I.
“Hi,” said Chelsea, extending her hand. “Chelsea Sutton.”
“Robert Wade.”
“ Harry tells me you’d like a tour of the Bimini Road tomorrow.”
“That’s right. I…”
At this point Harry arrived with the two glasses of beer.
Wade looked at the glasses. “No thank you,” he said, stiffly. “I don’t drink.”
“Oh. No problem,” said Chelsea, trying to make light of her faux pas. “All the more for me.”
Wade smiled, a little grimly, Chelsea thought, and said, “I hope you’re not driving.”
Chelsea bit back a sarcastic reply. He was a client – a potential client, anyway – and he had to trust her. Especially if they were going scuba diving the next morning, not that the Bimini Road was a difficult dive.
“I was just joking,” she said instead. “I never drink more than two beers the night before I go diving. Harry, take it away.”
Harry did so.
“Now, Mr. Wade. How much scuba diving experience do you have?”
“Not a lot. I just got certified.”
“Can I see your C-card?”
Wade nodded, took out his wallet, and presented the crisp new card to her. It was a PADI open water card, issued by TechnoOcean. (This meant that a dive school called TechnoOcean, certified by the Professional Association of Dive Instructors, had trained him.) Chelsea had never heard of them. She made a mental note to check up on them when she returned home.
“Okay,” she said, handing it back to him. “And do you have your own gear, or do you need me to supply it?”
“I need you,” said Wade.
Chelsea nodded. “No problem. Well, the Road is not a complex dive. It’s only in 15 feet of water. And there are always a handful of tourists there. It’s a popular spot, as you can imagine.”
“Yes. I know,” said Wade. “What time can we go?”
“Whenever you like.”
Wade’s eyes drifted to her beer glass, which was now two-thirds empty. “How about noon?” he asked.
“Noon it is." said Chelsea, taking a sip deliberately. What, did he think she'd need time to recover from a hangover? "Be at the North pier at 11:30, so we can get you geared up. My boat is called the Scylla and Charybdis.”
Wade’s eyes widened slightly, but he only said, “Very good, I’ll be there. Thanks.”
He extended his hand, Chelsea shook it, then he left the bar.
Chelsea finished off her beer, waved a farewell at Harry who was talking with a couple of young women at the other end of the bar, and went home herself.
II.
Robert Wade had entered the Red Rum nightclub and walked to the bar. He’d been told that the bartender, Harry, knew all the divers on Bimini and could quote him chapter and verse on each one.
Wade was in search of dive masters, for reasons of his own, and had decided that the best way to find the ones he needed was to pretend to be a novice. He would see how he was treated by each of those whom he would select as his guides over the next couple of weeks, and choose the ones he liked best for his project.
“I’m a novice diver,” he told Harry, “And I was told you know everyone here and can give me a recommendation. I want to dive the Bimini Road tomorrow.”
“The Bimini Road isn’t a very hard dive,” said Harry. “You can snorkel it.”
“I suppose so,” said Wade, “But I’d really like a guide. Someone who can explain the Road to me.”
“Well, I’ve got just the girl for you.”
“Girl?” said Wade.
“Well, young lady. She wouldn’t thank me for calling her a girl, actually. It’s just that it takes a second to say girl, and several seconds to say young lady.”
“A bit of a feminist?”
“Yeah," said Harry, waving that away as not relevant. "Dives like a fish. And she’s just started a free-lance dive business with her sisters and is looking for customers. So it’s like karma. There she is, over there, drinking the beer.”
Wade gazed to where Harry had indicated, and his heart skipped a beat. She was tall, slender, but with the musculature of a lifelong athlete. She was also beautiful, with a short razor-cut hairstyle that nevertheless emphasized the femininity of her square face. She was dressed all in black…a look he found very sexy as well. But young.
“How old is she?” he asked.
“Twenty. Been diving since she was a kid. Her parents came over from the States twenty years ago, and she's grown up here. She knows Bimini, and the waters around it, like the back of her hand.”
Young and beautiful, thought Wade. And very aware that she was young and beautiful. The world was probably her oyster. He was a computer man, he could talk just fine to people via email, but when it came to dealing with them in person…which is what he was going to have to do for this particular project…he had a hard time. Oh, he could do it, he just didn’t like it. Wasn’t skilled at it. Did he really want to start his first interpersonal contact with a beautiful young woman?
“So shall I go get her?” asked Harry. There was a touch of impatience in his voice.
“Sure,” said Wade quickly. “Thanks.”
She came up to him, and he got a better view of her as she came at him with an economical stride, no sashaying of the hips, for which he was duly grateful. He was six feet, she was only a couple of inches shorter than he was. “Hi,” she said, holding out her hand for him to shake. “Chelsea Sutton.”
“Robert Wade.”
“Harry tells me you’d like a tour of the Bimini Road tomorrow.”
“That’s right. I…”
At this point the bartender arrived with the two glasses of beer. Wade looked at them in surprise. What was this? Was she expecting him to treat her to a beer, like he’d seen in the movies? Whenever a guy wanted to pick up a girl in a bar, he always bought her a drink and had the bartender deliver it.
He couldn’t think of anything to say. Especially since he didn’t drink. “No thank you,” he said. “I don’t drink.”
“Oh. No problem,” said the woman, exchanging a glance with the bartender. “All the more for me.”
Was she making fun of him for being a teetotaler, wondered Wade. He thought desperately for something relevant to say, something clever. He’d try to make a joke. He said, “I hope you’re not driving.”
Immediately he knew it had been the wrong thing to say. She didn’t smile, just looked at him. She said, a little coldly, “I was just joking. I never drink more than two beers the night before I go diving. Harry, take it away.”
The bartender did so.
“Now, Mr. Wade,” the woman said in a business-like tone. “How much scuba diving experience do you have?”
“Not a lot.” He lied. “I just got certified.”
“Can I see your C-card?”
Wade nodded, took out his wallet, and presented the crisp new card to her. He’d had it made up specially to reflect a date just a few weeks old.
“Okay,” she said, handing it back to him. “And do you have your own gear, or do you need me to supply it?”
He’d try another joke, Wade thought. Some clever play on words. “I need you,” he said.
But the lady…Chelsea, he must think of her as Chelsea…just nodded, her face expressionless. “No problem. Well, the Road is not a complex dive. It’s only in 15 feet of water. And there are always a handful of tourists there. It’s a popular spot, as you can imagine.”
“Yes. I know,” said Wade. “What time can we go?”
“Whenever you like,” she replied.
Wade looked away as he gave it some thought. He was never very good in the mornings, it took a few hours and several cups of coffee before he felt ready to meet the world. “How about noon?” he said.
She smiled at him. “Noon it is. Be at the North pier at 11:30, so we can get you geared up. My boat is called the Scylla and Charybdis.”
The Scylla and Charybdis? What an intriguing name for a woman to give her boat, he thought. He said, “Very good, I’ll be there. Thanks.”
He extended his hand, she shook it with a firm grip, and then he nodded at her and walked quickly out of the bar.
As he walked back to his hotel, he ran his conversation with her over again in his mind. Things he should have said came to him…but that was always the way. He always knew what to say, five minutes after the time when he needed to say it.
Typical.
Still, he hadn’t done too badly. And tomorrow they’d be spending most of their time underwater, so he wouldn’t have to talk to her much at all.
Wade nodded, satisfied with his conclusions.
But he was a little nervous about tomorrow, nonetheless.
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