Page 27 of Sunny Undone

I look around the room again. No one seems frightened. No one is pretending. No one seems self-conscious. They’re simply…existing.

“I’d like to see if I can manage to just stand with it.”

He studies me before smiling. “Then we’ll do it together.”

Before I can ask what that means, Knox reappears with two women. One is stunning in the soft and effortless way magazines spend millions trying to recreate for their covers. She has dark hair that glows a little burgundy, and one hand rubs circles on her stomach.

The other has warm eyes and blonde curls that bounce as she walks.

“You must be Della,” the dark-haired woman says. “I’m Maren, Knox’s old lady. And this is Daisy, Vandal’s old lady.” Maren points behind her to the biggest man mountain I have ever seen. He’s got a gnarly series of scars that run from his eye to his hairline. His eyes narrow when I look at him as if he’s trying to size me up.

And while I know it is highly inappropriate to speculate on such things, I can’t help but wonder how the hell the two of them have sex because he looks like he could rip Daisy in two with zero effort.

“I have a question,” Daisy says. “Why are you so passionate about wetlands?”

My whole body eases because this is a question I can tackle. “It started because my father was born here and we’d come here every summer to visit my grandparents. The wetlands were this cornucopia of life. But as I got older, I realized most people see them as an inconvenience. They just see water and reeds and mosquitoes, but wetlands are one of the most productive ecosystems on earth. They store enormous amounts of carbon, filter pollutants out of the water before it reaches rivers and the ocean, absorb flood water like giant natural sponges, recharge groundwater, and provide habitats for everything from insects to birds to fish to alligators. Remove a wetland and the damage doesn’t stop where the bulldozers do. Water quality changes downstream, flooding gets worse, fisheries collapse, species disappear. They’re like the kidneys of the landscape, and you don’t realize how much they do until they stop working.”

Sunny appears by my shoulder. “And now we’re in official professor mode.”

“No, I’m not.” I pause. “Okay. Maybe a bit. And it’s assistant professor. I’m not the real deal yet.”

Maren puts her hand to her chest. “A woman after my own heart. I own the Magnolia Bait and Marine store. The waterways are my home and my living. And it drives me crazy the way people abuse them. Even if it’s just tossing litter.”

Daisy frowns thoughtfully. “So, Vandal always tells me I don’t need to worry much about alligators. Is that true?”

“People tend to notice predators even when we don’t notice the ecosystem. The alligator gets all the publicity but is actually one of the reasons the Everglades function so well. They dig what’s called alligator holes, little ponds that hold water during the dry season. Fish, turtles, birds, everything gathers there. When the rains come back, those animals spread out again, so without alligators, huge numbers of other species would struggle to survive. But to answer your question, Vandal is technically correct. Humans are statistically much more dangerous to alligators than alligators are to humans.”

Sunny does a double take. “Wait, you’re telling me the giant bitey murder lizards are helpful?”

I laugh. “They’re considered a keystone species.”

“Who knew?” he asks.

“Aside from me?” I squeeze his bicep and it’s rock solid.

“Smart ass.”

Over the next hour, I talk with Knox and Maren and Daisy. Vandal gets pulled into a conversation with Havoc. We talk about the changing environment. Maren sees it in fluctuating water levels and more disruptive storms every year. While she doesn’t have the same academics as me, her observations are just as sharp.

They eventually drift away, and I’m kinda relieved because I’m getting peopled out.

“You’ve got this face,” Sunny says when we’re alone again.

“I can’t wait to see where this is going.”

“No. Seriously. You get all”—he wiggles his hands in front of my face—“sparkly.”

I blink. “Not once, in all the years of my performance reviews, has anyone ever told me I’m sparkly. Serious? Yes. Sparkly? No.”

“It’s cute,” Sunny says.

“I refuse to accept this.”

He shrugs. “Well, you’re outvoted.”

“You know there’s only two of us voting.”

“So?” Sunny asks.