Shark Bite

by K L Montgomery

  “Oh, only one more thing before I let you go,” Megan says, and the buzz of everyone’s voices gradually settles down to hear her. “Do any of you know someone in the county permits office?”

  Everyone looks around the table, smiles fading as we wait for Megan to clue us in about why she’s asking.

  “Okay, darn it. I submitted an application for a permit, and I haven’t heard anything yet. It’s been two weeks now, and I’m just—”

  “Well, you have to get the permit approved,” Claire says rather unhelpfully.

  Megan graciously answers, “I know. I’m wondering if it was just lost in the shuffle or something. I guess I’m going to have to go in there in person…”

  “Talk to Mateo Flores at Corazón del Mar about it when you call him tomorrow. If anyone has connections there, it’s him,” Claire suggests.

  “Drew, you don’t know anyone in there?” Jack questions. “From when you opened this place?”

  “No, I dealt with the city of Rehoboth. I could tell you someone in the Mayor’s office or city council, but I don’t know anyone in the Sussex County office.”

  “Okay, that’s fine. I’ll take care of it.” Megan’s face spreads into a grin. “Well, we’ll meet again next week. This is happening in less than six weeks now! I can’t believe it. We have a short time frame, but it’s all coming together.”

  “We can do it!” Lindy cheers, supporting her best friend.

  “See you next week, same time, same place.” She turns to say something to Lindy, who is sitting beside her, and I start to vacate my seat when Walt grabs my arm. I follow him to the corner of the room.

  “I’m going to ask her tonight,” he tells me in a low voice. “You sure you’re cool with it?”

  This again?

  I glance around and realize Megan’s looking right at me. I have no choice but to smile at Walt and give him my blessing. “Sure, bro.”

  I step back to let him pass me, clearing a path for him to approach Megan, when she says, “Hey, Shark, can I talk to you a second before you go?”

  My heart takes off at a fast clip as soon as my name falls out of her mouth. Walt shoots me a look—not a nasty one, but one of confusion, and shrugs. “I’ll wait out in the hallway.”

  Everyone files out, and a few minutes later, it’s just me and Megan standing alone in the conference room at Delmarva Art Connection. She’s wearing a dress tonight, one that clings to her boobs and falls away from her body into a full skirt. It has little sleeves that cover her shoulders, and her hair is half up, half down. My eyes trace a line across her collarbones, which are barely showing on her voluptuous figure. It’s hard for me to believe, now that I’m really looking at her, that this womanly, curvaceous body is Meggie all grown up. Memories of the two of us as kids have been popping up all week, and as soon as one does, I whack it back down. It’s kind of like playing a game of whack-a-mole in my head.

  “What’s up?” I grunt, then immediately clear my throat because I sound like I just swallowed a mouthful of gravel.

  She sets down her clipboard with all the carnival planning papers on it. “I wanted to make sure you’re okay after what we talked about last week.”

  My nostrils flare as I take in a breath. I don’t want to lie to her. I’m not completely okay. I may not ever be now that I’m probably going to spend the next god-knows-how-long reconciling repressed memories of those two little kids with the adults who are standing here in this room right now.

  But I have to be okay. Pretend to be, at least. Because what good can it do her to know that I’m a little broken inside about this? I don’t have time to be broken. She doesn’t have time for me to be broken. Brokenness does no one any good.

  No wonder I became an EMT. I fix people up and fix them fast. Even if it’s a temporary fix until they see a real doctor.

  Temporary fixes. That’s what I’m about. Why deal with the long-term stuff when you can pop a Band-Aid on it and go on with your life?

  “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s a little weird, that’s all.”

  She pins me with that green and copper gaze. “Too weird?”

  “Too weird for what?” I shrug and punctuate it with a humorless snort.

  “Shark, I—” She huffs out a breath in lieu of finishing her sentence.

  She’s leaning toward me, her chest heaving slightly with each breath, and there’s this electricity buzzing between us. I can feel it. I don’t want to feel it, but it’s there, an undercurrent that’s been flowing between us since the moment I met her. Which I thought was two years ago…but I guess it’s been almost my entire life.

  I can’t believe I got a second chance with her, and I didn’t even know it.

  But I managed to screw that up too.

  Because as good as I am at temporary fixes, I’m even better at permanently breaking things. Hearts. Relationships. You know, the things doctors can’t fix.

  “I wanted to make sure you’re okay,” she repeats, “because you seem a little quiet. A little reserved.”

  “I am quiet and reserved,” I tell her.

  “No,” she says, and now she comes so close to touching me, the hairs on my arms stand on end. “You want people to think you’re quiet and reserved. You’re like all calm and tranquil on the surface, but it’s kinetic energy, with the potential to burst—”

  When she says the word “burst,” every muscle in my body clenches.

  “I saw it in you when you were a kid,” she tells me. “And on the rugby pitch…”

  My eyes lift to hers, and I find them boring into me, drilling holes right through me.

  “And…other places…”

  She doesn’t have to say “bed,” but I know that’s what she means.

  I can’t let her go there. Hell, Walt is waiting right outside the door to ask her out, and I just gave him my blessing. Can I really pull the rug right out from under him?

  As if on cue, there’s a knock on the door before it swings open and reveals Walt, standing there with a glowing white grin on his face. And in his accent that drops the panties of every girl he meets, he says, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt—”

  “Oh, sorry, Walt. Are you waiting for Shark?” She moves her gaze from him to me.

  “No,” I deadpan. “He’s waiting for you…”

  As I walk toward the door, she shoots me a confused look.

  Shark just walked out, and I swear something happened between us. He’s a man of few words, but he communicates way more with his gray-blue eyes than he would ever admit. The way he looked at me when I told him about the passion I see in him…it was a mixture of surprise, humility, and…something else I couldn’t put my finger on. Attraction? Appreciation? Surely it wasn’t lust…

  He told me two years ago that he could never commit. He would never want a serious relationship; he’s not a relationship guy. But there was something in that flash, that spark between us that made me hope he could change his mind. That maybe his mind was changing.

  “Hey, Megan,” comes Walt’s sexy British voice as he takes the spot where Shark was standing moments ago.

  “Hey there, what’s up?” I assume he has some ideas for the carnival that he didn’t want to mention in front of everyone.

  “I think you’re doing a great job with all of this.” He gestures toward my files that I laid on the table. “And getting us sponsors, and the partnership with Beach Buddies. It’s really fantastic.”

  “Thanks, I’ve enjoyed working with you guys. Really hope you have a successful season. Y’all need to keep your boys out of trouble too. Hope you’ve been drilling that into them, you being the captain and all.” I smile and fold my arms over my chest. The way he’s staring at me is more intense than I expected. His dark eyes are eating me up like his favorite dessert.

  He clears his throat and takes a step closer to me. “So, I hope you don’t think I’m being too forward, but I wondered if you might go out with me sometime.”

  I was swallowing when he asked, wh
ich leads to me nearly choking on my own saliva. Always so graceful! “Oh, wow…” I stammer, unsure what to say.

  “Sorry, did I catch you off guard?” He throws out a laugh that sounds rich and smooth like hot fudge dripping down a scoop of melting ice cream. “I figured Shark woulda told you I had my eye on you.”

  “Oh, no…” I shake my head, trying to even imagine such a thing coming out of Shark’s mouth. “No, I had no idea. You know, he and I have a history—”

  Walt nods, his eyes like sepia pools still locked on me. “We talked about it, and he said it would be okay with him. But only if you’re comfortable too, of course. I want everyone to be one hundred percent on board. That’s why I asked his permission first.”

  So Shark told him that it would be okay for him to ask me out. I guess that answers any lingering questions about Shark’s feelings for me. Nothing has changed since two years ago. I don’t know why I thought it might after he found out we were Shay-Shay and Meggie from long ago. I guess those promises we made as kids really don’t matter anymore. We’re long past those days.

  So why was I holding out hope? I was being stupid as usual. I always believe things will turn out for the best.

  Maybe they will. Maybe Walt is what’s best.

  “I see.” I force my lips to curl up. I’m definitely flattered that he’s interested in me. He’s fit, gorgeous, and has a sexy accent, plus he’s a veterinarian. I mean, what’s not to like?

  “So, is that a yes?” He stares at me expectantly, biting his thick, succulent lower lip while he studies my expression for signs of my answer.

  “Yes, I’ll go out with you. Sounds like fun.” I smile genuinely this time, especially once I see how happy my answer made him.

  “This weekend? Saturday?”

  “Sure, why not? I’ll text you later, and we can work out the details.”

  “That sounds amazing, Megan!”

  And just like that, I have a date.

  “So what happened the other night after I left the meeting?” Lindy asks as we walk along the beach with Meric’s dog. He’s working late tonight, so we decided to grab Nicobolis from Nicola Pizza and get Lucius some exercise. I don’t know if Lucius enjoyed his bite of my Nicoboli the best or the cheese fries.

  I proceed to rehash the story of talking to Shark and then Walt coming in and asking me out. Even though I’m excited about the date, I’m sure my best friend can detect a slight hint of disappointment in my voice.

  “Wow… So you’re gonna go out with him?” Lindy asks as Lucius picks up a piece of a horseshoe crab. We have to stop and wrestle it away from him. Ew.

  “Well, yeah,” I answer once we’re walking again. “Why wouldn’t I?”

  “Because you’re still carrying a torch for Shark?” Her tone is strictly matter-of-fact.

  I scoff. “I wouldn’t say I’m carrying a torch.”

  “Well, you’re not doing it just to make him jealous, are you?”

  “Lindy!” I scold her. “What kind of person do you think I am?”

  “I’m just checking.” She laughs. “I’m one to talk. I kidnapped this dog from Meric’s ex to get his attention.”

  I giggle remembering our adventures that summer in both the Yo Ho Rehoboth musical and the dognapping expedition. The night of our cast party was the night Meric was reunited with Lucius—and when I was first introduced to Shark. Only at the time, I, of course, had no clue he was my childhood friend Shay-Shay.

  Or maybe I did know? Because I felt drawn to him right away. Even though he gave me a hard time about something, can’t even remember what now, and we did the kind of antagonistic banter/flirting for a few hours that night before he asked me if I wanted to come to his place.

  “Walt said Shark gave him his blessing to ask me out. If Shark wanted to date me—which, as you know, he was very clear two years ago that he doesn’t do relationships—but, if he’d changed his mind, wouldn’t he have told Walt no?”

  “I guess?” Lindy shrugs. “But maybe he’s in denial…”

  “He’s definitely keeping some stuff from me about leaving Delaware all those years ago. I mean, I know his parents got divorced, but—”

  “But what?” My best friend’s grayish-green eyes lock onto me as a wave ripples over our feet. I pause for a second to enjoy the way I sink into the sand under the rushing water.

  “I think something more happened that he hasn’t told me about. And he probably won’t, knowing Shark.”

  “It’s in the past…maybe he wants it to stay there,” Lindy conjectures.

  “Yeah, I guess so.” I just want to know him. To understand him. There’s something inside of me still being pulled toward him, even after all this time. “I guess I’ll never know.”

  “So, you’ll go out with Walt—Dr. Byrd, I suppose, right? He’s a veterinarian?”

  I nod. “Yeah, isn’t that awesome?”

  “Maybe Lucius needs a new vet!” She gives me a wink, and we start to head toward the boardwalk.

  As I take one glance back at the water, I see dusk hovering over it like a purple cloak, ready to sing it a lullaby and tuck it in for the night. In two more nights, I’ll be on my date with Walt. I wonder if he’ll be tucking me in anytime soon…

  Walt is charming, there is no doubt about it. He’s right on time to pick me up and opens the passenger side door to his swanky BMW for me before heading around to the driver’s seat. He turns the key in the ignition, firing up the engine, and then turns his whole body toward me, taking me in with his gorgeous eyes. “You look beautiful tonight, Megan. I’m so glad we’re getting a chance to know each other better.”

  It’s hard not to be captivated by his British charm, full lips, wide chocolate brown eyes, and smooth dark skin. The light turquoise polo shirt he’s wearing contrasts perfectly with his complexion. He’s a refined, good-looking man, no doubt about it. And the way he carries himself, always with a humble sort of confidence, if that makes any sense, is refreshing. He puts out a vibe like he has nothing to hide. He’s totally comfortable being himself.

  “So where are we going?” I ask as he turns back toward the wheel and shifts into reverse.

  “You like seafood?”

  “Of course!”

  So he tells me we’re going to a seafood restaurant that’s opened up recently a couple blocks off Rehoboth Avenue, where the boardwalk is. “Have you heard of it?”

  I can’t help but laugh. “Yes! They’re one of our clients!”

  “Oh, that’s right, you work in PR. I almost forgot you don’t work for the Riptide fulltime, you’ve generously devoted so many hours to us.” He smiles and turns onto the main road out of my development.

  “That’s true, but nope, I gotta work for The Man, at least for now.” We head down the highway, stopping in thick traffic at every light. It’s still nice weather in Rehoboth Beach, so what’re you gonna do? Fortunately, things should slow down in a week or two.

  On the way to the restaurant, we cover my family’s pharmacy business, why I’m drawn to public relations, and how I went back to school when I was in my thirties. We talk so much about me, I barely learn anything about him. I’ll change that once we’re seated at the restaurant.

  Twenty minutes later, glancing up over the menu, he trains his dark eyes on me. “So what looks good to you?”

  “Hmmm…” I keep going back and forth about two different dishes. “The crab imperial-stuffed shrimp or the crab cakes?”

  “Those both sound delicious,” he agrees. “I don’t think you can go wrong either way.”

  “So, I feel like I didn’t get to grill you adequately on the way here,” I say as we wait for the server to come take our orders. I’m sipping my sweet, fruity cocktail and feeling the alcohol absorb into my bloodstream.

  “Oh, I see.” He chuckles as he places his napkin in his lap. “I heard the bread here is to die for.”

  “What brought you to the U.S.?” I start off.

  “Veterinary school, actually,” he te
lls me. “I did uni in London, and then, when I was looking at my professional studies, I researched universities all over the world. I ended up at Cornell.”

  “Wow, that’s impressive.”

  “Thank you. I worked in New York for a while when I was finished, then moved down here, as many people do. It’s slower-paced, lower cost of living, and all that.”

  “Slower lower,” I echo, one of the nicknames for the southern part of Delaware where we live.

  “That’s right.”

  “And your family is all still in the UK?”

  He shakes his head. “I don’t really have any family to speak of. My parents both died in a car accident when I was in my twenties. I was at Cornell when it happened. I didn’t get to say goodbye.”

  “Oh, Walt! I’m so very sorry.” I reach across the table to cover his hand with mine, feeling a zap to my heart as I think about how horrible that would be.

  “It’s okay, thank you. Life is full of beauty and sadness both; they have a symbiotic nature, I think.”

  He’s still smiling even after telling me that, and I don’t know why, but it strikes me as odd. I automatically wonder how Shark would have told that story about his parents. If there would be a smile, or some other emotion behind the words. He would probably remain stoic, but I would be able to sense the grief layered under there somewhere.

  The server comes then, and we both order. Then she returns with the basket of bread Walt was raving about earlier. He definitely hyped it with good reason—it’s delicious. “You’re going to have to take this basket away from me. I can’t be trusted. I’m like a kid in a candy store when it comes to carbs. The expression should actually be ‘like Megan around carbs,’ I swear.”

  “Oh, you’re going to ruin your dinner?” He chuckles at me.

  Just then I have a flashback of Shay-Shay and me sitting on the beach. We were told we couldn’t have any snacks because it was too close to dinner. But we both knew there was a box of cookies in his mother’s beach bag. While she was busy talking to my mom, he snuck the box out, and we gorged ourselves on chocolate chip cookies. Then we were caught red-handed with streaks of chocolate around our mouths and crumbs all over our faces and sticking to our swimsuits.