Page 74 of Seal of Approval

Ethan hadn’t started chopping. He was watching Bailey instead. “Was he upset?”

“I think he felt hurt to be left out.”

Ethan didn’t give me or the onion any further consideration. He went to his bedroom. I didn’t want him to disengage. We needed to tackle things like this by being open. That’s the only way we could succeed in this relationship.

I glanced at his room. Maybe I should follow him, talk about it more. But if I did, would he shut down?

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

Ethan

My dad left me behind all the time, whether he was going out with his friends or even chatting with students. I was nothing, insignificant. Never in my life would I want someone to feel like that. Especially someone I cared about. I’d thought I was doing the right thing, and by Jasmine’s response, I had. But it was still wrong in the eyes of an eleven-year-old. He was on the cusp of going from a child to a teenager. Life was confusing enough for him without me making it harder.

I grabbed my laptop out of my bag and headed into the living room. I stood beside the couch. “Do you want to see some of the footage we got today?”

Rose clapped. “Yes.”

Bailey shrugged.

“Sorry, you couldn’t come out with us today. I thought you should have some mom time.”

Bailey glanced at Jasmine who gave him a smile. His attention turned to the laptop in my hand. He’d normally be jumping out of his skin to look. Now he was completely blasé.

I’d really fucked up.

I plugged the laptop into the TV and went to the drone footage. “We started with the little inlet. Jack positioned the drone above the sea lions so we could see their reaction to our approach. What do you think happened?”

Rose moved forward in her seat. “They all got excited and hopped in the water to meet you.”

Bailey rolled his eyes. “They are wild animals, Rose, not pets.”

Smart kid.

“The sea lions here do that,” Rose protested.

“No, they don’t.” Bailey shook his head. His full attention was on us now. “They sit and watch us. Some come into the water but most of them don’t.”

Rose crossed her arms. I smiled. She was always the dreamy one, seeing love and positivity.

“Watch,” I said.

We saw the moment they heard the boat approaching. Many of them lifted their heads from their prone positions. Then when the boat came into sight, many of them sat up and kept a watchful eye.

“We get closer to shore, but we do it very slowly.”

“Why?” Rose asked.

“We didn’t want to scare them. Imagine if they all rushed into the water at once.”

“They could get hurt,” Bailey said.

“Exactly. They can’t tell the difference between a boat and a predator. They need to protect themselves. The water is where they feel safe.”

The boat stopped twenty metres from shore. Some sea lions fled into the water. The young who were close to those sea lions followed.

“Why do you think the young ones did that?”

“They copied the adults,” Bailey said.

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