort of sweeping declaration
of his feelings-even though he wasn't even sure
what they were anymore-but she hadn't wanted to
hear them ten years ago, and he was sure she didn't
want to hear them now. So he grinned and said,
"Come on, Vi. We've been pals for a lot longer than
we were girlfriend and boyfriend. Can't we keep it
that way?"
    He thought he saw a flash of pain in her eyes. Her
lips turned up wryly at the corners and she shook her
head. "That's exactly the point. We're pals. Let's
keep it that way."
    With that, she let herself into her room and closed
the door.
    Smitty stood in the hallway for a long time, wondering exactly what he had missed.

     

ccCareful, careful! Don't bang the crate around.
This isn't a case full of frozen fish, you know!" Chaz
waved his arms wildly as the crane operator goosed
the winch too quickly.
    Jasper emitted a startled "Hork!" as the compact
car-sized crate he was in swung ponderously through
the air and bounced off the side of the refrigerator
truck.
    "Hey, watch it!" Violet-who had been standing
near the open doors at the back of the truck-dove
for cover as the crate whistled overhead. If Jasper
weighed about twelve-hundred pounds, and the crate
another thousand ... she didn't want to think about the damage the two could do together. The poor guy
was probably frightened out of his head!

    "Put it down!" Smitty waved furiously at the crane
operator, who finally played out enough line to set
the crate gently on the ground.
    "Is he okay?" Chaz asked worriedly, and Violet
glanced into the crate.
    Jasper's eyes were bright and he was bobbing his
head enthusiastically. When he saw Violet, he
greeted her with a happy "Hork, hork, hoooork!"
    She laughed. "He thinks he's on a carnival ride.
I'm pretty sure he just said higher, faster!"
    Smitty shuddered. He hopped down from one giant
caterpillar crane tread and walked over to inspect the