“I do try. I added the bananas like you asked me. And every night I eat broccoli.” Rikki made a face. She dipped the raw vegetable into the peanut butter to make it more edible, but she’d promised Blythe so she faithfully ate it. “I’m actually beginning to like the stuff, even if it’s green and feels like pebbles in my mouth.”

Blythe laughed. “Well, thank you for at least eating broccoli. Where are you diving?”

Of course Blythe would have to ask. Rikki squirmed a little. Blythe was one of those people you just didn’t lie to—or ignore, as Rikki often did others. “I’ve got this blackout I found and I want to harvest it while I can.”

Blythe made a face. “Don’t speak diving. English, hon. I don’t have a clue what you mean.”

“Urchins, spine to spine, so many, I think I can pull in four thousand pounds in a couple of hours. We could use the money.”

Blythe regarded her over the top of her coffee mug, her gaze steady. “Where, Rikki?”

She was like a damn bulldog when she got going. “North of Fort Bragg.”

“You told me that area was dangerous,” Blythe reminded.

Rikki cursed herself silently for having a big mouth. She should never have talked about her weird feelings with the others. “No, I said it was spooky. The ocean is dangerous anywhere, Blythe, but you know I’m a safety girl. I follow all dive precautions and all my personal safety rules to the letter. I’m careful and I don’t panic.”

She didn’t normally dive along the fault line running just above the Fort Bragg coast because the abyss was deep and great whites used the area as a hunting ground. Usually she worked on the bottom, along the floor. Sharks hunted from below, so she was relatively safe, but harvesting urchins along the shelf was risky. She’d be making noise and a shark could come from below. But the money . . . She really wanted to pay her sisters back all the expenses they’d covered for her, helping her with her boat.

Blythe shook her head. “I’m not talking about your safety rules. We all know you’re a great diver, Rikki, but you shouldn’t be alone out there. Anything could go wrong.”

“If I’m alone, I’m only responsible for my own life. I don’t rely on anyone else. Every second counts, and I know exactly what to do. I’ve run into trouble countless times and I handle it. It’s just easier by myself.” And she didn’t have to talk to anyone, or make nice. She could just be herself.

“Why go north of Fort Bragg? You told me the undersea floor was very different and the sharks were more prevalent there and it kind of freaked you out.”