Back at the Center, Jackie examined the X-rays of the sea lion the rescue crew had called her about. Luckily for him, the bullet was lodged in his shoulder tissue and had missed a main artery. She had Bev help her anesthetize him, wishing Gage was there. But Bev was a skilled surgeon, and working together they removed the bullet and stitched the wound.
She hadn’t yet removed her gloves when the rescue crew brought in four more harbor seals from the North Bay. From the look of them, they had the same symptoms as the others. She settled them onto heated pads and tucked a towel under each.
“We’re going to get to the bottom of what’s taking you little guys out,” she said softly as she scoped the last little female and then took a final blood sample.
She was breaking her rule of never talking to the animals, but it didn’t matter; these little ones weren’t likely to make it through the night. She glanced up to see the crew chief peering, bug-eyed, over the gate. She didn’t bother to explain.
Her heart was still heavy three hours later as she gathered her notes and samples and headed home.
Once there, she put the tissue samples in her home fridge. Tomorrow she’d give them to Bradley. Already she dreaded their lunch. She longed for the days when they were just colleagues helping with one another’s work. There had to be a kind way to tell him she wasn’t interested in him romantically, but she couldn’t think of one. And she liked him way too much to hurt his feelings. Aside from Gage, he was her most trusted colleague.
She got out her map and marked each spot where the rescue crews had found dead or ailing seals. Most had been picked up near the mouth of the river she’d sampled. It made sense since there were thousands of acres of agricultural land upriver from there. She needed to go farther upriver and gather more water samples.
She clicked through her files and sent the data off to Bradley to review before he headed down to the Center. It felt good to be able to share her findings with someone, better than she’d expected.
She finished her notes and reveled in the quiet of her house. With little left to distract her, her thoughts circled back to the ball game. Watching Alex in his element had stirred raw feelings that were a far cry from comfortable.
She’d thought she’d grown out of such rushing, tumbling emotions. Maybe she’d just been carried away by the novelty of the game, or maybe she’d been drawn into Gage’s enthusiasm more than she’d realized. Maybe it was being in a stadium once again, watching a man who could command his body to perform remarkable feats and knowing what it felt like to have his body close to hers, touching hers and arousing responses that she didn’t fully control.
Or maybe she was just plain tired. Merely thinking the word had her rubbing a hand over her eyes and contemplating stretching out for a few minutes. When she was tired, everything loomed out of proportion.
But whatever stirred her feelings, she still felt bad about walking out. He’d gone to all the effort of getting them tickets, and she’d left before the game was half over. A niggling sense of discomfort squirmed in her chest. She’d apologize; there was simply nothing else to be done.
She pulled up the volunteer roster on her phone and punched in his number. When his recording answered, she nearly hung up. But she’d come this far.
“It’s Dr. Brandon,” she said.
That part was easy. Sort of.
“I’m sorry I missed the rest of the game; there was an emergency at the Center. Although I have to admit that most of what I did see baffled me.”
That wasn’t what she’d called to say. She cleared her throat.
“Yet I did get a feeling for why it’s such a beloved game.”
Better.
“And I understand that what you did, getting a home run with all those other players on base, was pretty rare. So congratulations.”
Even better.
“I was hoping you might be interested in going to Santa Cruz two weeks from today.”
She stopped. Where had that come from?
“Um...” She took a long breath.
She really hadn’t thought this through. But she couldn’t exactly disinvite him now.
“There’s a seal release that Thursday morning and my brother is in the World Surfing Expo later in the afternoon. I thought you might find either—or both—interesting. I mean, seeing seals released is always so fulfilling and the surfing... Well, it’s a sport. And you, being a ballplayer, you obviously like sports.”
She was stammering!
“That is...” She was backpedaling now. “I don’t even know if you have time off. Well, anyway, you’re invited. There’s a party after—you can bring a date. I’ll email you the details. And, like I said, sorry I missed the rest of the game.”
She clicked off the phone and stared at it.
What was she thinking, inviting him to her brother’s surf expo? Why would he even be interested? And why in the world did she add that bit about the date? He’d think she’d gone mad.
She rubbed her eyes again, harder this time.
Maybe she had.