He winced.“Yeah.Be careful.”
She nodded and took the vest Oliver handed over the railing.By the time she’d placed it on the deck, he was on board, pushing off from the other boat.
Dot followed his directions to the barrel’s location, then suited up and followed him into the water.A chain was wrapped around the barrels and connected to a mooring on the bottom weighing them down.It was in about fifteen metres of water and she would have to free dive to get close enough for photos.She took the shots and, as she was getting close to needing to surface, Oliver tapped her on the shoulder and handed her his spare regulator.
Their eyes met, and she registered his concern.Maybe he was telling the truth.Maybe he did care for her still.Her fingers brushed his, their warmth adding to the swirling emotions inside of her.
She nodded her appreciation, took a breath of air, and continued her investigation.When she was satisfied she had the information she needed, she took the keys Colin had given her and unlocked the chains, holding the barrel steady, but there was no need.It didn’t move.She tried to lift it and shifted it a few centimetres off the bottom but it was too heavy for her to lift it further.She had to rig a pulley system like Colin had explained.
Dot gestured to Oliver that she was surfacing, and they both headed up.
Dot took a couple of deep breaths as she reached the surface, and retrieved the ropes to pull up the barrel.Oliver stayed in the water, floating nearby.“What’s the plan?”
“We’re taking them with us.”
“Them?”
“There’s four more.”
Beneath his mask his eyebrows raised.“How do you know?”
She just glanced at him, but said nothing.
“Right, you can’t say.What are you doing?”
“Rigging up a pulley system to get it up.”She finished attaching it to the boat.
Oliver lifted his hand.“Give me the end and I’ll clip it to the barrel.”
Dot shook her head.“I need to do it.”
“It’s foolish us both going under.”
He was right.“Come back to the boat.You can pull.”She could stay with the barrel as it was retrieved.
Oliver didn’t argue.Such a welcome contrast to Sam.He climbed back to the boat, taking off his BCD vest and mask.“Do you want to take it?”
She shook her head.She showed him what to do and headed back down to the barrel.This had already taken half an hour.If she wasn’t faster, she wouldn’t get it done before dark and she didn’t like her chances of finding the others afterwards.
In little time, the barrel was at the surface.They fell into a nice rhythm and the next three were found and retrieved within an hour.Only one to go.
This one was closer to an island, and the tide was going out, making the coral a lot closer to the surface.Dot manoeuvred the boat around the clumps and eventually found the last barrel in the middle of a circle of reef.The sun hovered just above the horizon, and it was harder to see below the surface.She turned on the boat lights, and Oliver handed her a waterproof torch.“Last one.”
They worked well together.It surprised Dot, though maybe it shouldn’t have.They’d always seemed to know what the other needed, but after so long apart, she’d figured they would have lost that connection.
She dived, taking photos quickly in the fading light, and then attaching the clip to the chain.This one had shifted in the storm, and the base was underneath a ledge.She needed to shift it away before they pulled it up.Rather than jerking on the rope to let Oliver know he could lift it, she surfaced and took a breath.
“What’s wrong?”Oliver called.
“It’s right against the reef.I don’t want to break it further.”But it wasn’t likely she’d be able to shift the barrel herself.Before she could ask, Oliver was already suiting up.
“Give me a second.”He jumped in and swam to her, turning around so she could do his buddy checks.After she checked the tank, he spun, and they were face to face.Too close.His blue eyes searched hers as if looking for something.
Nothing she wanted to examine too closely.She grabbed his regulator, checked the air was coming through and then backed away.“Let’s go.”She dived under, in too much of a rush to take a focused breath like she should, but she didn’t want to surface again.If she did, he would know she was rattled.
She swam to the far side of the barrel to push it away from the reef.Oliver followed her, holding out his spare regulator.
Her heart squeezed.Damn him for knowing what she needed.She inhaled and then he swam to the other side to pull the barrel using the rope.Together they shifted it away from the reef, and Oliver gave her the regulator again so she could take a breath before he surfaced to pull up the barrel.
