Trade Deadline - Avon Gale Page 0,29
Melissa, took over and gave them all a little talk about how to feed a turtle and what sort of things were involved in rehabilitation. Daniel’s kids were young but they were polite and respectful and clearly interested, and they were only a little fidgety—sometimes Melissa thought everyone she was talking to had a DVM, even if they were eight.
Dudley floated in his tank, looking wise and peaceful. He was just beginning to dive again, meaning the water trapped under his shell had been successfully eliminated.
“So, are you in charge of their medical care?” Tabby asked, smiling at the kids petting one of the other, smaller turtles.
“I’m sort of in charge of planning it? I’m the head animal researcher, so most of what I do is decide if we have room for animals, what they might need and how long they’ll be here. And some of their treatment plans, if we can do it in house or—like with Dudley—need to bring in someone who is more of an expert,” Micah explained. “A lot of what I do is big-picture stuff, and tours. Lots of those. I thought about eventually doing some specialized training, but I like being able to know a little about every animal and then turn actual medical care over to the vets.”
“Makes sense,” says Tabby. “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who was a marine biologist.”
“Micah was super into it, ever since we were kids. He’d give our stuffed animals exams,” Daniel said, grinning at him. “What was it the stuffed bear always had?”
“A tendency to tell embarrassing stories about his best stuffed animal friend, the red panda?” Micah gave Daniel a pointed stare, but his mouth quirked. “I believe the bear had sea-foam fever. Before you ask, yes, I know there are no bears in the sea. Also it’s not a real thing.”
“The more you know,” Daniel said with a laugh. “Micah also had a waterbed when we were kids, and he used to pretend the bubbles were these things called—what was it—oh yeah!” Daniel snapped his fingers. “Bopatina fish! Do you have any of those?”
“I’m afraid we’ll be leaving your daddy here in the tank with that turtle,” Micah said sadly, to Gretchen and Nathaniel. His face burned, but he couldn’t help the chuckle. “I used to make you decontaminate with me in the closet before approaching my fish tank—also known as my waterbed with no sheets.” Micah snorted. “I guess that’s the only part of that game I hung on to, coming out of the closet.”
Tabby giggled. Daniel blushed a little but smiled—the kids clearly didn’t get it, and went back to asking about the animals.
“Daddy, when can we swim with the dolphins?” Gretchen asked, once Micah had given them a tour of the staff areas and shown them his office. She said it in that kid-whisper that was anything but, and Tabby shushed her and looked a little embarrassed.
“Hey, no worries. Believe me, swimming with Silver beats being in my office any day,” Micah joked. He checked his phone. “We’re just going to wait for the aquarium to close, then we’ll get suited up and hit the water. Do you guys want a snack or anything?” The little restaurant was already closed, but they had some snack options down in the staff area.
While Tabby got the kids some juice and granola bars with some packaged cookies, he and Daniel each made a horrible concoction at the Freestyle soda machine. “Remember when we used to do this at the mall food court?” Daniel asked, laughing as he mixed orange soda with iced tea, which, ew.
“Yeah, your taste was just as bad then,” Micah teased, and Daniel laughed and elbowed him.
Since Tabby was busy with the kids, Micah took the opportunity to say, “They’re great. Your kids, and Tabby.” He couldn’t quite bring himself to say I can’t believe you guys got divorced, because his attraction to Daniel was only growing stronger the more they were around each other. As much as he liked showing off the aquarium and meeting Tabby and the kids, he knew the real reason why his heart was racing and his mouth was dry...it was just being around Daniel. Even if he was telling embarrassing stories about Micah pretending bubbles in his waterbed were fish.
He’d forgotten all about that, actually.
“Yeah. They’re good kids. I’m glad it’s time for the swimming, you got about the extent of their attention spans,” Daniel joked, sipping his horrible drink. “Wow. This is not