trying to dissuade me from coming up with ideas, but she looks exhausted as she walks away, and her day has only begun. Maybe she’s just so overwhelmed with the day-to-day trials of keeping this place going, she simply can’t process the idea of adding anything else to the mix.
Which means, if this is going to work, my plans can’t revolve around Rosa, at least not beyond getting her approval.
I’m far from discouraged. In fact, this will work out even better. I didn’t really want her looking over my shoulder anyway as I’m doing my best to breathe new life into this place.
As Rosa heads into the corridor—what they call the critical care wing—I feel a hand on my shoulder. I startle and turn to see Shauna smiling at me, the wrinkles pronounced around her eyes.
“She’s just under a lot of stress. It’s been a tough season,” she says. “For one, I think some new fundraising campaigns could help a lot. I hope you give it a try.”
I nod. “Thanks.”
Shauna departs, too, then, heading up the stairs to the second floor.
I thump the edge of the folder in my palm and turn to Quint. His eyes are dark, his lips pressed tight.
“What?” I snap. “Why are you looking at me like that?” My cheeks have already reddened and we’re not even arguing, yet, but I can feel his animosity and it’s making me defensive, though I have no idea what we’re fighting about.
“No reason,” he says, in the most blatant lie of all time. “I have work to do.” He turns and shoves open the screen door.
I follow him, still clutching my folder. Quint snatches a pool brush that was leaning against the wall and starts in on one of the kiddie pools. It had sea lions in it yesterday, but it’s since been emptied out. I wonder how often the pools have to be cleaned. How much time is spent shuffling animals around. I mean, can that possibly be necessary? Their natural habitat is gross, sludgy seawater, after all.
“What is your problem?” I say. A couple of volunteers are feeding fish to the animals in the next pool. They turn to me and Quint, startled, but we both ignore them. “And give me a real answer. I thought you’d be excited about this!”
“Oh yeah, it’s thrilling.” Quint squirts some dish soap directly into the empty pool. “Good thinking, partner. So glad we have you on the team.” He takes the brush and starts scrubbing furiously.
I throw my free hand into the air. “You haven’t even heard my ideas yet! Don’t you want this place to make more money? To be successful?”
He stops scrubbing, both hands gripping the brush handle like he’s resisting flinging it at me. “You’ve been here for one day, Prudence. One. Day. Do you even know how to tell the difference between harbor seals and sea lions yet?”
I blink at him, bewildered, then glance to the nearest pool. At the plump, shiny-bodied creatures diving in and out of the water. “Seals,” I say, waving the folder at them.
“Wrong.”
Shoot.
“Sea lions are the ones with flaps over their ears, among other things.”
What? What flaps?
I look again.
Oh. They do have funny little ear things. Who knew?
“Do you know what a pinniped is?”
My nose curls in irritation. “No. But I bet I can spell it better than you can!”
He glowers at me and, yeah, I know, it was a cheap shot. But I don’t understand why he’s acting like this!
“A pinniped is a mammal that’s evolved to have fins instead of feet. Like, for example … seals! And sea lions!”
I plant one hand on my hip. “So I don’t know the terminology. What does that matter?”
“How about what kind of fish we worked with yesterday? You never even asked.”
“It’s fish! It was gross. They eat it. Who cares?”
“It matters because you don’t care. All you care about is whether or not you can swoop in and take over another project so you can prove to everyone how”—he waves his hand toward me—“brilliant you are, or whatever. But you don’t know anything about these animals or what we’re doing here. Whereas my mom has been running this place for almost twenty years. What makes you think that you know better than her? Than me? Than the volunteers who have been putting their hearts and souls into this place for years? Oh, wait!” He smacks his hand to his forehead. “You think we should make more money? Wow, Prudence, you’re a genius.