‘Right.’ Caro got to her feet, grabbing onto the side of the boat. This was easier than it sounded.
Gramps positioned her hands on the helm, pointing to a spot on the horizon. ‘Keep your eye right there. That’s where we’re going.’
Caro nodded. This was easy enough, like steering a car. But the boat seemed determined to go left when she wanted to go right. She turned the wheel a quarter turn, but still couldn’t manage to correct their course.
Suddenly she felt a strong body behind her and Drew’s hands on hers. ‘You need to turn the helm more than you do a steering wheel on a car.’ The wheel spun under her fingers, and the boat began to move out of the cove and into the open sea.
‘Got it?’
Yes, she had it. But his body felt so warm against her back. So strong. She could so easily just sink into that warmth.
‘A bit to the left.’ His breath caressed her cheek, and Caro turned the wheel. ‘Bit more...’
‘You want to go to Trethaven Point? There might be dolphins there.’ Gramps’s voice reminded her that it wasn’t just her and Drew, alone in the universe.
‘Dolphins?’ She heard the excitement in her own voice and Drew’s deep chuckle reverberated through his chest. ‘But what about Dolphin Cove?’
‘Dolphin Cove got its name from the shape of the headland, which looks like a dolphin’s head. If you want to see dolphins, then Trethaven Point’s the place to go.’
‘Can we go there, then?’
‘We’ll go wherever you want, lass,’ Gramps replied. ‘Bear to port.’
‘Turn left.’ Drew’s voice guided her, his hands helping her turn the helm so that the boat described a gentle arc in the water.
It took half an hour to get to Trethaven Point, which was on one side of a huge, sheltered bay. Caro was windblown and very excited, but Drew insisted on checking her drysuit and all her equipment, turning her round to make sure that everything
was just so.
‘Now you.’ She grinned up at him. ‘Jake told us that we must check each other’s equipment. He showed us how.’
Drew gave her a lopsided smile. ‘Okay. Since Jake told you...’
Caro repeated the acronym that Jake had taught them under her breath, going through the procedure. The boat was bobbing gently at anchor on a calm sea and Gramps was leaning against the helm, his arms folded and with a broad smile on his face as Drew submitted to being turned and turned again as she ran through the checks.
‘Happy?’ Caro nodded. ‘Right, then. Jake’s taught you how to sit on the edge of the pool and turn into the water?’
‘Yes, he said that was the easiest way for beginners.’
‘Okay. I’ll go in first and Gramps will help you. Give me the signal when you’re ready. You know the hand signal to make if you’re in trouble?’
He’d read her papers closely enough, and Jake had given her ten out of ten for hand signals. Caro decided to humour him.
‘Not sure is this.’ She flattened her hand, palm down, rocking it back and forth. ‘And Help is this.’ She raised her arms above her head.
‘Great. Now I want you to stay within reach of me all the time, but if we do get separated, what do you do?’
Caro closed her eyes, visualising the page in the manual and reeled off the bullet points. When she opened them again Gramps was chuckling.
‘I think she’s good to go, son.’
‘All right.’ Drew shot Gramps a glare. ‘Just making sure...’
Of course he was. Caro had submitted to all of Drew’s questions because she knew that he needed to ask rather more that she needed to answer. But she was ready now, and she couldn’t wait any longer.
Drew put the regulator into his mouth, holding it in place and executing an impressively smooth back roll into the water. Gramps held out his hand to steady her as Caro swung her legs over the edge of the boat.
‘All right, lass?’ Gramps smirked. ‘Better give him the signal, he’ll only make a fuss if you don’t.’