“Great!” She outlined the schedule for the evening and mentioned that she could hook him up with a tux if he needed one. “No need. I’ll get one from the same rental place I used for Angelina and Marc’s wedding. They already know my measurements. Need any more bachelors? I have a few single brothers I could wrangle into joining me, provided they aren’t working.”
“Absolutely! The more the merrier—more men will just mean more money raised for a good cause.”
“Who’s the event benefiting?”
She glanced away momentarily. “Actually, you’ve inspired me to do it for the fire department.”
“That’s awesome.” The affluent city of Aspen probably didn’t need all that much help, but seeing Carm doing something to support her community made him so proud of her. Maybe he’d get some ideas at her event for doing something on a smaller scale here in town sometime.
An extended cab pickup approached, and the two couples soon joined them. Everyone knew each other from the wedding and Angelina’s birthday, so while Luke, Megan, and Ryder got into their gear, they caught up on what was happening with everyone.
Cassie remained quiet, as usual, and spent the time setting up her easel and canvas to paint Iron Horse Pass, near the Dentons’ cabin, while the others were diving. She’d given scuba diving a try at the high-school pool but hadn’t taken to it the way the others had. Some people couldn’t get past the feeling they were going to drown when water got into their masks.
“Who’s watching things at the ranch?” Tony asked.
“O’Keeffe,” Luke answered. Everyone but Carm laughed.
“O’Keeffe?” she asked.
“Luke’s horse,” Tony explained.
“Actually,” Luke said, “we just decided this was more important than building more bunkhouses today.”
“I really appreciate you all wanting to join the team,” Tony said. “Sorry there’s no compensation involved.”
“Hey, we do SAR work as volunteers,” Ryder said. “This will just be an extension of that.”
With Carm and Tony’s assistance, the dive instructor reviewed the signals they’d need to communicate with each other underwater and, after a quick overview of what they wanted to accomplish, he double-checked their equipment to make sure everything was ready to enter the water.
When they were ready to go in, the instructor cautioned the newest divers, “Stay close to one of us at all times.” They walked to the edge of the water and donned their fins before walking into the water. At waist level, they purged their regulators, put in their mouthpieces, and went underwater.
As part of this class, the instructor made sure all were comfortable with their dive equipment, practicing buoyancy, how to clear their masks of water, buddy breathing, how to help if someone lost their regulator, and other techniques that would come in handy when they were trying to help someone having a problem during a dive.
After about an hour, they returned to shore.
Being on a dive again with Carm exhilarated Tony. She handled the cold water like a champ. He wished he’d scheduled a fun dive for the two of them, but his total focus was on getting in dives with his potential team.
When they had removed their equipment, Cassie came up to him.
“Tony, I am so sorry I could not be a part of your team. I wanted to do this with Luke, but I do not think I am cut out for scuba diving.”
“No worries, Cassie. It’s not for everyone. But at least you gave it a try.”
She smiled, relief spreading over her face. She wasn’t part of the SAR team either, so she’d have required additional training in order to be a part of the team. “Perhaps I can donate some of my artwork for you to auction off or sell to raise money for the cause.”
“That would be great!” Carm said, not waiting for Tony to respond. He liked her enthusiasm. She looked down suddenly, tucking her wet hair behind her ear, even though it was fine just the way it was. After a few moments, she met his gaze. “I mean, don’t you think that would be a good idea, Tony?”
“Absolutely!” Tony said. Maybe she just didn’t want to butt in, thinking it was his project, but there was no I in team.
While the dive instructor prepared the dive equipment for packing up, he told the three novices they should be ready to start their certification classes soon.
“We went down to about twenty-five feet today, but after you’re certified, you’ll be able to go a lot deeper.”
After helping to pack up the gear into the dive shop’s truck, the dive instructor left.
Tony invited the two couples to join him and Carm for an early dinner at Angelina’s restaurant, but they declined.
“I need to relieve O’Keeffe of her duties,” Luke joked.
“And we have evening chores to do,” Megan said.
Tony hadn’t really wanted to drive up to Breckenridge anyway. He’d rather have some time alone with Carmella but didn’t show them his relief. They piled into the truck and left minutes later.
He turned to Carmella, took a deep breath, and asked, “How’d you like to have dinner at my place?”
“Sounds delightful.”
“Follow me.” In their separate vehicles, he and Carm headed toward town. Passing by the place where the mother and toddler had been swept off the road always gave Tony a reason to do his slow breathing exercises to try and calm his anxiety. He passed it at least once a week, whenever he brought anyone to the county’s reservoir for training. Luckily, most of their training happened in other locations closer to the dive shops and instructors. But Tony wanted to get to know the reservoir better, because more than likely most of the dive-team calls would be to this lake.
He hoped having Carmella over was the right step to take in their relationship. He’d invited her to stay over when he’d asked her to help him with today’s dive. Before going to work yesterday, he’d even made
