Page 85 of Teach Me Your Ways

Lina finally looked up from her phone. “You guys realize this isn’t a vacation, right? We’re here to work.”

“Work can be fun,” Felix said, smiling at her. “You should try it sometime.”

Lina rolled her eyes. “Fun is clubbing. Shopping. Lying on a beach. This is serious.”

I nodded. “This is definitely serious business. Everyone remember that when we’re underwater.”

Cece shifted in her seat, stretching her legs out in front of her. I glanced over at her and had a sudden image of me standing between her legs in my kitchen. Shit. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t forget the image.

“You okay?” she asked softly, her voice low enough that only I could hear.

“Yeah,” I said, my voice rough. “Just running through safety checklists.”

The rest of the drive passed in relative peace, broken only by Felix’s occasional commentary on the scenery and Lina’s questions about the dive. By the time we reached the dive facility, the sun was high in the sky, casting a golden glow over everything.

We arrived at the field station’s main lodge. I had keys and quickly unlocked the heavy steel door. It wasn’t a pretty building by any means and far from the five-star hotels Lina was probably used to. We hauled in our duffels and gear. The facility was already stocked with most of what we would need for the dive.

I dropped my duffel bag on the bed in the room I’d claimed, glancing around at the sparse furnishings. The walls were bare except for a faded map of the coastline, and the bed looked like it had seen better decades. But it was clean, and that was all that mattered. It was better than a lot of other places I’d slept.

The sound of footsteps in the hallway caught my attention, followed by Cece’s voice as she called out to Lina about which room she wanted. I hesitated for a moment, then stepped out into the hall. Cece was standing a few doors down, her bag slung over one shoulder as she surveyed the room she’d chosen.

“We’ll meet in the dining hall in ten to go over the plan for tomorrow,” I said loud enough for everyone down the hall to hear me.

“Got it,” Cece said from the room she had chosen.

“Yes, sir,” Lina replied from across the hall.

“No time for a nap then,” Felix said sulkily from behind me.

I forced myself to turn away and head back to my room, where I quickly unpacked my gear and double-checked everything. When I walked into the dining hall a few minutes later, Felix and Lina were already there, sitting at one of the long wooden tables with maps and dive plans spread out in front of them. Cece arrived shortly after, her hair pulled back into a loose ponytail and a notebook in hand.

“Alright,” I said, taking a seat at the head of the table. “Let’s go over what we know.”

I laid out the details of the dive site—the coordinates we’d be targeting, the depth we expected to reach, and what we hoped to find. Felix chimed in with some technical details about the equipment we’d be using, while Lina asked questions about safety protocols and contingency plans. I was actually impressed with her questions. She really was taking this seriously. Good for her.

Cece listened intently, occasionally jotting down notes in her notebook. When I mentioned the possibility of strong currents near the wreck site, she looked up at me with a furrowed brow.

“How strong are we talking?” she asked.

“Strong enough to be dangerous if we’re not careful,” I said honestly. “We’ll need to stay close together and keep an eye on each other.”

She nodded, her expression serious but determined. “Got it.”

“Alright,” I said after an hour. “Let’s figure out dinner.”

Lina and Cece went to the store to get supplies for our barbecue. Felix and I got the grill going. The smell of charcoal and lighter fluid filled the air, mingling with the salty breeze coming off the ocean. Cece and Lina returned from the store with bags of groceries, their laughter carrying across the yard as they unloaded everything onto the picnic table.

“Got everything we need,” Lina announced, holding up a pack of hot dog buns like a trophy. “And I even found some marshmallows for later.”

“Marshmallows?” Felix perked up, his eyes lighting up like a kid’s. “Are we talking s’mores? Because if we’re talking s’mores, this trip just got even better.”

“Of course we’re talking s’mores,” Lina said with a grin, setting the bag down on the table. “What’s a barbecue without s’mores?”

When the hotdogs were properly covered in a layer of black skin, we pressed them into buns and added ketchup, mustard, and relish. The girls had picked up a twelve-pack of beer too. We all took seats facing the water and enjoyed our meal, feeling like a real team.