She walked out, and he felt as if an icy blast passed by.
Alex’s actual degree had been in psychology, with a minor in marine sciences. But as far as her work went, she had learned more from an old trainer when she had interned in the center of the state. He had pointed out to her that the same theories that worked with people also worked with animals. Most animals, like most people, responded best to a reward system.
With dolphins, a reward didn’t have to be fish. Like people, they craved affection.
Take Shania. She accepted fish and certainly had a healthy appetite. But she also seemed to know that her vets and the workers here had given her life back to her. The best reward for her came from free swims with the people she loved, mainly Alex and Gil. That morning, after feeding her charges with Gil, Alex entered the la goon with them, one at a time, for a play period.
At eight, an hour before the first swim was due to begin, there was still no sign of Laurie Smith. Concerned, she called Laurie’s cottage, then her cell phone, and received only her voice mail. Worried then, she called Jay.
“I don’t know where Laurie is,” she told him. “She isn’t here, and she isn’t answering her phone.”
“Give her fifteen minutes, then we’ll start a search. She’s been talking about taking a few days to visit her family in St. Augustine, but I can’t believe she’d just leave without asking for the time. Unless…she’s just walking out on us,” Jay said over the phone.
“She loves her job. She wouldn’t just walk out,” Alex told him.
“I’ll send someone around to her cottage,” Jay promised. “By the way, we may be evacuating our guests and the majority of our personnel soon.”
“Evacuating?” she said, stunned.
“Don’t you ever watch television?”
“Sorry, I just haven’t seen the news lately,” she murmured.
“That storm stalled. The forecasters still believe she’s heading for the Carolinas, but at the moment she’s standing her ground. She’s still not a monster storm, and this place is equipped with an emergency generator, but we can’t keep the whole place running if we lose electricity and water. We’ll move everyone inland for a few days if the storm doesn’t take the swing she’s supposed to by tomorrow. Along with most of the staff.”
Alex hesitated. “I’m not leaving,” she said, and added a hopeful, “Am I?”
She heard his sigh. “No, Alex, if it’s your choice, you get to stay.”
“Thanks.”
“You know a lot of people would want to be out of here in the blink of an eye,” he cautioned.
“This place has weathered a few storms already. The storm room is perfectly safe.”
“I knew you wouldn’t leave your dolphins unless someone dragged you off,” Jay said. “All right, let me go. I’ll get someone out to check on Laurie.”
“Thanks.”
Alex returned to the main platform area, where all guests met before breaking into two parties, no more than eight swimmers in each lagoon. Guests began to trickle in to get flippers and masks, and she and Gil started to handing them out. She was somewhat surprised to see that Hank Adamson had joined the swim again—she’d gotten the impression that he was doing each of the resort’s activities just once so he could give an assessment of it.
He shrugged sheepishly when she smiled at him. “I actually like this a lot,” he told her.
“I’m glad.”
“Getting close to the dolphins…well, it’s a whole new experience for me. Their eyes are fascinating. It’s almost as if they’re amused by us. They’re kind of like…wet puppy dogs, I guess.”
“Much bigger and more powerful when they choose to be,” she said.
“Your dolphin swim is the best program here,” he told her.
“Thanks.”
That day, she let Gil give the introductory speech. In the middle of it, she saw Laurie Smith at last, hurrying to the platform.
A sense of relief swept over her. She realized that, deep in her heart, she had been secretly fearing that Laurie had disappeared—that she, too, would float up somewhere in the water as a corpse.
She frowned at Laurie, but Laurie looked chagrined enough already. And Alex wasn’t about to question her here.
“You’re all right?” she asked Laurie briefly as her friend came up next to her.
Laurie nodded, but the look she gave Alex was strange.
“What’s wrong?” Alex demanded.
“Nothing. Well, everything. Not with me, though. And we’ve got to be quiet. People are looking at us. And what I have to tell you… We need to talk alone.”
Alex couldn’t help but whisper, “I was worried about you. Where have you been?”
Laurie gave her a look again, indicating that it wasn’t the time or the place. “You have to swear to keep what I say quiet.”
“You know I will, if I can.”