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was years ago.
    I bite on the snorkel and take a large stride out into the ocean, gasping as the cool water engulfs me. We turned down wetsuits, but maybe that was a bad idea. I’m a good swimmer, but I feel exposed in my swimming costume. I place my masked face under the surface and blow hard to expel water from my snorkel, before taking long, slow breaths. A rush of adrenalin pulses through me, and everyone and everything else in my life is instantly forgotten. The water is crystal clear and I’m amongst a shoal of silver and yellow fish. The sand below is pure white, and the nearby rocks are covered in pretty, intricately shaped coral. Tiny electric-blue fish dart amongst plants swaying in the current as I swim away from the boat. It’s a dazzling sight and I start to relax and enjoy myself. The salt water makes me incredibly buoyant so I barely have to kick. I look around to see Marty and Bridget snorkelling a few metres away. We give each other the thumbs up and try not to smile, otherwise we’ll get mouthfuls of salt water. Several steady streams of large bubbles rising from the sandy ocean floor reveal the whereabouts of the scuba-divers. I spot a starfish on some rocks and, taking a deep breath and blocking the end of the snorkel with my tongue so I don’t take in water, I duck beneath the surface and swim down to take a closer look. It’s breathtaking here. I feel so weightless and … free. It’s the happiest I’ve felt in a long time.
    Later, we return to the boat and everyone is full of stories about the fish that they’ve seen. I hear several excited divers discussing a shoal of barracuda, and gather that there were also a couple of black-tipped reef sharks nearby, which I feel oddly disappointed about not seeing. I don’t know what’s got into me, but I’m even more certain I want to learn to dive. I look around for Mr Beautiful and find him at the front of the boat, where his friend is talking animatedly to him. I notice later that he’s the one to drive us back to the dive centre.
    Back on dry land, Bridget, Marty and the boys head to the nearby Tiki Bar for a drink, and I go to the dive centre to enquire about diving courses. A redheaded girl comes out of the office to talk to me.
    ‘Did ya see any good fish?’ she asks with a funny accent as she scrolls down the screen of the computer in front of her, looking up potential scuba courses for me.
    ‘Yeah, it was amazing,’ I tell her.
    ‘Cool.’
    ‘Where are you from?’ I ask, trying to make polite conversation.
    ‘Auckland,’ she replies. ‘New Zealand.’
    ‘Have you been here long?’
    ‘Three months,’ she says, not looking at me as she studies the screen. ‘Gotta go home in a couple of weeks cos my visa runs out.’
    ‘Oh. That’s a shame.’
    ‘So there’s a PADI open-water diver course starting next week on Thursday through Saturday—’
    ‘It’s three days long?’ I interrupt with surprise.
    ‘Yep. The first day is in the classroom and the pool, and Days Two and Three are in the open water.’
    ‘Okay … But is there nothing available earlier?’ We fly home a week on Sunday and had planned to have a few days in Miami before we leave. ‘There are three of us wanting to learn,’ I add, hoping she can squeeze us in.
    ‘Hang on a minute,’ she says, calling back through to the office. ‘Jorge?’
    ‘Yep,’ comes the reply, and a moment later Jorge appears and I feel a vicarious thrill when I realise he’s the gorgeous guy’s friend from the boat. He’s now wearing a white T-shirt with graphics on the front and beige-coloured shorts. His short curly hair and his eyes are dark brown, and he’s cute, with very white teeth.
    The redhead explains our situation.
    ‘I was wondering about Monday?’ she says. ‘You’ve only got two.’
    ‘Hmm.’ He frowns. ‘I wouldn’t normally take five in a class.’
    ‘Leo could help out?’ she suggests.
    An inexplicable flurry of nerves passes through me. Leo? Is that