Chapter 33

MACKENZIE

"Y ou really like him, don't you?"

Harper asks me the one question I'm too scared to answer out loud and it has me almost squirming on the bench seat at the back of the boat.

We're about halfway to the reef, watching as Dylan answers questions that a couple of middle-aged women are asking him about his experiences in the water.

We both snicker at his use of overexaggerated hand actions. We can't hear a word of what he's saying over the boat's motor, but from the wide-eyed expression on the women's faces, I can only imagine he's talking about sharks.

"I don't know," I answer, which is an outright lie.

I like him way more than I care to admit.

Harper rolls her eyes at me, seeing through the lie, then her eyes soften. "They're not all bad."

I turn away, my eyes scanning the turquoise ocean before I bring them back to hers. "You sure?" I ask. "Because none of the other men in my life have ever shown me otherwise."

"What about Henley?"

"Yeah, I guess." I shrug. "Henley's like a unicorn though. A total mythical creature."

She laughs. "Maybe Dylan is too."

"Where has all of this sudden positivity come from? I thought you'd sworn off men forever after Noah's dad walked out of your lives. All men are assholes remember?"

She shrugs. "They aren't though, are they?"

She nods toward Dylan who is now obediently smiling for a photo with one of the women. Once her friend takes the picture, they swap places and we both fight to stifle our giggles.

"I guess not," I reply.

"I have to believe in happy endings, I guess," Harper says. "I choose to believe there are good men out there and that one of them will find me one day."

"I hope you're right," I tell her, then glancing back at Dylan I add, "What if I can't trust him?"

"Something tells me you already know that you can." She follows my line of sight back to Dylan and the two women. "Those women are totally checking out your boyfriend's abs, by the way. They couldn't be more obvious if they tried."

I watch the women and sure enough their eyes are trailing their way downward to where Dylan's wetsuit is rolled down at the waist and I can't help but laugh.

"You're so lucky!" Harper says as she playfully backhands my knee.

Her words catch me off guard. I don't think anybody has ever said that to me before, and up until now, I would never have referred to myself as ‘lucky'.

My circumstances have never been the envy of anyone else, and maybe they still aren't. But I'm starting to like this little life I'm building, and all of the people in it that make it what it is. For the first time, I can see a glimpse of what my future could look like. And I want Dylan to be a part of it.

"Yeah," I agree. "I guess I am."

"So do you think you'll go and see Grace again?"

"Yeah. Definitely. I'm going to see her tomorrow." I've put off another visit to the studio for too long. I need to see my grandmother. After having time and space to breathe, I've realised how important it is to me that I maintain a connection with her. "The exhibition night is this weekend and I'd planned to help her set up. At least I did before everything else happened."

"I'd love to meet her someday."

The thought of introducing Harper to Grace brings a smile to my face. Taking your friends to meet your grandmother just seems so normal. And I've never had normal. "I'm sure that can be arranged."

A few short moments later, Cameron throws the anchor in place, securing the boat near the reef. We're in a different location this time, anchored off a small island.

Dylan turns from the two women he'd been speaking with and much to their dismay, begins pulling up his wetsuit. He wanders toward Harper and I, calling for the rest of the group to join him.

"Okay, listen up guys," he calls. "If you are snorkelling today, you will be over there with Jade. Scuba divers can follow me. We'll have plenty of time to explore the reef and those that would like to can also head over to Coral Island over there. There's a nice walking track up to a lookout at the top of the hill. Stay safe, guys. We're all here to answer any questions you might have so don't hesitate to ask."

I love being able to watch him here in his natural habitat. This is where he belongs, not stuck behind some stuffy office desk. I can already imagine him taking people out on his own tour boat one day.

He steps forward, warmth shooting through me when he curls an arm around my waist. "I'll catch up with you soon," he whispers into my ear.

He aims a wink at me, before directing the small group of divers to the edge of the boat. His touch had only been fleeting but my heartbeat stays in overdrive long after he pulls away.

"See?" Harper says beside me. "Lucky."

"Stop," I scoff. "Come on. Let's go find Jade."

We join the rest of the snorkellers on the other side of the boat and one by one, we file into the water.

Just like she had the first time I came out on the boat, Jade gives us a guided snorkel tour, pointing out various species of fish and rambling off facts about the ecosystem. Harper seems to be having a great time and I'm so glad my friend is getting some much-needed rest and recovery.

About half an hour later Jade lets us know that we have another thirty minutes of free time to explore, and Harper and I decide to journey across to the island.

We make it to the shallows, wading to the shore before sliding off our snorkel masks. I follow Harper's lead as she drops down onto the sand and we sit, catching our breaths as the sun pours warmth down on us from above.

"You having a good time?" I ask her.

"Yeah," she replies. Her smile falters, the light falling from her eyes. "I am."

"Why do you suddenly look like you're about to burst into tears on me, then?"

She drops her head between her bent up knees and chuckles. "I'm not. I'm okay. I just miss him."

"You've only been away from Noah for like two hours."

"I know!" She laughs. "Isn't that crazy?"

"No," I say, my tone serious as my eyes meet hers. "You're a good mum."

Harper grins at me, then her smile falls and her eyes turn glassy. "I'm sorry about your mum, Mackenzie."

I inhale a sharp breath, swallowing down the overwhelming emotions that still threaten to arise at the mention of my mother. "Thanks."

"I guess we like to think of our mothers as some sort of amazing superheroes, when in reality, they're only human. Just like the rest of us." She picks up a shell from the sand beside her, smoothing out its sides. "The truth is parents like to think they know what's best, but they aren't always as put together as they like to seem. Trust me, I am one."

I laugh softly. "I guess I'm slowly learning to let go of the anger. As hard as it is to understand, in her own twisted way, she thought she was saving me."

Harper lies her head on my shoulder, and I rest mine on hers. "I'm glad I met you, Mackenzie Riley."

"I'm glad I met you too, Harper Conway."

I mean these words with my whole being. I've never had a friendship like the one I have with Harper, and I doubt I ever will again.

"Hey." Harper lifts her head, squinting at the ocean in the distance. "Is that Dylan?"

I follow her gaze to the figure surfacing from the small waves. He no longer has his dive tank on, or his wetsuit for that matter, but it's definitely Dylan.

He removes his snorkel mask as he wades out of the water, his favourite pair of light blue boardies hung low on his hips. The grin he aims at me as he drops down onto the sand beside me is enough to make me melt.

"Hello, ladies." He presses a kiss to the side of my head.

"See anything exciting down there, dive master?" Harper asks.

His muscular shoulders jump in a shrug. "Not today. Just a whole heap of sea turtles."

"Sea turtles!" Harper squeals. Surprisingly, we hadn't seen any on our way over to the island. "Where are they?"

"They were over on that side of the boat," Dylan says, outstretching an arm to point into the distance.

Harper picks up her snorkel mask and rises to her feet. "Well, lovebirds. This is where I leave you. There are sea turtles to be found."

We both laugh as she pulls her mask down and starts wading back into the ocean. "Have fun!" I call out.

"What about you, Kenz?" Dylan says as he gently tugs my chin to him, drawing me into his warm, whiskey stare. "Are you having fun?"

"Yeah." I press a kiss to his cheek, trailing my lips along his jaw before I nuzzle into the crook of his neck. My fingers find the tattooed script that runs across his ribcage. "I am now."

He threads his fingers through my hair, planting a kiss on my forehead. "Do you wanna come up to the lookout?"

"Sure."

He springs up onto his feet then holds his hands out to help me to mine. I follow him along the winding trail that leads to the top of the hill. Once we've reached the lookout, we step up onto the edge of a small, decked platform.

From here we can see the entire coastline, the coves that make up Cliff Haven and Little Bay and some of the other uninhabited neighbouring islands that I'm yet to learn the names of. Below us, the white sand stretches out underneath us, melting into a crystal blue ocean.

Dylan rests an elbow on the protective fencing, his gaze stuck on something out in the distance. "Hey, look. Dolphins."

"Cool." I slide into the space beside him in time to see a pod of dolphins surfacing off the shore, looping playfully through the water. I curl my arms around Dylan's waist, leaning into his warmth, the scent of coconut and vanilla infiltrating my senses. "You never ended up telling me what happened when you went to the city."

"That's because nothing happened," he replies. "My dad was only using me. He was just hoping I'd get snapped by the paparazzi going into the building so the newspapers would have something new to print."

"That sucks. I'm sorry."

"I spent the whole time doing simple, boring tasks for my sister, while my dad ignored me to take calls about his new boutique hotel project."

"Boutique hotel?" I ask. "That's what your ex had been talking about at the party that night."

"She was? Oh, well. It doesn't concern me anymore. Honestly, I don't even want to go back there." He brushes my hair behind my shoulder, and I shiver as his fingers drag along my neck.

"Do you have to?" I selfishly wish I could keep him here all to myself.

"Honestly, I don't think it matters whether I do or not, but I need to go for Claire's sake. I promised her we'd have drinks to celebrate her new role so I kind of owe that to her."

"Fair enough." The love and respect he has for his sister is admirable.

"I'm going to miss you every second that I'm gone though." He cups my cheek in his palm and kisses me again. Despite the warm weather, a trail of goosebumps descends across my skin.

I'm going to miss him too, a feeling that terrifies me more and more each day.

That fear must be written all over my face, because as I retreat away from him, his forehead wrinkles, his eyes scouring my face for answers he won't find. "What's wrong?"

I take a step back, my chest rising with an anxious breath as my eyes drop to the ground. "Nothing."

"Don't do that, Kenz," he warns. "Don't close yourself off to me."

"It's nothing," I say to him. "It isn't you. It's me."

"Ouch."

"No. That's not what…"

"I'm kidding." He grins, his eyes twinkling deviously before they soften. He reaches for my hand, taking it in his. "Come on. What's going on?"

"I'm scared." I admit, unable to meet his gaze. I'm not sure how to tell him that I'm starting to feel things that I've only ever read about in books or seen in movies. That I've begun to have this constant fear that I need to hold onto everything, and to him, because it could all just go away in an instant. "I've never had this much to lose. I don't know what it all means."

He seems to consider this for a moment. Then his reply comes, confident and reassuring. "I think it means that you're happy."

"Yeah." I feel my lips twitch, curling up in a grin until it builds into a smile that I couldn't contain if I tried. I look down to where his hand clutches mine, squeezing it before he takes me in his arms. "I think I finally am."