Page 28 of The Version You Hide

“Uh, yeah.” I move out from behind the bar, realising too late that the space is too small. Despite the closeness of our bodies, she doesn’t take a step back. “I think you have that the wrong way around, though. Aren’t you the one busting my ass most of the time?”

That earns me another sly smile, her eyes glinting as they roam the length of my body. Any thoughts I have of whether that was her attempt at checking me out are cut short as Jade appears, slamming my wetsuit against my chest.

“Come on. Time to suit up,” she declares, the seriousness in her demeanour dissolving with a wink as she adds, “Aquaman.”

If looks could kill, the one I’m giving her right now would annihilate her right where she stands. Her wicked grin is wider than that of a cheshire cat, one hand perched on her hip, the other carrying a bunch of snorkel masks.

“Yeah. Okay. I should go… change,” I stammer, aiming a thumb behind me to the back of the boat.

Mackenzie nods, but her eyes don’t leave mine. I can still feel them on me, burning into the skin of my back as I turn.

And I’m not complaining.

“Come over and I’ll get you some equipment,” I hear Jade say as I’m walking away, then to the rest of the group forming behind Mackenzie she calls loudly. “If everyone would like to head over this way, I can hand out the snorkels and fins. If you will be scuba diving today, please see Dylan at the back there and he can get you fitted up with wetsuits and your dive equipment.”

A young woman and two middle aged men trail me to the back of the boat. The snorkellers usually outnumber the scuba divers and today is no different.

“Hey guys,” I say to the three people that have joined me. “I’ll just get you to come over this way and we’ll sort out what

you need. Are any of you first timers today?”

All three of them shake their heads, the men letting me know they’re PADI certified divers. The young woman explains that one of them is her uncle and the other her dad, and that she has done a couple of dives before. The fact that the two men are certified makes my job a whole lot easier, which I’m thankful for, because as I steal a glance at Mackenzie down the other end of the boat, I realise I’m going to be struggling to keep my main focus on the job today. I watch as she walks to the back, taking a seat on the bench outside.

There’s a sudden jerk as the boat glides away from the dock and we begin the journey out to the reef. I busy myself helping the divers find what they need. Then I give them a full debriefing, explaining how the tour will run and answering any of their questions along the way.

After I’ve pulled my own wetsuit on, I take the opportunity to find Mackenzie, knowing we still have ten minutes before we reach the dive location. She’s still sitting on the bench at the back of the boat, her tanned legs stretching out in front of her. She looks up as I approach.

“Hey,” she says.

“Hey.” I take a seat beside her. “No Harper today? I saw her name on the register.”

“No, unfortunately,” she replies with a quick shake of her head. “It was her idea to come out on the tour, but she cancelled last minute. Noah got sick.”

“Oh.” My forehead pulls in a frown. “I hope he’s okay.”

“Yeah. Me too. She didn’t seem to think it was anything too serious, but he had a fever,” she explains. “I asked Kristen if she wanted to come instead but she had a thing.”

“Well, I’m glad you still came.”

She glances up at me, squinting in the sunlight, her hair glistening like strands of white gold. She looks away and then back down at her feet. “So do you have any other sneaky jobs I don’t know about?”

“Ha. No. Just this one.”

“How many tours do you do a week?” she asks.

“I work the morning dives for five days of the week, but every now and then I take on an afternoon one.”

She nods. “So that’s why you cut your hours at the tavern and had Steve hire Jesse?”

“Yeah.” I rake a hand through my hair, then smooth my hands along my wetsuit covered thighs. “It was kind of always the plan. I still like working at the tavern though. Steve has been really good to me.”

“Does he know about your side job? Why so secretive about it?”

“He doesn’t know. He didn’t ask.” I suck in a deep breath as I contemplate the best way to answer the second part of her question. “My parents aren’t exactly thrilled about my life choices. I guess that’s kind of stopped me from shouting it from the roof tops.”

“Ah. Hence the heated phone call at the tavern the other day,” she assumes.

“Yeah. Sort of.” There’s a lot more to it than that, but I don’t want to go into that right now. “Plus, it’s nice to have something that’s just mine, you know?”

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