As we bob in the current waiting for Vanessa and Miguel to lower down the bucket for us to drop our fins into, everyone starts to chat about the sea turtle. Hugh stays silent. So do I. We are the first to clamber up the ladder, and we wordlessly put away our equipment. I try not to remember how ironic it is that I am mad at him for keeping secrets.
Hugh clears his throat next to me. ‘So how was your dive?’ he asks.
‘Fine,’ I say, my voice taut. ‘Yours?’
‘Fine. So, you liked Pippa as a buddy then?’
‘Yep.’
Hugh’s shoulders slump, but he doesn’t say anything else. I watch him walk away from the bench. I should be happier after just watching a sea turtle swim majestically over the Great Barrier Reef. I should feel triumphant after sticking Hugh with someone less experienced. Instead, I just feel confused. Revenge, however small, isn’t as sweet as I expected.
Chapter 20
Three dives to go
Hugh knocks on the door to our cabin while I’m in the middle of pulling a shirt over my head.
‘One second,’ I call out. I pull down the T-shirt. ‘OK, come in.’
Hugh squeezes into the cabin beside me. ‘A lot more modesty than yesterday,’ he quips darkly, ‘things have certainly changed.’
‘Look.’ I spin around, hands on my hips. ‘First of all, can you stop referencing our little accident as a seduction ploy. I wasn’t exactly staking out your shower and planning to jump you in the hallway. Secondly, how did you not expect me to be upset about your paper?’
‘I honestly felt like you knew that was where I stood.’ Hugh runs a hand through his hair. ‘I didn’t mean to upset you,’ he says quietly. ‘I thought we were having a good time together.’
‘We were,’ I say, emphasising the past tense. I don’t want to be in this tiny room with him. It smells like his cologne, which makes me want to wrap my arms around him, but my head wants to rip him to pieces. The tension inside me makes me want to explode.
‘And now it’s just ruined? For the rest of the trip?’
‘I mean . . .’ I trail off. I shrug my shoulders. ‘I have to focus on finding this fish.’
‘I could help you do that,’ Hugh says, his voice bordering on pleading.
‘I don’t know how or why you would.’ I cross my arms over my chest. ‘Entertaining this at all was a bad idea.’
Hugh’s eyelashes flutter. ‘Got it,’ he says quietly.
‘Excuse me.’ I sidestep him and exit our room, suddenly desperate for some fresh air.
I fidget restlessly until I eventually doze off on the platform in the sun, with Pippa swaying on the hammock above me. Our next dive is in a couple of hours, then we’ll eat lunch and prep for our final late afternoon dive. I know I should be doing everything I can, reviewing Millie’s notes or looking at the pictures I’ve taken so far, but I can’t bring myself to look at my camera. I know I won’t find what I’m looking for. Instead, I drift in and out of sleep as the boat gently rocks back and forth.
I am just about to drop back to sleep when I hear the words ‘butterfly wrasse’. For a moment, I’m not sure if I’m already dreaming. I open my eyes a crack to figure out where the conversation is coming from. It’s Vanessa’s voice talking about the wrasse, but I can’t see her from my vantage point. I’m about to get up when I realise why – Vanessa is in the crew’s cabin, the one whose windows point out onto the platform. I’m right next to her, just on the other side of the glass. Whoever is inside can probably see me, but I’m not sure if they know I can hear.
I close my eyes and lie perfectly still.
‘Haven’t seen one,’ I hear Vanessa say.
‘You’re sure?’ asks Hugh.
That dirty bastard, I think. He’s interviewing them for his paper. He’s getting proof that the wrasse doesn’t exist from the people who dive here for a living. I feel like someone’s reached into my chest and grabbed my heart . . . first-hand proof of the wrasse’s extinction is the last thing Millie needs. I’m seconds away from getting up and storming into the room myself, just to point out the hypocrisy of Hugh saying earlier that he would ‘help me’ find the wrasse, when I hear him ask something else. I make out the words ‘where would you look?’ before I slightly shift my body and press my ear closer to the window.
‘If the last place they were seen was Norman Reef, then I would try that,’ Vanessa says.
‘What are the odds we could do our afternoon dive there?’ Hugh asks. We have two more dives today, a midday and a late afternoon.
‘I can ask Aaron . . .’ There’s a pause. I remain as still as possible. ‘Wasn’t Millie the one looking for the butterfly wrasse?’
‘I’m just trying to be helpful.’
