Trade Deadline - Avon Gale Page 0,98

that started to gently glow as the sun went down. They were a great addition, as Silver could play with them and the effect looked a bit like he was tossing lights into the sky. Gretchen and Nathaniel seemed fascinated and had spent most of their time near the enclosure with Tabby at their side.

Micah caught a glimpse every now and then of the lanterns and he had to smile. He’d been nervous about them at first, and Cody had had to assure him that they were used in other places for dolphin enrichment and were perfectly safe. Silver liked them, even if his antics did splash a few of the guests. Luckily, they didn’t seem to mind and Micah thought he’d probably see a lot of #selfiewithsilver pictures on Instagram later.

It was full dark and most everyone was gone when Cody game up to him, grinning widely. “Hey, Micah. There’s, uh. A problem. With, um. The dolphin. Wait, no! The lights. Just one light. The light in the tank with the dolphin, I mean.”

Cody got this all out and never stopped grinning, which set off Micah’s alarm bells but also made him wonder if this was some attempt to get him splashed by Silver—probably for some promo thing. Still. “Nothing bad?”

“No, just, one went out and I figured you could show the people in there how you have Silver retrieve it.”

“That’s what everyone wants to see,” Micah agreed dryly. “Their money going to teaching dolphins to retrieve faulty novelty lighting.” He accompanied Cody to the interior of the aquarium and frowned. The only people inside were a few staff members, the aforementioned dolphin, Micah’s friends, the Venom players, Sebastian, and Daniel with Tabby and the kids. Everyone was standing on one side, with Daniel facing him.

In the water, the solar lanterns gleamed. All but one, which had indeed gone out. Silver was a flash of silver beneath the blue, and Micah whistled and saw a pail of fish on the edge. He glanced at Cody, who was still grinning.

“I have a feeling I’m being set up,” Micah said. His heart was racing, and he wasn’t sure why—maybe it was the way Daniel was staring at him, the soft, sweet smile on his face. Micah smiled back and grabbed a fish, then whistled and pointed at the ball without a light. “Fine, if this is just to see me get all wet, someone’s paying to dry-clean this suit.”

Silver popped up, chittered at him, took the fish, and then dove off with minimal splash—which mostly landed on Daniel, who gallantly stepped in to take the brunt of it on Micah’s behalf. Everyone did have their phones out—except for Daniel—so he must be right on about the setup. Oh well. “Thanks for taking one for the team,” he said, to Daniel, as he waited for Silver to come back. “Team me-and-you, that is.”

“Anytime, babe,” said Daniel, with that same smile, and he looked nervous—which was silly, he had more than one nice suit and looked damn good wet.

Silver returned with the ball and Cody whistled, and Silver bounced it over the edge of the enclosure. Micah saw this one was a little different than the others, and that in lieu of a solar light there was a box. He frowned, picked up the ball, and then glanced up—and froze.

Daniel Bellamy was on one knee in front of him.

“Wait,” Micah said, glancing down at the lantern again. “What?” He looked back at Daniel, barely able to breathe.

“Uh,” Daniel said. “I sort of have a thing? So could you get that out?”

“What—oh, yeah.” Micah promptly dropped the lantern, which rolled away from him. He heard a few laughs from their audience but he couldn’t concentrate on anyone but Daniel—Daniel, whose hockey reflexes meant he could reach out and snag the ball quickly, solemnly presenting it to Micah with a little half-grin.

“Good save, Bellzie!” called someone—Army, Micah thought dazedly, as he carefully opened the lantern and reached inside. It was a jeweler’s box. As the plastic lantern gently deflated, Micah was dimly aware of Cody dashing in to take it from him so he could concentrate on the ring inside.

“The stone is sea glass,” Daniel said. “Because of how much you love surfing and being out on the water. But also because it takes years for sea glass to become what it is, just like it took us a couple of decades to find our way back to each other. If there’s any shore I