Healing the Vet's Heart

by Annie Claydon

  Night thoughts. It was the morning now, and Drew was just a friend. If trusting him enough to continue her study alone on Wednesday had been a challenge, then trusting him to take her diving was a piece of cake. There was no need to wonder about the inconsistencies of that, because life could be complicated and inconsistent at times. That was why she liked robots.

  She arrived early at the small jetty that was attached to the diving centre and saw Drew walking towards her car to meet her. He was windblown and cheerful, wearing a drysuit with a pair of deck shoes and a windcheater. The stick seemed incongruous next to the spring in his step.

  ‘Hi. Ready to go?’

  ‘As ready as I’ll ever be.’

  ‘Got your papers from Jake?’

  Jake had bet her another one of the tortoises that Drew would want to see them, and Caro had already paid up. She pulled the list of topics covered and Jake’s scores out of her pocket and gave them to him.

  Drew scanned them, nodding. ‘A hundred percent. Very impressive. Did you bribe Jake?’

  He knew full well that she hadn’t. ‘No, bribery’s a contravention of Jake’s and my safety standards. Do we change here?’

  ‘Yes, it’s easier than trying to do it on the boat.’ He led her across to the diving centre and unlocked the main doors. ‘The changing rooms are over on the left.’

  Locked in the white-painted cubicle, Caro took a deep breath. She was really doing this. She carefully unrolled the drysuit. All she had to do was to apply what she’d learned now. That started with getting into the suit.

  First there were layers of clothes to keep her warm, two thermal vests and two pairs of thermal leggings. It took a bit of wriggling and cursing to get into the suit, and she was glad of the zip hook that hung next to the mirror, but she made it. Jake had said that thick socks and trainers would be fine for the boat, and she pulled them on, along with a warm jacket. Bundling her clothes into her bag, she found Drew sitting on the jetty, watching a small blue and white painted fishing boat make its way towards them.

  ‘That’s your dad’s boat?’ It looked a very small craft in which to brave the sea.

  ‘Yep. It looks as if my grandfather’s at the helm.’

  When the craft neared the jetty, Caro saw a white-haired man standing alone in the small, white-painted cabin that provided the only shelter from the wind that the boat afforded. He cut the engine and threw a mooring rope to Drew, who caught it expertly and then turned his attention to Caro.

  ‘Welcome aboard, young lady.’ He held out his hand in a gesture of old-fashioned courtesy. Caro climbed down the steps from the jetty and found that she was guided onto the deck by a firm, steady grip.

  ‘Thank you, Mr Trevelyan.’ The boat wasn’t wobbling as much as she thought it might, but it she still had to concentrate on keeping her balance.

  ‘Call me Gramps. No one but the excise man calls me Mr Trevelyan.’ Gramps’s dark eyes twinkled.

  ‘Leave it out, Gramps.’ Drew was handing their diving equipment down to his grandfather and shot Caro a smile. ‘He loves to sit in the harbour during the summer and tell all the tourists his smuggling stories. He’s never smuggled anything in his life.’

  ‘That’s what you know, boy.’

  Gramps gave Caro a confiding look, tapping the side of his nose. When he turned his back, Drew rolled his eyes, mouthing his words silently. ‘He hasn’t.’

  ‘Where’s Dad?’ Drew swung down into the boat.

  ‘He’s gone off somewhere with your mother.’ Gramps shook his head. ‘I’ll never understand those two if I live to be a hundred.’

  Drew shrugged as if he didn’t understand either, and Gramps nodded.

  ‘Sit down, lass, we’ll be ready to go.’ He motioned her towards a bench that ran around the side of the boat and Caro stumbled towards it, sitting down heavily next to the diving gear. Drew sat next to her as the engine of the boat started up again and they began to move across the bay.

  ‘I hope we haven’t put your grandfather out. Coming out this morning...’ She grimaced awkwardly. Fish out of water was an entirely appropriate cliché as all of this seemed so new and different.

  ‘Nah. The only way you can put Gramps out is to leave him behind on dry land. My parents have a habit of disappearing off together on day trips from time to time.’

  ‘That’s nice.’ Caro was searching for something to say, and that seemed to be the least contentious, but Drew chuckled.

  ‘My parents are both very different people, and they argued their way through twenty-three years of marriage. Now that they’re divorced they get on like a house on fire.’

  That seemed very personal information. But in the context of a village, where everyone knew everyone else’s business, Caro supposed not.

  ‘I guess...whatever suits them.’

  ‘Yeah. That’s my view. They were never going to change each other, although they both tried. Living apart gave them the opportunity to make their peace, and they found that they really liked each other.’

  He seemed so at ease out here. As if the wind and the waves were absorbing all the woes that the land held for him. Drew even seemed better on his feet on the rolling deck than he was on land, using handholds on the boat to steady himself instead of his stick. Caro watched the land recede, wondering whether she was going to be sick. A wave of nausea suddenly hit her, and then disappeared as quickly as it had struck.

  ‘You want to take a turn at the helm, lass?’ Gramps called back to her, and Drew gave her a nod that indicated this was something of a privilege that wasn’t afforded to everyone.

  Be brave...

  ‘Yes. Thank you.’ Caro eyed the distance between her seat and the helm, wondering how she was going to get there without falling overboard.

  ‘On land you always keep one foot on the ground, yes?’ Drew murmured to her, and Caro nodded. ‘On a boat, it’s one foot on deck, and one hand to hang on with.’

  ‘Right.’ Caro got to her feet, grabbing onto the side of the boat. This was easier than it sounded.

  Gramps positioned her hands on the helm, pointing to a spot on the horizon. ‘Keep your eye right there. That’s where we’re going.’

  Caro nodded. This was easy enough, like steering a car. But the boat seemed determined to go left when she wanted to go right. She turned the wheel a quarter turn, but still couldn’t manage to correct their course.

  Suddenly she felt a strong body behind her and Drew’s hands on hers. ‘You need to turn the helm more than you do a steering wheel on a car.’ The wheel spun under her fingers, and the boat began to move out of the cove and into the open sea.

  ‘Got it?’

  Yes, she had it. But his body felt so warm against her back. So strong. She could so easily just sink into that warmth.

  ‘A bit to the left.’ His breath caressed her cheek, and Caro turned the wheel. ‘Bit more...’

  ‘You want to go to Trethaven Point? There might be dolphins there.’ Gramps’s voice reminded her that it wasn’t just her and Drew, alone in the universe.

  ‘Dolphins?’ She heard the excitement in her own voice and Drew’s deep chuckle reverberated through his chest. ‘But what about Dolphin Cove?’

  ‘Dolphin Cove got its name from the shape of the headland, which looks like a dolphin’s head. If you want to see dolphins, then Trethaven Point’s the place to go.’

  ‘Can we go there, then?’

  ‘We’ll go wherever you want, lass,’ Gramps replied. ‘Bear to port.’

  ‘Turn left.’ Drew’s voice guided her, his hands helping her turn the helm so that the boat described a gentle arc in the water.

  It took half an hour to get to Trethaven Point, which was on one side of a huge, sheltered bay. Caro was windblown and very excited, but Drew insisted on checking her drysuit and all her equipment, turning her round to make sure that everything
was just so.

  ‘Now you.’ She grinned up at him. ‘Jake told us that we must check each other’s equipment. He showed us how.’

  Drew gave her a lopsided smile. ‘Okay. Since Jake told you...’

  Caro repeated the acronym that Jake had taught them under her breath, going through the procedure. The boat was bobbing gently at anchor on a calm sea and Gramps was leaning against the helm, his arms folded and with a broad smile on his face as Drew submitted to being turned and turned again as she ran through the checks.

  ‘Happy?’ Caro nodded. ‘Right, then. Jake’s taught you how to sit on the edge of the pool and turn into the water?’

  ‘Yes, he said that was the easiest way for beginners.’

  ‘Okay. I’ll go in first and Gramps will help you. Give me the signal when you’re ready. You know the hand signal to make if you’re in trouble?’

  He’d read her papers closely enough, and Jake had given her ten out of ten for hand signals. Caro decided to humour him.

  ‘Not sure is this.’ She flattened her hand, palm down, rocking it back and forth. ‘And Help is this.’ She raised her arms above her head.

  ‘Great. Now I want you to stay within reach of me all the time, but if we do get separated, what do you do?’

  Caro closed her eyes, visualising the page in the manual and reeled off the bullet points. When she opened them again Gramps was chuckling.

  ‘I think she’s good to go, son.’

  ‘All right.’ Drew shot Gramps a glare. ‘Just making sure...’

  Of course he was. Caro had submitted to all of Drew’s questions because she knew that he needed to ask rather more that she needed to answer. But she was ready now, and she couldn’t wait any longer.

  Drew put the regulator into his mouth, holding it in place and executing an impressively smooth back roll into the water. Gramps held out his hand to steady her as Caro swung her legs over the edge of the boat.

  ‘All right, lass?’ Gramps smirked. ‘Better give him the signal, he’ll only make a fuss if you don’t.’

  Caro signalled an okay to Drew and he signalled back. Then a sliding turn brought her into the water with a splash. Now, at last, she could put what she’d learned into practice.

  They sank together into a deepening blue, the light dancing on the waves above their heads. The awkwardness of breathing through the regulator and managing the buoyancy of the drysuit were suddenly secondary irritations, compared to the shimmering beauty around her.

  Drew was taking this first dive slowly and gently. Keeping within reaching distance and not letting Caro swim as strongly as she knew that she could. But there was enough to fascinate her as they travelled downwards through shoals of small fish to the sea bed. He pointed out crabs and strangely shaped creatures, their large eyes swivelling to take in as much light as possible. Jake had told her about maerl, the rock-hard, red skeleton seaweed, and there was some here in the well-lit shallow waters. So many new forms of life that were equipped to deal with their environment. Suddenly tortoise robots seemed just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.

  It seemed that they’d only been down there for a moment when Drew signalled it was time to surface again. Caro’s heart sank, but she knew she must follow his instructions. She’d seen the tension in his face when they’d prepared themselves for the dive.

  They surfaced next to the boat, and Caro saw Gramps sitting on the deck, a pair of glasses perched on his nose and reading the newspaper.

  ‘Okay, Gramps?’ Drew removed his regulator, shouting up to him.

  ‘Back already?’ Gramps raised his eyebrows. ‘I haven’t got to the sports pages yet.’

  Drew grinned. ‘You want to go down again, Caro?’

  ‘Yes, please. We haven’t seen any dolphins yet.’

  He was less solicitous the second time, allowing Caro to dictate the pace a little more. Drew was beginning to enjoy this too, and he even allowed himself to unclip his camera from his belt and take a few photographs. Caro took her time, inspecting the sea floor carefully, and Drew let her to swim a little further.

  Finally he tapped his watch, signalling that they should surface again. Caro took one more look at this underwater kingdom, silently bidding it goodbye until the next time. Then she felt Drew’s hand on her arm.

  He was pointing, towards a flash of movement to their left. It was impossible to see what it was, but then the shapes wheeled around, coming into view. Caro’s heart beat a little faster, bubbles spinning upwards from her breathing gear. Dolphins.

  She wanted to swim towards them, but Drew had told her she mustn’t. She felt his hand curl around hers and she squeezed it tight, watching the creatures whirling playfully in the water. Then they were gone.

  He kept hold of her hand. As they drifted back upwards, she wanted to hug him, but was afraid of dislodging some of the breathing gear. When they surfaced, Gramps had abandoned the sports pages and was standing at the side of the boat.

  ‘You saw them, Gramps?’ Drew called up to him, and Gramps nodded.

  ‘I managed to catch them on video.’ Gramps brandished an up-to-the-minute smartphone, which he presumably kept well hidden when he was playing the old seadog for the tourists.

  Caro could have spent all day here, but Drew swam over to the boat, beckoning to her to follow. They climbed aboard, stowing their gear carefully, and then Drew sat down, his face wreathed in a delicious smile.

  ‘You enjoyed yourself?’

  ‘Yes, I did. Thank you so much, Drew. Can we go again?’

  He chuckled. ‘I think I’m going to insist on it. I’ve had six months cold turkey, and now I’m well and truly bitten by the diving bug again.’

  ‘Your leg’s all right?’ Caro had noticed that Drew’s movements underwater had been far more effortless than they were on land.

  ‘Yes, no problem. Call it water therapy.’

  It had been water therapy in more ways than one. He was smiling and relaxed now. Whether that was because the dive was over, or because he’d finally broken through another barrier in the long climb back to full fitness, Caro wasn’t sure. But she was sure that this had been an achievement for Drew and being part of it was special.

  He unzipped the pouch at his waist, taking out a smooth flat stone and dropping it into her hand. ‘Here. A souvenir of your first dive.’

  The stone had a round hole, right through the centre of it. It was the most beautiful thing that Caro had ever seen.

  ‘It’s called a milpreve in Cornwall. It’ll ward off snakes.’ Drew glanced at Gramps, who nodded sagely.

  ‘Thank you...’ Caro closed her fingers around the stone, holding it to her heart. This morning had been a succession of wonderful things and words weren’t enough. And the strangest and most wonderful thing had been that, quite unexpectedly, she’d found herself trusting Drew.

  * * *

  Drew was intoxicated by her eyes. Warm honey brown and reflecting every last bit of the magic of the morning. Caro was the magic. The way her forehead had puckered slightly in concentration as she’d quoted the diving manual, which he’d helped Jake to write, straight back at him. The way she’d leaned back a little, almost in his arms, as they’d steered the boat together. The way she’d squeezed his hand under the water.

  He watched her as the boat moved steadily back to the diving centre, with Gramps at the helm. Her hair blown dry by the wind and stiff with salt, her fingers a little red from the cold and curled around the cup of hot soup from the flask he’d brought. Her nose was a little red, too, and it was enchanting.

  She thanked Gramps, waving to him from the jetty as the boat drew away. Drew opened the diving centre, carrying their tanks inside and leaving them with the others that needed to be refilled. Caro made for the changing rooms, stopping to ask Drew if he’d undo the zip that ran across the back of her shoulders for her. He’d done that a thousand time
s before for his fellow divers, but it had never seemed so intimate. He decided to wait for her out on the jetty.

  She joined him, her face shining. ‘Thank you so much, Drew. That was one of the best things I’ve ever done.’

  ‘Right up there with robotics?’ If that was the case, it was praise indeed.

  ‘Definitely. It’s given me some ideas as well.’ She shot him an impish smile.

  ‘Don’t...’ Drew held his hands up in an expression of surrender. ‘If I find that your tortoise has been banished to a cupboard in favour of a cleaner fish, I’ll feel very guilty.’

  ‘That’s not going to happen. Tony will always have a place in my heart.’

  He should get into his car and go home now. But Caro didn’t move, and he couldn’t leave. Drew reached out, skimming his fingertips across the arm of her jacket.

  ‘It’s been good to get back to diving. Thanks for giving me a good reason.’

  She nodded. Caro had a habit of thinking about every aspect of a given situation, and no doubt she’d thought of that, too.

  ‘It must have been hard. After everything that’s happened, you must have wondered if it would still be the same.’

  ‘It’ll never be the same. But this was as good as the best of what I had before. Better, because...’ He shrugged, unable to put his feelings into words.

  ‘Because you knew you’d come close to losing it?’

  No. Better because Caro had been there. Something suddenly fell into place and for a moment it seemed as if the void inside him could be filled.

  Trapped in her gaze, he reached for Caro’s hand, bringing it to his lips. She moved closer, stretching towards him as if she were about to kiss his lips. Then suddenly a tear rolled from her eye and she backed away, her hand over her mouth.

  ‘I’m sorry...’ Drew didn’t know what he’d done wrong.