‘I think that rule is just for kids,’ Natalie whispers to him, nudging him with her elbow.

I stifle a laugh and I see Hugh’s shoulders shake out of the corner of my eye.

After a lengthy safety briefing, which feels like it’s aimed solely at Derek, we change into our suits and strap on our equipment. I lurk next to Miguel, hoping he’ll sense my presence and ask me to be his buddy, but I have no luck. Hugh is watching me out of the corner of his eye. I wait until Miguel says, ‘Derek, you’re with me,’ jamming his thumb towards his chest for emphasis before I reluctantly turn towards Hugh.

‘See?’ I whisper, inclining my head towards Miguel. ‘No favouritism here.’

Just then, Miguel shoulders past me, pausing to say under his breath, ‘Maybe next time we can be buddies again.’

As soon as he’s out of earshot, Hugh bursts out laughing.

‘Shut up,’ I hiss.

‘You better play nice, or I won’t be saving you from any sharks today,’ Hugh says with a gleam in his eye. I glare at him by way of response.

We’ve done this before, the dance where we check one another’s equipment, but when Hugh leans close to me to check my air pressure, I find myself holding my breath. And when he slips his fingers under the strap of my BCD, the pressure of his fingers causes heat to race into my belly.

I can’t tell if he’s trying to distract me. Or because we declared a truce, he is sincerely attempting to be a good buddy. My mind keeps circling back to our conversation earlier.

As soon as I’m off the boat and in the expanse of crystal blue water, my head immediately clears. Effortlessly, everything is pulled into focus, my breathing slows, my heart race stabilises. My weird tangle of maybe-this-isn’t-hate-anymore feelings for Hugh, my worries about Millie, my deep missing of Murphy, all vanish from my mind as we start to descend.

The group is quick this morning. It feels like everyone can’t wait to get to the reef. Vanessa has to motion to us twice to descend slower. There are strict rules on how fast you can descend and come back up, and all of them depend on how quickly the body acclimatises to pressure. We all have computers with us that do the calculations, and I know if I looked at mine it would read the same warning Vanessa is giving — our descent is too fast.

But none of us are looking at our computers. Hugh is eyeing the looming shadow of coral in the distance. I can see his smile underneath his mask. I follow his gaze.