“Yeah, she’s pretty special.”
“Tell me when you invite her up and I’ll get her on board the boat,” Sam said.
“Thanks. She’d like that.”
This easy banter was nice, but a question was burning on his tongue. Should he ask it and risk ruining the mood? They were still a way from town. “You want to talk about the reasons she dared you?”
“Not right now.” She shifted in her seat, turning to him. “It’s your turn to answer a question.”
“Fire away.”
“Were you scared when facing the gun?”
“Terrified.” He tapped the steering wheel. “But my choices were to ignore it and let you face it on your own, or do something. I couldn’t look the other way.”
“They teach you that in the military?”
“Some,” he admitted. “If you can’t run into danger, you’re not much use.” He shrugged off the tension brought back by memories of his time overseas. “I took a calculated risk. The dive boat would have heard a gunshot and chances were someone would have looked to see what was going on. I figured the poachers would run rather than fight if given the chance, so I gave them an out.”
“How long have you been diving?”
The change in topic surprised him. “About ten years. I get out as often as I can. What about you?”
“Same. I haven’t been out since… in a while.”
Definitely a story there. “Do you want to stay on board tomorrow?”
Out of the corner of his eye he saw her bob her head, but she said, “No. I’ll be fine.”
“You can change your mind at any time.” He’d get to the bottom of it, eventually.
“I’ll be fine,” she reiterated, sounding more like she was trying to convince herself than him.
Instead of pushing, he asked, “Will Ceiveon visit while you’re here?”
“She said she would, but it will soon be too hot to be pleasant.”
“At least you’ll be on the ocean every day. It’ll be cooler than on land.”
“What will you do when the tour season is over?”
It was a good question and one he didn’t have an answer for. “I don’t know. People sometimes need a charter boat, and mine can convert to sleep people on the deck. Otherwise I might help Brandon on the Ridge.”
He slowed again as wild goats bounded across the road. Penelope clutched the door handle.
“Why do they do that?”
“They don’t know any better.” He kept his speed low and switched on the spotlights. His high beams lit a decent stretch of road, but the spotlights were like driving during the day.
“I vowed to avoid driving after dusk and before dawn up here.”
“Good idea if you can, though you have to watch out for emus in town sometimes.”
“Crazy,” she said, shaking her head but with a smile in her voice.
Underneath the prim exterior was a warmth waiting to come out. Could he break through it? “We were doing exercises out of the Northern Territory once and we had to land on a remote runway except there was a buffalo in the middle of it that wouldn’t move. When we were finally able to land, it charged the plane.”
Penelope turned to him, disbelief on her face. “Now you’re making things up.”
