Free The Fallout by S.A. Bodeen

saw anyone else in all that time.”
    “They seem to like Gram and Els okay,” he said.
    I raised my eyebrows.
    He grinned. “Well, they seem to like Gram okay.”
    “Give it time,” I said.
    I didn’t have time to think about it because Lucas came running in, dragging a giggling Cara by the hand. Her dark hair was in pigtails and she wore a purple fleece jacket. Her jeans were tucked into tiny pink Uggs, and she immediately tried to launch herself into Eddy’s lap.
    Eddy shot a look at me and I held out my hands. “See?”
    He picked her up, then stood up and started throwing her into the air, making her laugh even more.
    Lucas tugged on my arm. “Can we go now?”
    “Hey, okay. Lemme finish eating.” I pushed away from the table enough so he could sneak up into my lap, where he sat until I was done.
    Lee was waiting outside in the SUV, and Eddy and I strapped Cara and Lucas into their car seats. Then Eddy sat in front by Lee and I sat behind him. Both little kids fell asleep on the drive over, and we had to wake them up when we got there. Lucas was fine, but Cara started crying, so I carried her into the aquarium while Lee bought tickets. There were rental strollers, so we got one of those for Cara. I pushed her as Eddy held Lucas’s hand and walked toward a mammoth aquarium with a viewing window at least twenty feet high and probably twice that wide. The sign near it read, WINDOW ON WASHINGTON WATERS . I scanned the information and said, “Hey, Lucas. There’s more than eight hundred fish in here.”
    Lucas pushed past me and went right up to the window, where he placed his hands flat against it and looked up at the bottoms of some huge salmon.
    Eddy was reading the brochure and stopped. He glanced at his watch. “Hey, the dive show is about to start. There won’t be another one while we’re here.”
    “Let’s do it,” I said. I pushed the stroller closer until I was standing behind Lucas, and Eddy and Lee stood on either side of me.
    The water inside the tank surged now and then, which made the blades of kelp sway slightly. Huge rock formations took up a lot of space, and tons of fish swam in and out as we watched. Anemones poked out of holes in the rock, and sea stars and sea urchins were stuck to the sides. Eddy bent down beside Lucas. “See the sea stars?”
    Lucas’s mouth was wide-open and he nodded. “Look at all the fish.”
    As we watched, a diver entered the water and swam until he was on the other side of the window from all of us who were watching. A good-size crowd began to gather, mainly a lot of moms with preschool-age kids. The one man in the room caught my eye. He had a thick, reddish beard and wore camouflage pants and a black jacket. He held the hand of a little girl in dark braids who was sniffling. Her eyes were red, as if she’d been crying. She told him, “I want to stay!”
    In the last few minutes before the program started, the crowd began to pack in tight around us.
    My heart raced and my breaths became shorter. I felt like I wasn’t getting any air. My hands began to tingle, and I pulled my collar away from my throat. I wanted to scream.
    Lee grabbed my arm. “You okay?”
    “I don’t know. I—” Was I having a panic attack? All these people … Costco had been crowded, but the warehouse had been brightly lit, the ceiling high overhead, plenty of space. But here, in the aquarium, it was darker, and the ceiling was low, and I felt packed in with everyone.
    “Take a deep breath,” he said.
    “I’m trying.” I squatted down, so I was eye level with everyone’s purses and strollers. Cara reached out to me. I took her hand and held it, squeezing probably harder than I should have, but having her soft little hand in my hand helped. After a moment I could breathe again, and my heartbeat had slowed back down. I stood up. Lee asked if I was okay and I nodded.
    The diver started talking through his headpiece, telling us about some of the fish and other creatures inside