Kim stood up and turned, just in time to get a hug from Oliver Marriot. Giggling, she leaned forward and they kissed. “Oh, your breath smells of Indian food,” she said, making a funny face.
Oliver chuckled lightly. “So sorry, it’s just that I love curry—I used to eat it a lot back home. We had a late dinner because of our meeting at the dive shop, and I had no time to get back to the staff house to brush my teeth or even change my clothes.”
“It’s alright,” she said. “You guys sure got busy this afternoon.”
“We did. A whole bunch of guests signed up for the Open Water course tomorrow, so we had to divvy up the dive groups. There’ll be two others joining us tomorrow morning. A couple from Spain.”
Kim turned away in slight disappointment. “Well that sucks. I thought I had you all to myself tomorrow.”
He laughed again. “It won’t be so bad. Tomorrow will be mostly classroom instruction, followed by an exam.”
Kim sighed. “I just had my finals a few days ago. I can’t believe I’m back to studying again.”
“Don’t worry, it’s a piece of cake. These tests are purposely designed to be easy so even a child can pass them. After that, we’ll do some training at the pool.”
“They make the tests easy to pass?”
“Of course,” Oliver said. “The organization wants as many certified divers as possible. The more people take and pass the course, the more money it is for them.”
“I never knew that.”
Oliver leaned back on one of the support columns while keeping her wrapped in his arms. “That’s how the world works—money is behind everything. I learned that as soon as I started working.”
“What part of Britain are you from?”
“Northampton,” he said. “Spent some time in London too, before I decided to do some traveling.”
“How did you end up becoming a diver?”
“I was a backpacker in Thailand, and I ended up in Phuket. I took the Open Water course there and got hooked immediately. Afterwards I just kept getting more certifications.”
“But how did you get this job? The competition must have been tough.”
He nodded. “It was, but I knew Helmut—the co-owner—for a few years. I wasn’t his first choice, but the man he wanted was heavily into drugs, so I got the call instead.”
“Wow.”
“Indeed,” Oliver said. “I got lucky.”
She rested her head on his wiry shoulders. “So what are your plans? Are you staying here until Helmut decides to hand the keys to the dive shop over to you?”
He shook his head. “I’m just saving up so I can become a commercial diver. The course costs around ten to fifteen thousand pounds.”
She looked up at him. “What’s that?”
“It’s like doing construction work, except you’re underwater. Everything from oil and gas pipes and platforms, to bridges and sewers.”
“Sewers?”
“Yes, it’s one of the specialties. They pay people to go inside of them to do engineering work like welding and stuff.”
“That sounds totally gross and dangerous.”
“Not my first choice,” Oliver said. “I’d prefer to work in the open ocean as a sat diver if I get the chance.”
“What’s a sat diver?”
“Short for saturation diving. You get lowered, along with your mates, in a deep sea diving bell, then you take turns going out and doing stuff like welding.”
“How long do you stay down there?”
“Weeks, months even. You work with a different gas mix, and depending on the depth it takes some time to decompress due to the toxic gas buildup in your body.”
“Oh my god. How deep do you go?”
“Usually a hundred meters on down,” Oliver said casually. “That’s around three hundred and fifty feet. And a lot deeper.”
“That sounds scary. How dangerous is it?”
“Very. Quite a few have died every year.”
“And that’s the kind of work you want to do? It’s crazy.”
He chuckled again. “For some people the danger is part of the attraction.”
“And you’re one of those people?”
“I suppose so.” He looked into her eyes before giving her another kiss.
She looked away. “I don’t know if I can commit if you’re set to die like that.”
He placed his finger and thumb on her delicate chin and turned her head until they faced each other once more. “Are you thinking about getting serious with me, Kim?”
Her eyes were downcast. “I broke up with my last boyfriend just before I made this trip. Now you’re telling me you want to go do something dangerous for a living. I don’t know if I can live with that.”
“I understand,” he said softly. “We can just be friends if that’s what you want.”
She whimpered while placing her cheek on his shoulder once again. “I want us to be together.”
“Let’s take it one step at a time then,” he said. “Finish the Open Water course. Who knows, you might end up really liking it, just like me.”
“And if I do get fond of it?”
“We can both go to commercial diving school and be together as sat divers.”
She backed away and slapped him lightly on the chest. “Oh, stop kidding around!”
“I’m not. I’m serious. It’s the best way for us to stay together.”
She turned and stared at the row of watercraft along the length of the dock. Kim hadn’t been too eager to take the course; she just figured it was a good excuse to hang out with him. Now all this talk about going ever deeper in the water made her nervous, and she needed a reason to stay interested.
He got behind her and placed his steady hands on her frail shoulders. “You’re brooding again.”
Kim pointed towards one of the dinghies tied to the dock. “Hey, let’s take that thing out for a spin.”
“I’m afraid we can’t.”
“Why not?”
“I’d need to sign off on the log and guests boating at night is prohibited—unless it’s a night dive, but you haven’t even been certified yet.”
She gave him a mischievous smile. “So we just don’t tell anybody. I need to get more comfortable around the water so I can start that diver course tomorrow.”
His looks turned serious. “I could get into trouble for it.”
“I won’t say anything,” she said softly, placing a finger on his lips. “You don’t have any privacy in your bunkhouse, and I can’t bring you to the guest cottage since my parents and brother are there.”
He looked away. “I don’t know about this.”
She got closer to him and wrapped her arms around his tight waistline. She had once fantasized about being romantic on a boat with the one man who would be her true love, and the present opportunity was too good to miss. “Oh, come on. Nobody else is going to know.”
A part of him wanted to. He hadn’t had sex in awhile, and his last girlfriend was a Thai bargirl. “If someone finds out I could lose my job.”
She took his hand and began pulling him towards the small dinghy. “No one will find out.”
27
EVEN THOUGH THE OUTBOARD was a four stroke Suzuki, the quietest of its kind, Oliver insisted upon using the paddles and rowed the dinghy out of the dock until he was certain no one else would hear the engine start. The lights of the pier had become somewhat distant by the time he started up the outboard, its shrill whine turning into a low monotonous drone as he eased the small boat over the calm dark waters surrounding Lemuria.
Kim Dirkse sat beside him on the two person chair behind the helm controls. The full moon had begun its inevitable descent towards the darkened horizon, but she figured they’d have at least a few hours of fun by themselves.
Oliver made a slow turn as they traveled in a northerly direction, past the lights along the beaches until the entire resort became obscured by the thick, coconut palm trees past the shore. He pointed at the now darkened jungle at his port side. “We could just anchor the boat along the shore there. No one will see us.”