“Uh.” Micah blinked. “No? But, I mean, catering’s gonna kill me. Your hockey guys eat enough food for like, sixty more people.”
“I made them eat before they got here,” Daniel said, proving he was already a coach in mind and spirit.
The guests didn’t seem to really pay attention, although Nathaniel and Gretchen seemed overjoyed to see their father’s friends and former teammates, and Camila, the fundraising director, did sidle up to Micah a few minutes later and say, “Since your boyfriend brought all these sports people, does that mean I can hit them up for donations to the outreach program?”
No wonder they’d hired her. Micah grinned. “Have at it, they make enough for a pretty substantial recurring donation. Enough where they can get invited next year.”
Camila was most certainly good at her job, because it didn’t take her long at all to have Daniel’s friends signing up for monthly sustaining donations.
“No, for serious, though,” Morley was saying to Camila, with a charming smile. “You should call this like, the Megalodon Tier. Then I bet you’d get a lot more people to join.” He paused. “You guys don’t have any of those, do you?”
“Megalodons?” Camila cleared her throat. “I’m no marine biologist, but I’m pretty sure they’re extinct.”
“Yeah, they are,” Micah huffed. “Only gonna see that one and the three-headed shark on B-movies, Morley.” He couldn’t help but smile, though. Morley was fun at parties, even if he did think a sixty-ton shark was real.
“If we ever find one and need to rehab it,” Camila said, sliding her arm into Morley’s, “you’re going to be the first person I call to secure the funding.”
“Sweet! Name it after me, that’d be rad.”
Micah shook his head, and turned to find Daniel was over talking to Cody. Whatever they were whispering about, they stopped as he approached. He was curious why Daniel’s friends from the Venom were here, but they were mingling and it looked like there were one or two hockey fans among the guests, as he saw them posing for a few pictures. That might have also been his own friends, who were delighted to meet Daniel’s crew even if Micah’s friends looked hilariously short in comparison.
The gala was one of those appetizers-and-drinks affairs, which meant that most people would head off before too long. It wasn’t meant to be too fancy, as the aquarium preferred to keep the parties less expensive and not blow the budget on thanking donors. Micah was glad about that. When he’d first started working at the aquarium, their galas were dreary affairs at a downtown hotel with rubbery chicken and a silent auction, and one memorable year, a live auction with a D-list celebrity who drank too much wine and auctioned off a vacation package to Estes Park for sixty-five dollars.
This was way better, and scheduling it around a turtle release was a great idea. People liked wandering to the tents for food and drinks, and then into the aquarium itself to see the animals and listen to some of the staff talk enthusiastically about them. Silver was in his element, swimming in his enclosure both indoors and outdoors. There were ball-shaped lanterns made out of dolphin-safe recycled plastic, with solar lights inside that started to gently glow as the sun went down. They were a great addition, as Silver could play with them and the effect looked a bit like he was tossing lights into the sky. Gretchen and Nathaniel seemed fascinated and had spent most of their time near the enclosure with Tabby at their side.
Micah caught a glimpse every now and then of the lanterns and he had to smile. He’d been nervous about them at first, and Cody had had to assure him that they were used in other places for dolphin enrichment and were perfectly safe. Silver liked them, even if his antics did splash a few of the guests. Luckily, they didn’t seem to mind and Micah thought he’d probably see a lot of #selfiewithsilver pictures on Instagram later.
It was full dark and most everyone was gone when Cody game up to him, grinning widely. “Hey, Micah. There’s, uh. A problem. With, um. The dolphin. Wait, no! The lights. Just one light. The light in the tank with the dolphin, I mean.”
Cody got this all out and never stopped grinning, which set off Micah’s alarm bells but also made him wonder if this was some attempt to get him splashed by Silver—probably for some promo thing. Still. “Nothing bad?”
“No, just, one went out and I figured you could show the people in there how you have Silver retrieve it.”
“That’s what everyone wants to see,” Micah agreed dryly. “Their money going to teaching dolphins to retrieve faulty novelty lighting.” He accompanied Cody to the interior of the aquarium and frowned. The only people inside were a few staff members, the aforementioned dolphin, Micah’s friends, the Venom players, Sebastian, and Daniel with Tabby and the kids. Everyone was standing on one side, with Daniel facing him.
In the water, the solar lanterns gleamed. All but one, which had indeed gone out. Silver was a flash of silver beneath the blue, and Micah whistled and saw a pail of fish on the edge. He glanced at Cody, who was still grinning.
“I have a feeling I’m being set up,” Micah said. His heart was racing, and he wasn’t sure why—maybe it was the way Daniel was staring at him, the soft, sweet smile on his face. Micah smiled back and grabbed a fish, then whistled and pointed at the ball without a light. “Fine, if this is just to see me get all wet, someone’s paying to dry-clean this suit.”
Silver popped up, chittered at him, took the fish, and then dove off with minimal splash—which mostly landed on Daniel, who gallantly stepped in to take the brunt of it on Micah’s behalf. Everyone did have their phones out—except for Daniel—so he must be right on about the setup. Oh well. “Thanks for taking one for the team,” he said, to Daniel, as he waited for Silver to come back. “Team me-and-you, that is.”
“Anytime, babe,” said Daniel, with that same smile, and he looked nervous—which was silly, he had more than one nice suit and looked damn good wet.
Silver returned with the ball and Cody whistled, and Silver bounced it over the edge of the enclosure. Micah saw this one was a little different than the others, and that in lieu of a solar light there was a box. He frowned, picked up the ball, and then glanced up—and froze.
Daniel Bellamy was on one knee in front of him.
“Wait,” Micah said, glancing down at the lantern again. “What?” He looked back at Daniel, barely able to breathe.
“Uh,” Daniel said. “I sort of have a thing? So could you get that out?”
“What—oh, yeah.” Micah promptly dropped the lantern, which rolled away from him. He heard a few laughs from their audience but he couldn’t concentrate on anyone but Daniel—Daniel, whose hockey reflexes meant he could reach out and snag the ball quickly, solemnly presenting it to Micah with a little half-grin.