They headed towards a wooden hut nestled between undergrowth right on the beach. ‘Snorkelling Hire Here’ was written on a chalkboard sign leaning against the side, and a local man in his forties wearing a traditional Maldivian wrap was sitting outside, sharpening what looked like a spear with a knife. He looked up as they reached him and it took a moment before he broke into the biggest smile.
‘Aaron!’
‘Hey, Khalid.’
Khalid dropped the spear in the sand, stood up and enveloped Aaron in a bear hug. ‘It’s good to see you, man.’ His English was perfect with a slight American twang.
Aaron turned to her. ‘Khalid grew up here, spent most of his twenties in California, then came back to run a dive school in Malé, which is where I got to know him.’
‘I taught him everything he knows.’ Khalid slapped Aaron on the back and grinned at Freya. ‘And now I like the quieter life. Simple and suits me just fine.’
He held out his hand and she shook it.
‘Freya,’ she said. ‘I work with Aaron, well not technically with him...’
‘Freya’s the island’s new barefoot bookseller.’
‘Are you now. That’s been much talked about. Well, it’s nice to meet you. A friend of Aaron’s is a friend of mine. So, you’re going snorkelling?’ Khalid asked.
‘If Freya fancies it?’ Aaron turned to her.
‘I would love to.’
‘Can we hire two snorkels and flippers then.’
‘It’s on me.’
‘Ah you really don’t...’
Khalid gripped Aaron’s shoulder and gave him a firm look. ‘It’s on me.’
They left their clothes in a pile on the sand. Freya had taken nothing valuable out with her. She’d got used to the simplicity of island life: bare feet, no bag, and just a bikini beneath her skirt and top. She didn’t even have her mobile with her. She’d taken enough photos on Loabi Fushi of white sand and shimmering ocean to last a lifetime.
Aaron handed her a snorkel as they reached the water and they sat down in the sand and pulled on the flippers. She waded in after him, the warm shallows caressing her legs. He was always covered up on Loabi Fushi, his muscles hidden beneath a dive school T-shirt, but now she admired the toned contours of his back, and the way his shoulders tensed as he held her hand.
They picked their way across the sandy seabed until sand turned to coral and the underwater world was revealed just below the surface. Fishes in a rainbow of colours and a multitude of sizes darted about in front of them and Freya soaked up the serenity as she went a little further and sank into the water. It was crystal clear too. Even without dipping her head, she could see right down to the sunlight making patterns on the ocean floor.
She followed Aaron’s lead and started swimming, her face down, the underwater life slowly revealing itself. The water, although warm, was refreshing and a respite from the unrelenting sun on the beach. Everywhere she looked there was a myriad of sea life darting in and out of corals or gliding below her along the sandy sea floor. Aaron shook her arm and pointed. A green sea turtle drifted silently up ahead, almost close enough to touch. They paddled slowly, watching where it went until a brightly coloured lionfish cut in front of them and took their attention. There was almost too much for Freya to take in. Just this small bit of lagoon off this one bit of beach on just one island among thousands was filled with so much life. There was so much of the Maldives she had yet to explore.
Chapter Seventeen
It was a blissful afternoon away from Loabi Fushi where they never really had a chance to be alone. Admittedly there were plenty of quiet hidden spots among the trees on Loabi Fushi, but what if they got caught – nothing was worth risking her once in a lifetime opportunity for. But here...
They snorkelled together until their fingers became wrinkled. They eventually splashed their way to the shore, pulling off flippers and snorkels, and dried off in the sun. While they’d been snorkelling, Khalid had gone spear fishing, and they sat with him beneath the shade of palm trees and burnt their fingers eating the parrot fish he’d caught and grilled on a make-shift barbecue. They threw their clothes back on over their swimsuits and wandered back hand in hand. This was the stuff of dreams and it made her old life back in London seem a long way off. She had the briefest stab of guilt that she was able to experience a place like this when Amber no longer could. Deep down she knew that she needed this, to feel alive again, to be surrounded by people, to have formed new and meaningful friendships. Aaron was an antidote to all the past hurt.
They ate on the terrace in front of the house, with a view of the beach. Aaron’s mum’s guests, a young couple from Spain, told them that they’d already spent a couple of days on Malé, then were here for a week before going on to an island resort elsewhere in the Southern Atoll.
‘Wow, you work on Loabi Fushi?’ the woman said in awe. ‘We saw that one, but it is too expensive for us. Maybe for a honeymoon, no?’ She laughed as her boyfriend raised an eyebrow.
‘We dream,’ he said.
Aaron’s mum brought out plates of fried fish and a spiced tuna dish, along with a selection of salads that were a fusion of flavours. Aaron explained their background to the Spanish couple, the way his family had lived in lots of different places,
