Page 74 of Visions of You

My alarm morphed into a soft warmth I hardly dared name. He was worried about me!

I spoke softly, “I’m one hundred percent fine, Gabe. There was no emergency. I knew exactly what to do and followed procedures to the letter.”

With a deep, growling sound, Gabe pushed away from me. He paced back and forth in front of his desk. “That goddamn shipwreck. I’m taking it off our schedule. It’s too dangerous.”

My jaw dropped. “You can’t do that! TheBensonis one of the best things about this area! It’s an integral part of the Wreck Trek. Gabe, it’s not that dangerous of a wreck. Conditions at the ships near Key Largo are far more unpredictable.”

He shot me a glare but continued pacing. “Let those dive shops take the risks, then. That guy could have died today! And you could have died going after him.”

I wanted to hold him—calm him down. But I was afraid to interrupt his agitated pacing. My confusion grew by the second. “But we didn’t! We’re both fine. I don’t understand why you’re so upset.”

“Of course you don’t!” Then he halted in the middle of the room and pushed his palms against his eyes. “How could you?”

“You’re not making any sense.”

He didn’t reply, his frown growing deeper.

My stomach did summersaults. “Gabe, please talk to me.”

And like a balloon, he deflated. His arms fell from his eyes to rest at his sides. A couch was pushed against one wall, and he flopped onto it with a giant sigh. “Come sit down.”

I lowered myself gingerly, putting some distance between us.

He rested with his eyes closed, his head leaning back against the wall. “Have you noticed that Evan has a limp?”

I blinked. I didn’t know what I expected to come out of his mouth, but that wasn’t it. “Yes…”

Opening his eyes, Gabe rolled his head and looked at me. His eyes held sadness and grief. “That injury is due to theBenson. All of us kids got dive certified as teenagers. We all loveddiving, but Evan and Hunter were practically obsessed. They were best friends growing up—Evan’s less than a year older.”

He took my hand, holding it gently. His agitation was gone, now replaced by a despondency that was much worse. I held back tightly.

“Early one summer when Evan was nineteen, he and Hunter went to dive theBenson. They’d been talking about diving that deep room at the stern to look for treasure, but I told them absolutely not. I had just graduated from college and was at home until I started my job in Miami. The three of us made plans to dive theBensontogether, but I had just started seeing Kora. She lived in Miami but wanted to meet me in Key Largo for the day.”

He stared at me, his handsome face bleak. “My two little brothers were no match for my new girlfriend. I ditched them to spend the day with her, but not after giving them strict instructions to go no lower than a hundred feet.”

A deep roiling disturbed my stomach. I had a feeling I knew where this was going. I squeezed his hand. “What happened?”

“Hunter loved that ship. He’d been over every square inch of it above 120 feet, but always with someone more experienced. They tookIndigo Dreamsout there and he talked Evan into diving the stern. They entered that room, which of course had no gold. Then a hallway beckoned, so Hunter continued with Evan following. They got lost, and Evan panicked. Hunter tried to help him—but they were 150 feet down, and their air was going fast. Finally, Hunter saw blue through one of the doorways and was able to lead Evan out. Their tanks were nearly empty by then.”

My skin crawled, invisible creatures prickling up and down my arms. What I’d just experienced had been a few minutes of worry. Gabe was describing every diver’s worst nightmare.

He dropped his head against the wall again, staring blankly at the far wall. “As soon as Evan was back in open water again, he bolted for the surface.”

I winced, picturing the damage that could be done from all thatnitrogen coming out of solution and damaging his tissues. “He got bent?”

Gabe nodded slowly. “Hunter tried to hold on to him but couldn’t. Evan was punching and kicking him. But Hunter refused to let Evan go up alone, so he followed. Both of them went straight for the surface. From 150 feet. After they climbed back on board, Evan was furious with him. Then his legs started tingling. Hunter started the engine and drove back at full speed. He radioed in what happened and that Evan was having symptoms.”

Gabe exhaled a long, deep breath. “By the time they reached the canal, Evan couldn’t move his legs and was throwing up.”

“Oh my God,” I whispered. I pressed my shaking hands into my thighs, trying to steady them.

“An ambulance was waiting and took him straight to Tavernier where the recompression chamber is. Evan needed treatments over several days, each lasting forhours, to prevent any further damage. When he was discharged, he was paralyzed from the waist down. He was nineteen! He had his whole life ahead of him, and everything changed because of one goddamn dive. He needed two years of physical therapy and a solid workout schedule at the Big House to walk again. Now he’s barely got a limp, but it was a long, brutal road to get there.”

I brought Gabe’s cool hand onto my lap and wrapped it between both of my own. “And what about Hunter?”

He shook his head. “He was perfectly fine. Absolutely no effects, even though he rose nearly as fast as Evan. He actually ran out of air on the way up.”

“Decompression sickness is unpredictable. Sometimes it strikes people doing very safe dives, then it spares others like Hunter. I’m so sorry, Gabe. I can understand why you don’t want to be near that wreck.”

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