Stop it. Stop it right now.
She shoved the thought down hard, forcing herself to focus on the camera. On the footage. On anything except the dangerous hope blooming in her chest.
She was so distracted that she didn't notice the current shift until it was too late.
One moment she was hovering in place, camera steady, watching the coral continue its ancient ritual.
The next, an invisible force grabbed her—strong as hands, cold as fear—and pulled.
Lily's arms pinwheeled, camera forgotten, as she tried to fight her way back toward the surface. But the current was relentless, dragging her sideways and down toward a gap in the reef formation where the water funneled into something fast and dangerous.
Don't panic don't panic don't panic?—
She was panicking.
Her lungs screamed for air. Her muscles burned with effort. The reef rushed past in a blur of color, and all she could think wasthis is such a stupid way to die,Alex is going to kill me, wait no the ocean is killing me first?—
Then Alex was there.
His arm locked around her waist, strong and sure, pulling her against his chest as he kicked hard against the current. For a few endless seconds, they hung suspended—the water trying to drag them down, his body the only thing keeping her from being swept into the reef's jagged embrace.
His eyes found hers through their masks.I've got you, they seemed to say.Trust me.
She did. That wasn't new anymore—the terrifying part was how much she'd come to depend on it.
With a final powerful kick, Alex broke them free of the current's grip, angling toward the surface with Lily still clutched against him. They rose through water that shifted from deep blue to turquoise to the champagne shimmer of sunlight.
They broke the surface gasping, still tangled together, the current gentler here where the reef didn't funnel the water into deadly channels.
"You okay?" Alex's voice was rough, his arm still tight around her waist. His free hand came up to push the mask off her face, his eyes scanningher for injury.
"Yeah." She coughed, salt water burning her throat. "Yeah, I'm okay. That was?—"
"Stupid. I should have warned you about that section. The reef creates a natural funnel, and when the tide shifts?—"
"It wasn't your fault." She pressed her fingers to his lips, stopping the self-flagellation before it could build momentum. "I wasn't paying attention."
I was too busy imagining a future with you to notice the ocean trying to kill me.
"Still." His jaw was tight, the protective instinct she'd glimpsed that first night on the porch fully visible now. "If something had happened to you?—"
"But it didn't." She wrapped her arms around his neck, letting her legs tangle with his beneath the surface. "Because you were there. Because you're always there."
They floated like that for a moment, faces inches apart, treading water in each other's arms. Lily was acutely aware of everywhere their bodies touched—his chest against hers, his legs tangling with hers, his hand splayed across her lower back like he was afraid she might slip away again.
"Scared me," Alex admitted quietly, his forehead dropping to hers.
"Takes more than that to get rid of me, Carmichael."
"Good." He kissed her—salt water and relief and something fiercer underneath. Something that felt like fear, like gratitude, like the desperate edge of a man who'd almost lost something he hadn't known he wanted to keep. "Don't do that again."
"I'll try to avoid near-death experiences." She kissed him back, softer. "No promises."
His laugh was shaky, but it was real.
They swam back to shore together, his hand finding hers beneath the water every few strokes like he needed to confirm she was still there. Lily let him. She needed the confirmation too.
The cabin felt smaller than usual when they returned.
