I stiffen in his arms. “You saw all that?”
“Oh, yeah. I saw it. I got drunker than I ever had that night. It was memorable, and I woke up with no idea where I was. Turns out, I’d stolen Dad's boat, driven it up the coast, anchored it, swam to land, and passed out.”
“What?” I say with a chuckle. “Your dad would have killed you.”
“Pretty bad, huh? And, oh, yeah, he screamed at me until he couldn’t speak anymore, then didn’t talk to me for three weeks. They moved away a year after you left.”
“Why did you get that drunk?”
He chuckles. “I’m not sure you’re ready to hear my reasons yet.”
I cock my head to the side, but my stomach flutters violently. He’s right; I’m not ready to know that he feels sorry for me.
“So, where are we going?” I say, looking out as we leave the cove behind.
“Ah, that’s the surprise.”
He steers the conversation away from anything too deep, asking about my favourite food, which is still Dad’s smoked fish and Mum's salad. Devon probes into everything, getting me to spill stories that I haven’t thought of for years until he slows the boat and stops it. We float on the waves as he drops the anchor. I look around and recognise this place instantly. It’s a secret beach you can only access by boat, with an incredible reef for snorkeling.
I look up as he shows me the face mask, snorkel, and flippers.
“Feeling brave?”
“What about Danger?”
“Ah-ha! I came prepared.” He shows me a little dog crate with a bed inside. “Or.” He pulls out a floating raft with a rope attached.
I laugh and look at the waves. They are only slight rolls. “Let’s try the raft, though he’s probably going to swim.”
I shimmy out of my shorts, trying really hard to ignore the hot and heavy gaze of the alpha on the boat. Warmth burns low in my belly the longer I feel him stare. Abruptly, he turns, and I’m freed from his spell.
Excitement bubbles in my chest as I sit on the edge of the boat, putting my flippers on. I get the mask in my hands and, with a wicked smile, tumble off the side of the boat. The water is cold, but instantly, it feels like home.
I kick to the surface and sort out my mask, then swim to the back of the boat and collect the raft, rope, and Danger. As expected, the first thing he does is jump into the water beside me. I look down into the blue; the sandybottom is way down, almost invisible in the deep water. We just float above it, weightless, free.
I have missed this so much.
Devon joins us and takes my hand, leading us towards the edges of this smaller cove. Thick beds of seagrass wave with the motion of the water and currents of warm and cooler water wash over me.
Tiny silver fish swim, unperturbed by our presence. A crab scurries off a rock and disappears. It’s a world I know so well, one I dream about sometimes.
Danger circles us and then climbs up onto the raft, barking.
I allow myself to go vertical. As Devon comes behind me, he turns me and points. In the water's gloom, grey shapes appear. I watch in awe as a pod of dolphins swims towards us, watching us with big, intelligent eyes as they pass by. A doting mama carefully guards a baby. They stay for a few minutes and then, having satisfied their curiosity, they leave.
I break the surface and pull my snorkel out of my mouth.
“Did you see that? Oh, god, Devon, that was incredible. They came so close.”
He smiles at me. “They did. They were beautiful.”
“Thank you,” I murmur.
“We’re not done yet.” He laughs and puts my snorkel back in before ducking back under the water.
Devon takes my hand. He smiles; I can tell because, in his mask, his eyes crinkle, and my stomach flutters again. We’re swimming side by side, and I am so hyper aware of him, I could almost forget where we are.
He points out schools of fish and an octopus that crawls slowly over a rock. The sand and its patterns, the light that shines down on them, are the patterns of my life. I undo the rope and hand it to Devon, taking a deep breath and diving. In the silent world of the ocean, I have none ofthe concerns of past or future; it’s just me in this moment. The pressure, the freedom, the ocean is like a hug. I'm light, and everything makes sense in this strange world. I reach the bottom and pick up an abalone shell, running my fingers over the iridescent rainbow before I turn.
