He nods but I can tell by his face he doesn’t believe me. ‘I’m serious!’ I double down. ‘I really did. I looked for a different kind at the airport before I came.’

‘Sure,’ he says. He turns his attention forward.

‘What, you don’t believe me?’ Immediately upon asking, I blush. I don’t know why it’s important to me that a stranger believes I wouldn’t willingly bring reef-harming chemicals to the Great Barrier Reef. Maybe because he’s Australian, and I don’t want to enter the country and get off on the wrong foot. Maybe because he is undeniably very cute. Maybe because I’m pretending to be somebody who would never make the mistake I just did.

‘Sure,’ he mumbles.

All right, asshole, I think.

We sit in silence the rest of the bus ride. I try to focus on absorbing every bit of scenery. I take a picture to send to Millie. I double-check I have her ID. I try not to look at who I’ve now labelled as ‘angry suntan man’, even though, despite his temperament, he’s nice to look at. He’s muscular in a gentle sort of way. Not like he goes to CrossFit, but more like he goes on runs and helps his neighbours move their furniture when they need it.

We’re in line to get off the bus when I see his backpack. He’s so much taller than me that I’m face to face with the logo: University of Sydney Marine Biology Lab. There’s no way . . . I think, shaking off the unease in my chest.

I debate asking if he knows Hugh but think better of it. He’s so unfriendly, if I tapped him on the shoulder, he would probably have a panic attack at the idea of talking to me again. Plus, I realise, I don’t want Hugh to know that I was using the wrong sunscreen.

Chapter 6

Day of the first dive

I walk in a large circle before I realise I’m completely lost. I’m looking for Coral Sea Dreaming’s boat, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere. All the other bus passengers have either disappeared inside the port building or are lining up outside their boats. Even the old couple have found their way to where they’re supposed to be. The only other person that looks as lost as me is angry suntan man.

I huff and sit down on a bench to pull up my email and see if that will give me any direction, but I can’t connect to the Australian network, and my phone is stubbornly refusing to show any of my inbox without connectivity. Angry suntan man looks as stumped as me, but I figure he must have service – he is Australian after all.