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It stood over three stories tall and as I walked up to the glass and saw the huge kelp moving slowly in the current, I felt small and insignificant. I sensed Jason coming up and standing next to me but he didn’t say anything. We both stood and watched the array of fish, from the sheepshead, rockfish, and sea bass swimming about. I spotted a leopard shark and what I thought was a wolf eel but I couldn’t be sure. Lining the bottom were some sea anemones, sea cucumbers and hermit crabs.
“You know the kelp can grow up to four inches a day. I actually looked into becoming a volunteer diver here so that I could help untangle it,” Jason said after a few minutes.
“I didn’t know you knew how to dive.” I turned to look at him and he gave me a slow smile.
“There are a lot of things that you don’t know about me. Maybe you’ll learn a few more as we continue on our quest.” Jason’s eyes danced over my face as he spoke and I could feel myself blushing.
“Quest? Is that what we are calling it now?”
“It seems as good a word as any. Shall we see the other exhibits?”
I almost said no, I could have stood and looked out into the kelp forest for hours. I loved diving and if I couldn’t do it, this was the next best thing. But I couldn’t stand and look at one exhibit all day. I didn’t see any octopus so I was sure this wasn’t the exhibit or what we were looking for.
“Sure,” I said and walked to another exhibit.
Jason was right behind me, standing close but not too close to me. He paused occasionally to take some video and I would make some comments about what we were doing and seeing. It was a Sunday and the aquarium was starting to fill up with people. It was small enough that we wouldn’t get lost from each other but it was still a good idea to stay close. Or at least that was what I told myself as we worked our way around the exhibits.
We stopped by the octopus exhibit, marveling at how big the creatures were and how well they could hide in holes and crevices but we didn’t see any shells or starfish with them so we knew they weren’t what we were looking for. However, I hadn’t expected it to be that easy. We wandered around the Monterey Habitat exhibits checking out all the animals there.
“Do you want to check out the birds?” Jason asked when we got to the entrance of the aviary. I had never been a big fan of birds nor did I think we would find what we were looking for there so I declined.
We walked outside to what looked like a small amphitheater in front of the Pacific Ocean. I wondered if they did talks or presentations there but nothing looked to be set up. I walked to the edge and looked out over the edge, wondering if what we needed to find was in the water.
Jason must have been thinking the same thing as he came up to me and said, “Don’t jump in looking for answers, the water is a bit cold.”
“Oh, I don’t go into anything colder than 80 degrees without a full wetsuit, the thicker the better.”
“Get cold easily, do you?”
“Yes. I even wear socks in my booties to keep my feet warm.”
“That works? I never thought to try that.” Jason wasn’t teasing me but looked genuinely interested.
“They are the warmest part of me on a dive. I had some other diver tell me the secret years ago, I thought he was joking but I had to see for myself. I figured the worst thing that could happen was I froze my feet off or had to abort the dive. But neither happened and I’ve been using the trick ever since.”
“How often do you go diving?” Jason asked.
“Not enough but I go when I can. However, I just lost my favorite dive partner.”
“Maybe you can find another one. I would be open to taking over, if you would let me.”
“I’d be afraid you would turn off my air or stab me as soon as you saw a shark,” I teased.
“No. I wouldn’t do any of that. I don’t need to be the fastest swimmer in a group, just not the slowest.”
“Are you calling me slow?” I asked.
He turned to look at him. He was smiling at me with his crooked smile and I could tell he was flirting with me. I was sure it was because he wanted me to not be sad about Kevin but it was more than that, and I was all for it.
“No. I’m stating I’m fast. Do you think you are faster than me?” he asked.
“There’s only one way to find out.”
I hadn’t thought I would go diving with a partner ever again after Kevin died. I thought it would be too hard. Talking to Jason and seeing his excitement about being in the water made me see I could and should find someone to dive with. Jason’s comments made me think he could be a good dive partner. The looks he was giving me made me think about what other things he might be good at.
“Then we will have to do that,” he said with a nod.
“One thing at a time. We need to figure out where these creatures are or what Kevin wanted us to find. Shall we keep going?” I asked.
