The drive was less than a mile but it felt like hours as they drove in a dark silence, save for Harper’s gentle snoring. Clouds covered the moon and stars and the sky was inky. Carson leaned against the cushion and looked out the window at the house lights flickering as they passed. She wondered how Blake had just happened to be in the parking lot when she’d left. It seemed every time she turned around, there he was.

“I thought you didn’t drink,” she said, turning her head toward him. He was a dark silhouette, so she couldn’t gauge his expression. “What were you doing at the bar?”

“It’s a restaurant, too,” he answered. Blake drove a bit more, then added, “But I came looking for you.”

Carson felt suddenly uneasy. She hadn’t thought it could be just a coincidence. “Looking for me? Why?”

“I wanted to talk to you,” he said easily. “But then I saw you go off with that other guy, the one who was with you at Dunleavy’s, and I figured you were together. I didn’t want to get in the way.”

He was talking about Devlin, she realized. “I’m not with that guy,” Carson said. “He’s just an old friend. I have a lot of guy friends.”

Blake brought his hand to his jaw and scratched. “Oh.”

“So what did you want to talk about?” she asked, still not comfortable with his following her.

“We got cut off earlier. At Dunleavy’s. We were going to set a time for me to teach you about kiteboarding. You still interested?”

“Oh. Yeah, sure,” Carson said, regrouping. That made sense. It was a relief he wasn’t stalking her . . . not much, anyway. It was actually flattering that he was so determined. “When’s a good time for you?”

He shrugged. “I work during the day so weekends are good. Or any day after five.”

Carson considered the party this weekend. She was excited to learn and didn’t want to put the lesson off too long. He pulled into the driveway of Sea Breeze and parked the car.

“Monday?” she suggested, leaning forward in the seat.

He faced her then, and in the dim light she could just see the side of his mouth curl in a smile. “Monday it is. I’ll meet you at Station Twenty-Eight at five.”

Blake climbed from the car to open the passenger-side door while Carson climbed out from the back. Blake was very gentle with Harper as he shook her. She awakened with an unladylike snort. Blake helped Harper out of the car, holding on tight when she hit cool air.

“I feel sick,” Harper moaned.

Carson stepped a foot away, just in case. “We’ll put you to bed so you can sleep it off.”

She and Blake walked on either side of Harper and guided her as she wobbled to the front door.

“Do you want me to help you bring her in?” he asked.

“No, thanks, I can manage the rest of the way.” Carson got a better grip on Harper’s waist. “She’s a little thing. I don’t want to wake up Mamaw or Lucille. Harper won’t want anyone to know about this.”

“She’ll have a hard time keeping it a secret tomorrow when she’s hungover.”

“Yeah. She can’t hold her liquor.”

“And you can?”

“So you see.”

“Well, you’re not as drunk as I’d feared.”

“I tried to tell you.”

“Still,” he said seriously, “you aren’t fit to drive.”

“Debatable.”

Harper moaned. “I wanna lie down.”

“I better get her in. Thanks.”

He handed her the car keys, tucked his fingers in his back pocket, and backed away. “See you Monday at five.”

“Come on, honey,” Carson said to a softly groaning Harper. “Time to put the baby to bed.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Carson couldn’t wait to slip into her swimsuit and sneak off into the cove before the others woke up. She scurried down the dock while the sky was misty gray and climbed on her paddleboard. Her paddles splashed softly in the early-morning quiet as she coasted toward the inlet, scanning the cove. Sure enough, a dolphin emerged alongside her paddleboard with a noisy exhale from its blowhole. Carson felt her heart skip and immediately broke into a smile. She knew it was the same dolphin even without seeing the damaged fluke beneath the water.

“You came back!” Carson exclaimed, calling out in a high voice.

The dolphin made a high-pitched whistle that sounded happy to Carson’s ears.

The dolphin swam ahead rapidly, then leaped in the air and returned to the paddleboard with eager eyes. It was watching her, inviting interaction. There was no question that this time this social dolphin had sought her out. And more, it was trying to communicate. Carson wanted to engage but felt deaf and dumb.

Always, in the back of her mind, a voice teased her, This is all your imagination. The dolphin isn’t trying to communicate. It’s just a wild animal. Yet another voice argued that she should ignore her rational doubts and simply accept what was happening. When she looked into the dolphin’s eyes, there was no questioning the animal’s intense level of awareness. And it seemed to be challenging her.

Carson decided then and there to cast away all doubts and make up her mind to believe. And this she’d have to do with her heart rather than her mind.

Carson slowly moved to lie on her belly on the board. She wanted to get face-to-face with the dolphin. The dolphin didn’t swim away, as she feared it might. It lingered, tilted its head, and looked at her with keen, curious eyes.

She rested her cheek on her hands and for a while they simply watched each other in a joyful quiet. It reminded her of nights with her sisters when they were young, lying on their beds, sharing stories as they fell asleep. As she bobbed on her board, water, salty and cool, splashed in her face and formed thick pearl drops on her lashes.

To her surprise, the dolphin tilted on its side and looked at her. Delighted, Carson imitated it and rolled to her side. The dolphin slipped to its belly, then lay on its side again. And Carson did the same. An idea blossomed in Carson’s mind and this time, she turned over completely onto her back. She held her breath. After a pause, the dolphin rolled over, presenting its gleaming white underbelly. Carson saw one long line and what looked like parentheses on either side of it. They both flipped around at the same time.

Aha, Carson thought, grinning. You’re a girl. I just knew it. Carson lifted her head and, looking into the radiant eyes, spoke the name that had been floating on her tongue.