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“You should have seen your brother when he came up and found out you three were still down there,” Declan said, coming over to hand Doyle and Austen towels. “By the time I was on the boat, Doyle was back in the water. I don’t think he’d even buckled his BCD before he went down.”
Brother?
Stein grabbed a towel, ran it over his hair, then scrubbed his face. “Yeah, good thing because I was almost out of air too.”
“And I just barely made it through my deco stop with the bottle Stein gave me.” Austen glanced at him.
Doyle had pressed the towel over his face too. Held it there. Maybe a little longer than normal. Now he lowered it, nodded. “I figured you guys would have more air, given your experience—and especially Stein—but... Anyway, thank the Lord we’re alive.”
He looked at Tia then, met her eyes with such directness, she felt it like heat through her entire shivering body.
Oh.She swallowed, nodded.Yes. Thank You, God.
So maybe she wasn’t an afterthought to the Almighty after all.
“Good thing I taught him how to dive.” Austen slung an arm over his shoulder. “I told him that rescue-diver cert would come in handy.” She winked.
Doyle still seemed shaken, but now he grabbed on to the bar that ran the top of the roof. “What happened?”
All eyes turned to Tia, including Elise and Hunter Jamesons’, who sat quiet, stricken on the other bench, and even Dr. Scott and Heather, who sat in the bow, Dr. Scott draped in a towel.
Declan’s mouth tightened.
“I saw...”
“She saw a shark.” Ethan had been standing near the freshwater supply tank and now came over, sat next to her. “Big one. I saw him too, from above—probably eight feet long. I think she just?—”
“I panicked.” There, she said it. “I... I just...” Listened to fear shouting in her head. “Didn’t think. I swam for the first escape, and of course, right into a net. And the more I struggled, the more it caught me. If it hadn’t been for Austen spotting me... I’m so stupid for panicking.”
“If it hadn’t been for Doyle panicking...” Stein said and clapped a hand on Doyle’s shoulder. “Good instincts, bro.”
“Thanks.” Austen patted his cheek. “I take back all those times I called you the family drama king.”
Doyle gave her a look, and she laughed and high-fived Stein. And somehow, more laughter infected the group, and Tia could breathe.
Full, easy, normal breaths.
“I guess we’ll all be hungry for dinner tonight,” Declan said. He went to stand next to Austen.
At the front, the captain started the engine.
Ethan looked at Tia, nudging her. “So, did you see any treasure down there?”
Doyle raised an eyebrow, then glanced at Ethan and shook his head.
Wait—
He turned and headed up to the helm.
“No,” she said, glancing at Doyle’s back, the way he braced himself against the edge of the boat, looking at the horizon, the low-hanging sun skimming gold across the surface of the ocean.
And she couldn’t escape the sense that whatever treasure she was looking for, she might have already found.
SIX
Clearly,he’d been more shaken by the near diving death than Tia had been, because she presented the needs at Hope House like a pro. Not a hint of wavering in her voice, the woman had boardroom poise, despite the trauma six hours before.
They hosted the formal event in the dining room of Declan’s magnificent home, and Doyle watched the entire thing sort of stunned.