‘I can’t think of a thing,’ I lie. Hugh Harris being on this boat is something I don’t love, I think. I am living a lie, and he is too close for comfort.

‘Have you been to this part of the world before?’ Miguel asks. His hands are full of equipment that looks heavy, but he’s carrying it like it’s air.

‘No,’ I shake my head, ‘but now that I’m here . . .’

‘Let me guess, you don’t want to leave,’ he fills in for me.

‘You caught me!’ I put my hands up, laughing. ‘Who can I bribe to get citizenship?’

Miguel laughs. ‘Hey, I was that way too.’ He shrugs. ‘It worked out for me.’

‘I can’t actually abandon my home to live a life of adventure . . .’

Miguel tilts his head, the smile on his face only getting bigger. ‘Why not?’ he asks, his voice lilting with charm.

Before I can answer, Aaron calls his name. ‘Think about it,’ he says, ‘life is short!’ Then he rushes towards the cabin, equipment in hand.

I stretch out under the hot sun, thinking. Why couldn’t I live in a place like this? I could fly Murphy here . . . he would hate the flight, but he could do it. I couldn’t leave Millie though . . . or my parents . . . I shake the thoughts from my head, I might as well not daydream about the impossible.

I lean back into the platform and relax under the hot sun. If I can’t make this permanent, the least I can do is enjoy the present. I should be taking a nap and getting some rest to better prepare myself to find the butterfly wrasse. I can hear Derek grumbling about reassembling his camera, which apparently has to be cleaned in freshwater after every dive. I don’t know how Natalie doesn’t lose her patience.

‘Did you hear that?’ Pippa whispers as she climbs up onto the platform next to me.

‘Derek?’

She giggles and nods. ‘It’s insane!’ she says. ‘He knows Google has brilliant pictures of the reef, right? Like taken by Nat Geo or whatever? I showed my mum some before we came. I don’t know why he thinks he could take better. He might as well save himself the trouble and print those out.’

I let out a full-on laugh. ‘Pippa,’ I say, still laughing, ‘it’s probably about the “memories”.’

She rolls her eyes at me. ‘He’s giving all of us something to remember, that’s for sure. You know he brought filtered water from the mainland just for the camera bath?’

‘No,’ I gasp.

‘Yep,’ she says. ‘I’d have to off Andrew if he was ever that mad about a toy.’