Page 29 of The Version You Hide

She tucks her hands under her thighs and her shoulders jump up in a shrug. “Not really.”

“No? You don’t have a hobby? Or something that you do just for you? Something that you’re so passionate about that you need it like you need air?”

She gives me a sideward glance. “Okay. Settle down there.” She seems to ponder my question for a moment and then finally she says, “I don’t know. I guess I have my art. I like to draw, but it’s nothing special.”

“Something tells me you’re probably not giving yourself enough credit,” I tell her. “Maybe you could show me sometime.”

She gives me a sceptical look, like she can’t understand why I would possibly want to see her work. But I do want to see it. There’s something about Mackenzie that I’m drawn to. I just haven’t figured out what it is yet.

“Yeah, maybe,” she responds, then in true Mackenzie style, she deflects the attention back onto me. “So, why diving?”

My answer is automatic. “I love it. I love the ocean and everything in it.”

“Everything?”

“Yeah. Everything. You’ll see.”

For a second I think she’s going to make some smart-ass comment like she usually does, but instead the corners of her mouth twitch subtly with the smallest hint of a grin.

And I make it my mission, right here and now, to make this girl smile a real smile one day.

Chapter 10

MACKENZIE

I’m totally out of my comfort zone here, bobbing around in the middle of the ocean participating in a water sport that I’ve never tried before, without the friend that actually booked it.

But I’m still glad I came.

The reef is beautiful, brimming with fish of all the colours of the rainbow and corals so articulate in their design. I make a mental note to thank Harper for pushing me to come out here. It has been exactly what I needed.

When we’d arrived at the reef, Jade had given us a thirty-minute guided tour, pointing out different species of fish and rattling off facts about turtles. She’d also shown us some interesting reef formations and explained how corals are actually animals and not plants, which was something I’d been unaware of until this point. After the tour, we’d been told we could explore freely until it was time to get back on the boat.

I dive down deeper and come face to face with another sea turtle. Behind it, two others float in the depths. I’m mesmerised by their grace and the way the rays of sunlight penetrate the water in silver streaks, highlighting the colours in their shells. I find myself thinking about the canvas and art supplies I retrieved from Pamela’s loft. Maybe I’ve just found my next subject.

Further down, I can make out Dylan and the other scuba divers. I’m not sure I have any intentions of learning how to dive, but I am impressed by it. It must feel super-human to be able to walk along the ocean floor. Although I’m not sure I’d be prepared to face the many creatures that lurk out in all that deep blue.

I glide upwards, taking a deep breath as I break through the surface.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Jade treads water next to me, her snorkel mask perched upon her forehead.

“Yeah,” I agree, sliding my mask up onto my forehead in the same way. “It really is.”

“Told you you’d like it,” she says with a smile. “It’s a shame Harper couldn’t make it.”

“Yeah,” I say. I feel a pinch of guilt at being out here knowing it was my friend who really needed this escape. “It’s too bad. She would have really liked it.”

“Another time,” she says.

“For sure. I’m definitely bringing her back out here once Noah feels better.”

A moment later, four dark figures resurface near the boat, their excitable voices carrying across the water as they whoop and holler.

“Did you see that?” The young woman says to the rest of the group. “It was so cool!”

The man to her left responds by high fiving her. Whatever happened down there below the surface has no doubt gotten the adrenaline pumping through their veins. Dylan slides his mask up onto his forehead, his eyes finding mine across the turquoise ocean.

“Well, Dylan’s back,” Jade announces. “That’s our cue. Morning teatime.”

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