Caro signalled an okay to Drew and he signalled back. Then a sliding turn brought her into the water with a splash. Now, at last, she could put what she’d learned into practice.
They sank together into a deepening blue, the light dancing on the waves above their heads. The awkwardness of breathing through the regulator and managing the buoyancy of the drysuit were suddenly secondary irritations, compared to the shimmering beauty around her.
Drew was taking this first dive slowly and gently. Keeping within reaching distance and not letting Caro swim as strongly as she knew that she could. But there was enough to fascinate her as they travelled downwards through shoals of small fish to the sea bed. He pointed out crabs and strangely shaped creatures, their large eyes swivelling to take in as much light as possible. Jake had told her about maerl, the rock-hard, red skeleton seaweed, and there was some here in the well-lit shallow waters. So many new forms of life that were equipped to deal with their environment. Suddenly tortoise robots seemed just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.
It seemed that they’d only been down there for a moment when Drew signalled it was time to surface again. Caro’s heart sank, but she knew she must follow his instructions. She’d seen the tension in his face when they’d prepared themselves for the dive.
They surfaced next to the boat, and Caro saw Gramps sitting on the deck, a pair of glasses perched on his nose and reading the newspaper.
‘Okay, Gramps?’ Drew removed his regulator, shouting up to him.
‘Back already?’ Gramps raised his eyebrows. ‘I haven’t got to the sports pages yet.’
Drew grinned. ‘You want to go down again, Caro?’
‘Yes, please. We haven’t seen any dolphins yet.’
He was less solicitous the second time, allowing Caro to dictate the pace a little more. Drew was beginning to enjoy this too, and he even allowed himself to unclip his camera from his belt and take a few photographs. Caro took her time, inspecting the sea floor carefully, and Drew let her to swim a little further.
Finally he tapped his watch, signalling that they should surface again. Caro took one more look at this underwater kingdom, silently bidding it goodbye until the next time. Then she felt Drew’s hand on her arm.
He was pointing, towards a flash of movement to their left. It was impossible to see what it was, but then the shapes wheeled around, coming into view. Caro’s heart beat a little faster, bubbles spinning upwards from her breathing gear. Dolphins.
She wanted to swim towards them, but Drew had told her she mustn’t. She felt his hand curl around hers and she squeezed it tight, watching the creatures whirling playfully in the water. Then they were gone.
He kept hold of her hand. As they drifted back upwards, she wanted to hug him, but was afraid of dislodging some of the breathing gear. When they surfaced, Gramps had abandoned the sports pages and was standing at the side of the boat.
‘You saw them, Gramps?’ Drew called up to him, and Gramps nodded.
‘I managed to catch them on video.’ Gramps brandished an up-to-the-minute smartphone, which he presumably kept well hidden when he was playing the old seadog for the tourists.
Caro could have spent all day here, but Drew swam over to the boat, beckoning to her to follow. They climbed aboard, stowing their gear carefully, and then Drew sat down, his face wreathed in a delicious smile.
‘You enjoyed yourself?’
‘Yes, I did. Thank you so much, Drew. Can we go again?’
He chuckled. ‘I think I’m going to insist on it. I’ve had six months cold turkey, and now I’m well and truly bitten by the diving bug again.’
‘Your leg’s all right?’ Caro had noticed that Drew’s movements underwater had been far more effortless than they were on land.
‘Yes, no problem. Call it water therapy.’
It had been water therapy in more ways than one. He was smiling and relaxed now. Whether that was because the dive was over, or because he’d finally broken through another barrier in the long climb back to full fitness, Caro wasn’t sure. But she was sure that this had been an achievement for Drew and being part of it was special.
He unzipped the pouch at his waist, taking out a smooth flat stone and dropping it into her hand. ‘Here. A souvenir of your first dive.’
The stone had a round hole, right through the centre of it. It was the most beautiful thing that Caro had ever seen.
‘It’s called a milpreve in Cornwall. It’ll ward off snakes.’ Drew glanced at Gramps, who nodded sagely.
‘Thank you...’ Caro closed her fingers around the stone, holding it to her heart. This morning had been a succession of wonderful things and words weren’t enough. And the strangest and most wonderful thing had been that, quite unexpectedly, she’d found herself trusting Drew.
* * *
Drew was intoxicated by her eyes. Warm honey brown and reflecting every last bit of the magic of the morning. Caro was the magic. The way her forehead had puckered slightly in concentration as she’d quoted the diving manual, which he’d helped Jake to write, straight back at him. The way she’d leaned back a little, almost in his arms, as they’d steered the boat together. The way she’d squeezed his hand under the water.
He watched her as the boat moved steadily back to the diving centre, with Gramps at the helm. Her hair blown dry by the wind and stiff with salt, her fingers a little red from the cold and curled around the cup of hot soup from the flask he’d brought. Her nose was a little red, too, and it was enchanting.