Thankfully, everyone’s already seated, so I’m spared Pippa’s commentary on Miguel. Hugh and I are next to each other in our usual spots. We’re not touching but we’re close. I can feel the heat coming off his skin – like he absorbed the sun and now he’s radiating the heat back out. At some point during my conversation with Pippa, he’s wet his hair and ran a hand through it, because now it looks nicely mussed and doesn’t resemble a haystack as much as it did before. Natalie and Derek are seated to the left of us with his camera equipment between them. I fight the urge to groan when I see it. I’m already jittery enough about the idea of a night dive, the last thing I want is to be waiting for Derek while a shark sniffs around. I hope Vanessa tells him he can’t bring it.

Andrew and Pippa are nestled together opposite Hugh and me, looking every bit the lovebirds they were when the trip started. I’ll miss them when this is over, and I wonder if they’ll want to stay in touch. Then I remember that Andi hasn’t met Andrew and Pippa, Millie has.

‘I can’t wait to bring this bad boy back out there,’ Derek says to no one in particular, patting the camera that sits in between him and Natalie. ‘I hope we see a shark tonight.’ He grins. ‘The guys at work will love it.’

No one responds to Derek – I chalk this up to the fact that he sounds like the Texan frat boy he is.

‘I didn’t know you were supposed to bring your camera on night dives,’ I say finally. It’s a lie, but I’m hoping someone (Vanessa) jumps on it and tells Derek that he has to leave his camera behind. I also hate awkward silences. I am, to a fault, reliably polite.

‘Oh yeah,’ Derek says with a grin. ‘I mean, in Texas you can do anything you want.’

‘Hmm.’

‘They even give you more air in Texas,’ Derek whispers, his eyes glinting.

‘But you’re not supposed to fill up tanks more than regulation,’ I remind him.

‘If you pay enough, you can do whatever you want.’

I feel Hugh stiffen beside me.

‘That sounds super safe,’ I say, a tight smile on my face.

The air seems to crackle with tension. Even Pippa and Andrew have quieted.

‘It’s my choice,’ Derek says defiantly, ‘and isn’t everybody all up in arms about “choice” these days?’

White-hot rage courses through me at his dismissive mention of the right to choose. I force myself to take a deep breath. The ocean is not the place for politics, I remind myself. I need to stay calm before this dive, I cannot afford to jump underwater with my heart already beating out of my ears.