Page 62 of A Line in the Sand

Page List

Font Size:

“The dog beach is pretty popular. There’s usually a lot of early morning activity. I’m surprised no one noticed anything.” Molly sighed.

“Odds are the eggs have been there a while. Turtles usually nest in these parts from May to August. We’re nearing the tail end of that window,” Nate said as he gathered the leftover supplies.

“We should probably round up volunteers and start a schedule for watching the known nests on the island overnight. If we can have a team in place when the hatchlings make their way up through the sand, we can help them get to the water safe and sound.” Max glanced at Molly.

“I already have a spreadsheet with names of volunteers,” she said.Of courseshe did. “I’ll start making calls tomorrow.”

“Great.” Max nodded and tried not to picture himself on a moonlit beach with her head on his shoulder. They were talking about plans for an ecological mission, not a date.

Even so, just thinking about spending the night sitting beside her with their toes buried in the sand and listening to the ocean’s gentle lullaby while they waited for the baby turtles sent warmth coursing through his veins.

Molly’s eyes found his, met, and held. He wondered if she was thinking about the same thing—the same imaginary intimacy—but he didn’t dare hope. With the SandFest win and Ursula finding the nest, there’d been quite a few miracles in Max’s life lately. The longer he stayed in Turtle Beach, the more he felt like his life was shifting from shades of grainy black and white to full-blown color. Wishing for more felt greedy…borderline dangerous, even. Especially where Molly was concerned.

But Max wished all the same. Oh, how he wished.

“So what now?” Molly blinked, a lush sweep of her glitter-tipped eyelashes. “You said you had a plan to find out if Ursula could really scent track sea turtle nests.”

Indeed he did. “Now we take Ursula back to the scenes of her previous crimes, so to speak.”

“You mean the places where we’ve seen her digging recently. Ursula is a turtle savior. I firmly object to the use of the word ‘crimes,’” Molly said.

“Duly noted.” Max clamped his lips together to keep from laughing at the fact that Ursula’s status had now been upgraded fromgeniustosavior.

“If you guys don’t mind, I’m not going to be able to come along.” Nate pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time. Max wondered where he could possibly be going. Twilight surfing? A skateboarding convention? “I’ve got dinner with my grandparents tonight. My grandma is making chicken pot pie.”

“That’s so sweet.” Molly pressed her hands to her heart, perilously close to clamshell territory. “Have a nice time with your family. Don’t worry, the five of us can handle things from here.”

“Actually…” Opal shook her head.

“Oh, right. What was I thinking? The six of us, counting Ursula.” Molly’s gaze flitted to Max. “She totally counts.”

“In this specific circumstance, I agree,” Max said.

Opal let out apfftsound. “Of course she counts.”

Mavis nodded. “‘Duh,’ as the kids say.”

“I think the kids stopped saying ‘duh’ in 1999,” Ethel said with a snort.

Mavis glared at her.

“She has a point, dear.” Opal passed Ursula back to Molly. “But whether or not this little sweetheart counts as a person wasn’t what I was referring to.”

Molly hugged the puppy to her chest. “Oh, what did you mean, then?”

“Nate isn’t the only one who has plans. We’ve got to get going, too.” Opal glanced at Ethel and Mavis. “Right?”

Ethel’s forehead crinkled. “We do?”

Mavis gave Ethel a sharp jab with her elbow. “Yes. We do. We have plans tonight, remember?”

“Ouch.” Ethel grimaced. “What are you—”

“We have thatthing,” Opal said.

She and Mavis stared meaningfully at Ethel until she finally got the picture.

“Oh, right. That thing.” Ethel nodded and then turned toward Max and Molly. “Yep. We’ve got to go. It looks like you’re just going to have to go check out the potential turtle nests on your own.”