“Shit, Thea, let me help,” Trace said, rushing to my side to assist with the heavy tank.
“It’s fine,” I said, crouching down until I sat at the loading platform. Trace stayed silent as he handed me my fins. Attaching both to my feet, I slid my mask over my face and tested my regulator, checking my dive computer one more time to make sure that I had full air.
“Ready?” Trace asked.
“Yup.”
I stood with Trace’s help and stepped to the edge of the platform. I could hear Trace lecturing Sienna behind me as I held my regulator and mask to my face with one hand, and my underwater camera in the other. I waited until the boat dipped low and then took a giant stride into the water, briefly going under the surface and then bobbing to the top, buoyant from the air I had filled my BCD vest with. Turning, I flashed Trace the OK sign.
“See, Sienna? That was a giant stride entry. And did you see how she immediately flashed me the okay sign?You want to be in constant communication with your dive buddies.”
I turned my head away from the boat, unable to watch Sienna running her hands up Trace’s chest as he talked to her like she was a baby. Letting the air out of my BCD, I began my descent.
Into my happy place.
There’s nothing quite like diving to take your mind off of anything going wrong in your world, I thought as I made it to the bottom fairly quickly. Checking my dive computer I saw that I was only at 43 feet of depth, and I rolled my eyes. Luckily, this reef was a healthy one so I adjusted my camera to set up for macro shots, knowing I’d have time to get up close and personal with some of the smaller marine lifeforms that hung out under ledges.
I was having some fun taking pictures of a grouper in a cleaning station under a ledge when I heard a scream tear through the water.
Whipping around, I saw Trace forcibly holding the regulator to Sienna’s mouth as she screamed into it, bubbles all but free flowing around her head. Her body jerked back and forth as she flailed her arms, pointing off in the distance as Trace tried to calm her down.
Rolling onto my back, I looked to see what the fuss was about.
I was rewarded with the sight of a black-tipped reef shark in the distance, and I almost choked with laughter. The more Sienna struggled and flailed about in the water, the more she was going to look like a distressed fish. And you know what sharks like to eat?
Injured fish.
Smiling to myself, I kicked closer to the shark, adjusting my settings on my camera for a wide-angle shot. Holding the camera up, I took picture after picture as the shark swerved its way closer, curious to see what all the fuss was about.
I almost doubled over in laughter when Sienna’s fin caught Trace between the legs and I saw him reach to cup himself. He grabbed between his legs and I could see his eyes wincing in pain behind his mask.
I bet he wished he’d dived with just me this morning, I thought, smiling at him with my eyes as he pulled Sienna back to the boat, forcing her to hover for a safety stop while she kicked in panicked circles.
The shark soon grew bored and moseyed off, and I saluted it silently for giving me one of the best laughs I’d had in a long time.
Chapter Twenty-Four
On the wayback in,Sienna shot me dirty looks while she swallowed down the residual sobs that still shuddered through her.
“You know, reef sharks aren’t all that dangerous,” I offered, unwrapping a granola bar as the boat bounced through the waves.
“It’s ashark. You promised there wouldn’t be sharks,” Sienna shot a glare at Trace, her towel wrapped tightly around her shoulders.
“Well, Sienna, he really can’t control that. It’s the ocean. That’s where the sharks live. As well as the whales, the stingrays, and the moray eels. I mean, that’s their home. What were you expecting when you went in the ocean?”
“I don’t know. I just thought I’d see a turtle or like a clown fish, like Nemo,” Sienna said, swiping a fist across her eyes.
“Clown fish aren’t even found here…” I trailed off as Trace shook his head at me. He didn’t want me to talk sense into her? Fine, he could deal with it himself then.
I busied myself with rinsing my camera equipment in the freshwater bin, secretly hoping I’d gotten the shot of Sienna nailing Trace with her fin between his legs. That one might be a framer, I thought with a wicked smile as I packed up and unhooked my regulators.
“Looks like we’ve got company,” Trace said grumpily as he slowed the boat’s approach to the dock. My head snapped up at his tone and I turned, shading my eyes as I saw who was standing waiting for me at the dock.
“Cash!” I might have squealed a bit.
Trace shot a disgusted glance at me.
“That guy.”
