Page 81 of Knot Your Sunshine
Keanu's shoulders drop. Josh's fingers go still on his glasses.
"Do you really want to walk out there and tell her things might really be bad without getting more data first?"
"No." Keanu's voice comes out rough. "That's not what we want."
Josh's sigh fills the room, but he nods slowly. "Okay. But if the end-of-day numbers are still bad—"
"Then we tell her. Together. With a plan." I hold each of their gazes in turn. "In the meantime, we stick to today's plan. Take the boat out, watch dolphins, give her the day she deserves.Andwe leave our smartphones behind."
Josh's head snaps up. "What? That wasn't part of the plan."
"But it's better this way," I counter. "No smartphones. Any of us. She needs to disconnect, and frankly, so do we. We won't have signal out there anyway."
The door swings open. Mia stands there in a white sundress that flows around her legs. All three of us go still.
"Ready for dolphins?" Her voice carries forced brightness, but underneath I hear the strain.
"Absolutely," I manage. "In fact, we were thinking of having a proper ocean day. No distractions." I hold up my phone. "These stay here."
Her eyebrows rise. "Really?"
"When's the last time any of us went a full day without screens?" Keanu stands, already pulling his phone from his pocket. "I say we go old school. Just us and the ocean."
A real smile starts at the corners of her mouth. "That actually sounds... good. We have all day before the franchise data comes in tonight anyway."
"Then it's decided." Josh adds his phone to the growing pile on the table. "Digital detox starts now."
Mia pulls her phone from her bag, hesitates for just a second, then sets it with ours. "Let's do this."
Keanu crosses to her in two strides, arm sliding around her shoulders. "Can't wait for you to see the dolphins up close."
Her smile finally reaches her eyes, crinkling at the corners. "Then what are we waiting for?"
Chapter thirty-three
Mia
My legs dangle over the yacht's edge, toes catching spray with each bounce. Salt mist hits my face and laughter bubbles up from somewhere deep in my chest.
This. This is exactly what I needed to get my mind off things.
"There!" Keanu's voice cuts through the engine's hum. "Two o'clock!"
Sleek bodies break the surface in perfect synchronization. One, two, three—no, five dolphins, their skin catching sunlight like wet chrome. The smallest one launches itself skyward, spinning once, twice, before splashing down.
My feet hit the deck and the rail bites into my palms as I lean forward. "Oh my god. Did you see—"
"That's just the warm-up, Sunshine." Keanu's warmth presses against my left side, his whole body vibrating with excitement. "Wait till they really get going."
The pod races alongside our yacht now. The little one jumps again, higher this time, adding an extra flip that sends water cascading in droplets.
"Spinner dolphins." Josh appears at my right, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Stenella longirostris. That juvenile's probably six months old, maybe seven."
"How can you tell?" I keep my eyes on the water, watching two adults leap in perfect tandem.
"See how his rostrum, his beak, is still proportionally shorter?" Josh points as the dolphin surfaces again. I track the movement, comparing the baby to the adults. "And watch his spin. Still wobbles a bit on the axis. Adults can leap ten feet and spin up to seven times."
"Seven times?" I glance at him quickly before another dolphin draws my attention back. "No way."
