“Who told you?”
“What? I do this all the time. Who doesn’t love feeding the sea lions?”
“Seriously, Tanner. Who told?”
He shrugs. “The little bird may have mentioned it. But it sounded like so much fun, I wanted to do it too. I had my friend leave a bucket of herring on his boat. C’mon. It’s just up there, closer to the sea lions.”
Tanner fetches the bucket, and together we approach the herd, slowly, until a few of them start getting restless. “You first,” he whispers. “Just grab a fish and toss it right over there. Slow motions, though. You don’t want to spook them.”
“Do they know it’s fish?”
He suppresses a laugh, but he is obviously amused. “They’re sea lions, Ann. They know a fish when they see it.”
“I meant, how do they know we’re not throwing something else at them? I could be tossing a grenade, for all they know.”
“They know that when people come down here, they’ll probably get a bite or two. Plus, I’m sure by the way they’re acting that they can smell what’s in the bucket. Just nice and easy, toss one over.”
Though the thought of holding a slimy dead fish is unsettling, even while wearing a rubber glove, I can feel adrenaline running through my veins, nudging me to do it. Very deftly, I reach into the bucket, grab the first fish I touch, and toss it in a high arc toward the group of anxious beasts. Like a trained circus animal, one of them shimmies forward on its flippers and catches the fish midflight. “Yes!” I shout, throwing my hands up in excitement as though I’ve just scored a goal.
Then it happens.
The sharp pain in my chest. Same as yesterday when Cade made that comment about me blowing it with Tanner, only…not the same as yesterday. This is worse. It starts in my chest, then runs down my arm.
There are no friendly butterflies, only the sting of a bee.
I want to scream, but it hurts too bad. All I can do is double over. As I do so, I faintly hear Tanner asking what’s wrong.
“Nothing,” I lie. Then everything goes black.
This is just like the swim meet! Oh, please, God, don’t let me fall off the dock and drown…
When I first open my eyes, everything is foggy. There is a boat. And another one. The dock. The herd. The sunset.
A spot on the side of my head is pounding, but at least the chest pain is gone.
I crane my neck a little farther and find what I’m looking for: Tanner! As the cobwebs continue to clear, I ask him what happened.
“You tell me.” His voice is hoarse. And worried. No, not just worried…he’s kind of freaking out. “You threw the fish, bent over, and then…I tried to catch you, but I was too slow. Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.”
“That’s why my head hurts.” I wince in pain when I touch the spot with my hand.
“The bucket broke your fall.”
I look around once more to get my bearings. I’m definitely still on the dock, but sitting rather than standing. Something smells. I look down and see that my shirt is completely soaked. I look down a little father and realize that all of the fish that were in the bucket are now lying around and under me on the wood. In half a second I’m on my feet, scrambling for safety.
Tanner bends down, grabs a couple fish, and tosses them to the sea lions. “There, now we can both say we fed them.” When he says it’s time to go home, I tell him flat out that I don’t want to.
“But you passed out.”
“So.”
“So? Ann, you passed out! Doesn’t that worry you?”
“Not really.”
“Does that happen a lot?”
I don’t respond.
“Has it ever happened?”
“Once. The last time I swam.”
“Oh, you mean the time you nearly died? Like I said, we’re going home. Now.”
“It’s no big deal. I just got a little woozy. Seriously, don’t let this ruin our date.”
“It’s home or the hospital, your call.”
“Home,” I mumble.
He snickers, flashing that adorable crooked smile, and leads me toward the stairs. “Even if you hadn’t passed out, you have fish scales all over you. You really want to stay out smelling like that?”
I know he’s right.
I wish he wasn’t.
I don’t want the date to be over, but by virtue of the circumstances, it kind of already is…
Chapter 35
Bree
I’M NOT REALLY much of a snooper. Spying on people just isn’t my thing. If I want to know what someone is up to, I prefer just asking them. But this is different. I mean, I was just drawing a picture in my room, minding my own business, when I heard a car pull up. So I went to the nearest window to see who it was, and Cade’s binoculars were sitting right there, so I picked them up.