There is the past and the future, the time when Shelly was a professional scientist and the time when the world will be a massive ocean. The in between is the now, measured in moments that pass faster than she blinks.
There is the fight with the little girl who cannot learn her place, who thinks that she can mess with an adult's business. A speech from Archie comes along, one full of promises.
The future is waves on the shore, pulling the sand of the current time further and further into the past until the land is washed away.
Moments come, moments pass. Fights between Maxie and Archie, as inevitable as they are, come and go. The sand washes away.
Courtney comes and goes as she pleases. Neither are fools. Their jobs and bosses come first; as desirable as Courtney's touch is, as welcome as her warm lips and the feel of her soft skin is, none can deny their responsibilities. Duties are a fact of life, as constant as the moon and tide's shifting.
But she lives for those moments anyway, those moments when she is free and the future is far away. During that time, Courtney is close and their jobs no longer matter, at least for a few moments.
And for now, as the waters rise around them both, threatening to pull them both into the ocean's cold depths, that is enough.