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They swam over to the boat with barely a word spoken, just a smile passing between them. With his buoyancy adjusted, it felt more like floating, a lazy kick of his fins moving him through the water with barely any effort. They climbed aboard the yacht, water dripping from their wetsuits puddling around their feet on the smooth, oiled deck, as his staff appeared to collect their dive gear and hand out warm, fluffy towels and dressing gowns.
With the activity around them, he could barely see Meena. He glanced over her way to say something, but when he saw her hand on the zip at the back of her suit he immediately looked away. He didn’t want to see that. Never mind that it wasn’t appropriate to watch her as she was undressing. He couldn’t. To be reminded of the wonder of her body would be too much. The reminder of making love to her. Of how she had trusted him. And he her. How together they had explored one another, fulfilled one another. Loved one another.
He pulled on a towelling robe over his tight, wet swim shorts and waited until Meena cleared her throat before looking round again.
‘That was wonderful,’ she said, her expression matching the smile and passion in her words. ‘The coral is doing even better than the last time that I was here.’
Guy couldn’t help but return her smile. ‘Shall we dry off,’ he suggested, ‘and have a drink while we talk about it?’
‘Perfect. I have so many ideas for Le Bijou. I’d like to know what you think of them.’
* * *
She’d been so inspired by what she had seen on the reef, she couldn’t wait to adjust her plans for how to put that into action. Her mind raced with ideas as she headed back to the cabin to change.
When she emerged, clean and dry in a cotton sundress, the sun was lower in the sky, its burning intensity now merely a hot glow on her skin. Still, she pulled her shades over her eyes, as glad for the subtle barrier they would provide between her and Guy as she was for their UV protection. But when she reached the deck Guy was nowhere to be seen. A steward had left a selection of drinks in an ice bucket, and a basket overflowing with fruit on a table between two sun loungers stretched under a sun shade, so she poured herself a glass of water and perched on the edge of one of the loungers, waiting for Guy to appear.
He strode out onto the deck with the confidence only a man on his own yacht possessed and came to sit beside her. Grabbing a beer from the ice bucket, he flipped off the lid and sat back.
‘So what was your verdict on the coral?’ he asked, looking across at her as he eased back onto the lounger. ‘Were you happy with how it was doing?’
She could feel herself glow with pleasure as she answered him. ‘I really was. There’s such a difference from the last time that I was here.’ So many of the bare, dead areas of coral were now teeming with life, and she’d recorded at least a dozen species that had moved in since her last survey. She couldn’t have hoped for a better result. ‘What did you think of it?’ she asked.
He smiled, and she was tempted to melt at the way the lines softened his face. It made him more human. ‘It was a relief, to be honest, after seeing the reef by Le Bijou. That was how I remember the diving here. Was it as bad as Le Bijou?’ Guy asked. ‘Before the transplant, I mean.’
She noticed that mention of diving here before, and again it tugged at something in her mind. A memory lurking just out of reach. She shook the feeling off, trying to stay in the present. Resisting the pull to that black hole in her memories.
‘It was different,’ she said. ‘Not exactly as bad, but it definitely wasn’t good. We’ve made a real difference. We have every reason to hope that we can replicate the results.’
Guy’s smile took her aback.
‘Well, anyone would think you actually care,’ Meena said, smiling back at him.
He frowned. ‘Of course I care, Meena. Why do you think I came?’
Of course he had come because he wanted to see the coral, she chided herself. Did he think that she was sitting here imagining that he had some sort of ulterior motive for seeing her? She could laugh at that. Should laugh at that. The only answer that made sense was that he had a real interest in how the reef was recovering. How that could be applied to Le Bijou.
So that he could get his building permits.
As her brain raced through the permutations of the different reasons that Guy could have had to come out to the dive today, of course it all came back to that. He wanted his permits so that he could get his building project moving again and get off the island.
‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I know that you care,’ Meena said quickly.
‘You should know,’ Guy said, and then stiffened, as if he had said something wrong. Meena watched, confused, as his body language became more and more uncomfortable. Eventually, he sat up on the edge of the lounger, facing her, his expression deadly serious.
‘What do you mean by that?’ she asked, the tension in his body contagious, putting her on edge too. They were sitting so close their knees were almost touching, their pose laughably tense on two pieces of furniture designed specifically for relaxation.
‘Nothing,’ he said, refusing to meet her eye.
‘It’s not nothing,’ she countered, trusting her gut. Trusting that feeling that there was a memory lurking just a little way out of reach. Trusting that Guy was hiding something, something that she would want to know.
‘Why should I know that you care?’ Meena asked. ‘I’ve only known you a week. You’ve not wowed me with your passion
for environmental conservation. There’s something you’re not telling me. What is it?’
She stared him down. She needed him to be truthful with her. She had spent so long questioning her body. Questioning her mind. Now she just knew that she was right about this. She had picked up on something that Guy had said and now she needed him to follow through and fill in the blanks.
‘It’s nothing,’ Guy said.
