Page 53 of The Tides Between Us

Like a boat in the ocean without its anchor, without its compass.

Reaching into my backpack, I pulled out my phone and opened my text messages. Giana never texted me first, as she always waited to hear from me because of the time difference. I hated it. It was as if we were living two separate lives, on two separate planets. It was taking everything in me to not say fuck it all and hop on the next flight to Orchid City.

This was a lot harder than I had imagined it would be.

Giana didn’t want me to give everything up for her, but she didn’t realize that shewaseverything.

Declan

Good morning, princess. How’s my favorite girl this morning?

It didn’t take long for Giana to respond and I couldn’t help but smile and chuckle to myself as I read her question.

Giana

Me or Pop-Tart?

That damn turtle. I never imagined I would have gotten attached to a wild animal, but I had no one to thank but Pop-Tart for bringing me to Giana. Had I not found her on the beach, I didn’t know if I ever would have stepped foot in that facility. Not that I didn’t care about the work they were doing, but there was no need for me there.

Not that I had ever known.

Declan

You. You’re my only favorite, although Pop-Tart is a close second.

The small bubble with three dots popped up in the bottom of the screen and I patiently waited for Giana to type out her response. We had been FaceTiming every day and texting in between our calls. I was still working with Mark on my ASL lessons, but at this point, he thought it was becoming a little pointless.

After spending so much time with Giana and communicating with her and watching the way she communicated, I had picked up on a lot. We were able to have our conversations fully in ASL without me having to speak the words aloud. Every now and again there were a few words or sentences that would trip me up and require a little extra thought, but other than that, I had no trouble signing with Giana.

Giana

I’m good. I’m a little tired because I was up late talking to a certain someone.

The smile on my face was a permanent fixture since Giana entered my life.

Declan

I don’t regret a single second of that. And I’ll keep you up tonight again, if you’ll let me.

Giana

You can keep me up as late as you want, whenever you want.

My smile faltered. The conversation was lighthearted, but it felt heavy in my soul. We shouldn’t be stuck and limited to just our texts and video calls. I was struggling to find a free day that I could fly out there to see her. My sponsors were keeping me busy, as I had a lot of missed time I needed to catch up on. I managed to stay on top in the standings, but it didn’t take much to slip out of first place.

I wasn’t sure I cared about being on top anymore.

Giana

Pop-Tart is also doing well. Her flipper is fully healed. We’re just waiting on her to pass a few more health clearances and then we will be scheduling her release.

Another thing that weirdly hurt because I knew it pained Giana. She wasn’t ready to release the turtle back into the wild out of fear of what might happen to her. Giana wasn’t afraid of the other animals in the ocean—she was afraid of the ones who walked the land and continuously poisoned Pop-Tart’s habitat.

My phone vibrated as a picture came through of the faint scar that was left on her flipper. It amazed me, the work they were able to do. I walked into that facility with a bleeding, injured turtle, unsure of what the outcome was going to be for her. They managed to fix her up and heal her to the point she could safely be released back into the wild.

Declan

You are the most amazing person I’ve ever met.

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