Page 61 of Obsession Under the Southern Stars

That makes her laugh. “Thank you.”

“I meant it as a compliment.”

She wrinkles her nose. “I know.”

“The world under the ocean is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Apart from you.”

She looks down, a little bashful. “That’s a nice thing to say.”

I reach out and cup her cheek. “Thank you for today.”

Her eyes meet mine again. “It was fun, wasn’t it?”

“Oh yeah.”

She nibbles her bottom lip. “Joel…”

At that moment, my phone buzzes on the counter, announcing a call. “It’s Manu,” I say, picking it up. I swipe and answer it. “Hey.”

“Hey. It’s me,” Manu says. “I was just wondering how Zoe’s doing.”

I look at her sitting across from me, her dark hair swinging as she tips her head back to drink from her water bottle, revealing her pale throat. “I called a doctor in to check her over. She’s a bit tired, but she’ll be fine.”

“Oh, that’s great news. I kept thinking about her regulator free flowing. It’s never happened to me, but it must be pretty scary that far down.”

“Yeah, I’m not surprised it shook her up. How are you feeling?”

“Pretty rough actually,” he says. “I’ve got a really sore throat, and Hori’s developing a cough. And what’s a real shame is that both Emma and Clive seem to be coming down with it. So we were thinking about postponing tomorrow’s dive. There’s no point in going out if everyone’s unwell.”

I feel a twinge of disappointment. I hate it when dives are canceled, and it’s made worse because Zoe’s not here for very long. Still, after today’s incident, it’s probably best to take a day to rest and recover.

“Of course,” I say. “We’ll see how everyone’s feeling on Friday.”

“All right. I’ll probably work in the Bay of Islands office tomorrow if you need me.”

“No worries. Catch you later.” I end the call.

“Aw,” Zoe says, “they’re not canceling because of me?”

“No, apparently Emma and Clive have come down with the same thing, and you can’t dive with a cold.”

“No, imagine if you sneeze.”

“Exactly. So we’ll take a day. It’s possible they might feel better by Friday.”

She sighs, leaning her chin on her hands again. “Can’t we go, the two of us?”

“We’d have nobody to stay on the boat. I wouldn’t be happy with that, especially after what happened today.”

“It’s such a shame. The weather’s apparently going to be gorgeous tomorrow.”

I think about it. “Well, the two of us could take the boat out and sail around the bay.”

Her face lights up. “Really?”

“Yeah. We could order a picnic, have lunch on a beach somewhere. Take snorkels and go for a swim. Might be fun.”

“I’d love that.”

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