Page 35 of Sun, Sea and Spotted Squid
Ruben frowned. “You don’t fool me.”
They sat in silence as the boat sped toward the day’s target. It didn’t take long before Miguel cut the engines.
Ruben stood.
“You can show me how tough you are now,” he said with a wink. “Let’s find these bloody squid.”
His attempt at an English accent made Sam chuckle.
It was petty but a large part of him wanted to find the squid today. That would show that lying snake.
They put their tanks on before diving into the water and down into the depths. It took Sam a second to get his bearings. He saw Ruben pointing to an outcrop. The seabed lay quite a way below them. The rocks reached up. Inviting investigation.
Maybe the sea gods are giving us a sign.
They set off together. The water was crystal clear and everywhere teamed with life. A large conger eel wriggled its way through a clump of weed. Upon approaching, both divers instinctively slowed down. They carefully worked their way around. All the while searching in every crevice. Nothing of interest appeared.
Ruben set off to another one. Just as Sam went to follow him, something caught his eye. A deep ravine cut through the formation. Sam shone his torch into it. There, at the bottom, a sole squid bumbled along.
He swam closer. The spots looked like the ones they’d been studying.
His heart pounding, he tried to get Ruben’s attention. He was examining the next crop over. Sam gingerly reached in and lifted the squid, who didn’t seem all that bothered.
Nestling the squid in the crook of his arm, he had a closer inspection.
Yes! It’s our squid.
Ruben must have seen him fiddling with something and swam over. He stared hard at Sam’s new friend and stuck his thumb up.
They’d done it. They’d found one.
Imagine if we find a whole family of these blighters.
Sam’s immediate reaction was to swim deeper. But Ruben pointed to the surface. Pushing his excitement down, Sam nodded.
They swam in tandem. Sam careful not to disturb his charge too much.
Once safely on the boat, Miguel and Ruben pored over the squid who had settled quite nicely in the sample bucket. Sam sank down on the bench.
The initial glee at finally finding one had given way to guilt. Finding it without Wolfgang felt like a hollow victory. No matter what had passed between them.
THIRTEEN
Sam lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling like a prisoner in solitary confinement. He’d spent the whole weekend in there. Much to the concern of the other housemates.
Astrid and Maria had even gone so far as to cook up a storm in the minging kitchen to try and coax him out. They’d announced it was a meal for the whole house and Maria had made it clear that his attendance was not optional. To be fair to them, judging by the smells wafting up the stairs, he was in for a treat.
Really, he couldn’t be bothered. He convinced himself it had to be better than more hours spent moping around. Besides if Genevieve and Paul had come up for air, he should really meet them halfway.
He’d been obliged to contribute but certainly didn’t want to spend too much time with Astrid. She’d sense something was wrong and interrogate him. So he’d gone to the bakery to get dessert. The last time he’d been in there, his heart had been full of hope.
Well that got shot to shit pretty quickly.
He’d plonked the cakes down on the kitchen table and fled to his room. Not before Astrid tried another tactic to find out whatwas bothering him. He passed it off as being tired after running the squid show single-handed. Although why he wanted to protect Wolfgang was a mystery to him. And also an annoyance.
Really he should out him as the cheating scumbag he was. He suspected that would open the floodgates of pity onto him and Sam had absolutely no intention of putting himself in that position. No matter how sweet the revenge would taste.
A loud knock on the door made him leap out of his skin. No doubt it would be Astrid trying to persuade him to come down. With a groan, Sam hauled himself off the bed. It was late afternoon now. He would nominate himself to be the chief wine pourer.
