“Depends. The tours leave from the other side of the peninsula.” He finished his coffee. “And can go quite far from shore.”
She hugged herself. “It sounds scary.”
“You’ll be fine. I won’t let you out of my reach.”
“But you might miss seeing the shark.”
“I’ve seen one before.” He smiled.
Tess hesitated for a second and then smiled. “Thanks, Ed.” Her smile warmed him, wrapping around him like a hug.
He prayed she was telling the truth. Because right now, he didn’t regret for a moment giving her a lift.
Chapter 12
Tess’s stomach swirled with nerves and nausea the next morning as she sat at the breakfast table. Outside it was still dark, but the kitchen was warm and bright with everyone chatting about the day to come. The farmers got ready for work, and Brandon’s teammates were excited about the whale shark tour.
“Reckon we’ll see any manta rays?” Dobby asked.
“I hope we see some tiger sharks,” Sam said with a wink at Tess.
She stiffened. No. That definitely wasn’t what she wanted to see. She wasn’t used to boats and the ocean. Had no idea what to expect from swimming with the biggest fish in the sea. Fear sparked, and she pushed away the rest of her barely eaten toast.
“Cut it out, Sam,” Ed said. “Tess is nervous enough as it is.”
Heath punched Sam playfully on the arm. “You forgot about your needle phobia?” he asked. “I can remind you if you like.”
Sam shook his head and held his hands up in surrender. “Sorry, Tess. I was just kidding. We’ll all take care of you.”
Some of the nerves leached away. She forced a smile, knowing they weren’t trying to be mean. She wasn’t used to being teased, and if she wasn’t so nervous, she might have enjoyed it.
As it was, she’d been a mess since yesterday. She’d lied to Ed.
She hadn’t called her parents, hadn’t told them she was safe, or what Tan had done. As she’d sat on the couch, she’d kept thinking about them sending her to live with Tan, about Ed telling her other people had been forced to do what Tan wanted them to do by threatening loved ones, and she couldn’t bring herself to call them.
What if they were involved and asked her to hurt Ed or his family in some way?
She couldn’t do it. Not after they’d been so kind.
So she’d lied and avoided talking about her family as much as she could.
“Let’s go,” Sam called.
They piled into the four-wheel drive Ed had hired from the airport. Ed ensured Tess had the front passenger seat while he drove. She felt kind of guilty about the three large men squashed in the backseat, but they didn’t seem to care.
The red dirt and dull green leaves on the shrubs were familiar to her now. She smiled as the ocean appeared on the right side of the car, so out of place when it felt as if they were in the middle of a desert. As they drove around the tip of the peninsula towards the harbour on the Indian Ocean side, they passed enormous towers touching the ground at a point and were kept balanced and in place by long metal cables. “What are they?”
“They’re submarine communication towers,” Ed said. “They send signals underwater.”
Interesting. She’d never considered how to transmit underwater before.
Finally, they arrived at the boat harbour where buses and cars with boat trailers filled the car park. She spotted Georgie over by a bus talking to a group of people who were going on her tour. Another group stood by a different bus, and there was no one standing alone, keeping watch for a Singaporean student on the run.
But she scanned again, just to make sure, looking in cars to make sure no one was inside.
No matter how many times she told herself Tan couldn’t know she was here, she couldn’t shake the fear.
Ed pointed to a boat with a bright blue and green logo of a whale shark on the side. “We’re going on that one.” He led them over to a tanned woman with short blonde hair peeking out beneath her baseball cap. She wore a polo shirt with the same logo as the boat, and denim shorts which only just covered her butt, exposing her long legs. Fit and gorgeous, perhaps in her early thirties, like Brandon’s teammates. Next to Tess, Heath nudged Sam and said something under his breath that she didn’t catch, but his grin spoke volumes.
