The sun was starting to dip, bleeding orange and gold across the Outer Banks sky, when JJ spotted her—alone by the shore, yelling at the ocean like it had personally wronged her.

He’d just finished a surfing session, board still tucked under his arm, salt in his hair and sand stuck between his toes. At first, he considered walking past—he didn’t need some dramatic beach girl screaming like he was supposed to go full hero.

But this one was different.

There was something in her voice—not just loud, but frantic. Urgent. He squinted down the stretch of beach and finally saw what she was yelling about: a dolphin, trapped in a shallow tidal pool, tangled in netting and half out of the water.

And there she was—calf-deep in the pool, soaked, moving fast. She’d tossed a wet towel over the dolphin and was talking to it like it could understand her, trying to keep it calm while digging at the net with trembling hands. It was clear she’d been there a while. Clear she wasn’t gonna give up.

JJ hesitated. Could’ve kept walking. Could’ve looked the other way.

Instead, he shifted the board off his shoulder and wandered closer, calling out before he even knew what he was gonna say.

His voice was lazy, rough around the edges, just loud enough to carry over the wind and the waves.

“What’re you yelling your head off for?”