I took the smelly gloves off and stuck them with Matt's between us. I was sitting with him while he steered the boat through the fog. "Hey, below deck there should be a bag of pretzels, will you grab them?" Matt asked me and I walked down from where we were sitting, past Martin who was wearing a life vest, and looking a little green around the gills, and below deck, where I found said bag of pretzels, and offered one to Martin, who shook his head. I made my way back to Matt and sat down next to him, and opened the bag for him. He took one and munched on it as we sailed on, Martin started to drunkenly talk to himself, and Matt looked at me.
"Crazy day you've been having huh?" he asked and I smiled lightly.
"You could say that." I said. "I can tell you, it's one I won't be forgetting for quite some time." he chuckled and I took one of the pretzels.
"So, who was that guy earlier?" he asked and I looked at him.
"That guy?" I asked.
"The one I thought was your apparently nonexistent husband." he said and I realized he was talking about Robbie. He had pulled me into the picture next to the tiger shark.
"Oh," I sighed. "Him." Matt nodded and I sighed. "He's just this guy, Robbie Lancer. Amity's golden boy." I rolled my eyes and took another pretzel.
"Seems to like you." he said and I looked at him.
"He and I went out once or twice, but he's not my type." I shook my head.
"Seemed like the kind of guy your aunt would approve of."
"Since when do I make my choices based off of who my family would approve of?" I asked and he looked over at me, and smiled lightly. "I don't mean to snap." I muttered and he nodded. "I just- I guess with you here and everything, it just makes me realize..."
"Realize what?" he asked and I let out a small laugh.
"It makes me realize just how much I've missed you." I said and he smiled. "And it makes me realize just how much I'm going to miss you when you leave tomorrow." I sighed. He echoed the sigh and looked at me.
"I wouldn't ask you to wait for me." he said and I looked at him like he was mad.
"I already said I would." I said, and then paused. "Unless you'd rather I didn't."
"What, and stay just friends?" he asked and I nodded. "Caroline, you know I-"
"I'm telling you, the crime rate in New York will kill you!" Martin declared from below, making us look away from each other.
"We'll talk later." Matt said, neither of us wanting to air our laundry in front of the intoxicated chief of police.
"There're so many problems, you never feel like you're accomplishing anything. Violence, rip-offs, muggings. Kids can't leave the house – you've got to walk them to school. But in Amity, one man can make a difference. In twenty five years, there's never been a shooting or a murder in this town."
"No kidding," Matt said, looking down at him. "Want a pretzel?" he held one up, before shoving it in his mouth.
"Where are we?" Martin asked and Matt pointed around the area.
"We're right in the stretch where he's been feeding." he explained. Martin looked back at the TV's, and then to Matt.
"Can you get The Late Show on this thing?"
"No, it's a closed circuit TV system, I have underwater cameras fore and aft." Matt looked forward, and Martin came up to where we were sitting.
"Who pays for all this stuff? The government? The institute? This stuff costs a lot of money."
"Well, I, uh, I pay for this mostly myself actually." Matt admitted, sounding slightly embarrassed.
"You're kidding."
"No." Matt said simply.
"You rich?" Martin asked, half joking.
"Yeah." Matt looked at Martin, who then looked at me suspiciously, then to Matt again.
"Yeah, how much?"
"Well, personally, or the whole family?" Matt asked and I smiled lightly.
"What about you Miss Quint?" Martin asked and I looked at him.
"What about me?" I asked and he shook his head.
"Doesn't make any sense, I mean they pay a guy like you, to watch sharks?" Martin asked.
"Well, uh," Matt chuckled lightly. "It doesn't make much sense for a guy who hates the water to live on an island either." he shot back.
"It's only an island if you look at it from the water."
"That makes a lot of sense." Matt retorted. A few minutes passed in silence, before an electronic beeping came from one of the radars on the boat.
"What's that thing doing?" Martin asked.
"Well, it's a fish finder." Matt said, looking down at it. "It's probably just a schooling of mackerel, or something all clumped together." he mumbled to himself. The buzzing started to speed up, and he looked up. "Wait a minute." he looked into a different part of the electronics, and then looked back up. "There's something else out there."
"What is it?" Martin asked and Matt pointed.
"About a hundred yards, south-southwest." he said, and steered the boat in the direction. When we got closer he told me where to point the spotlight, standing very close behind me as I pointed it, he drew in a breath when the light hit a very familiar looking boat.
"Ben Gardner's boat, that's Ben Gardner's boat." Martin said quickly.
"You know him?" Matt asked as he straightened out, and pulled up alongside the boat.
"It's all banged up." Martin was saying. "Sure I know him, he's a fisherman."
"He's the sober, slightly more rational version of my father." I said and Matt sighed.
"What happened?" Martin asked as I moved the light over the wreck.
"More importantly," I said softly. "Where's Mr. Gardener?"
"Look Martin, Caroline, I gotta go down there and check their hull." Matt said decidedly.
"Okay, what do you need me to do?" I asked and he smiled as he rubbed my shoulder.
"Wait a minute, why don't we just tow it all in?" Martin asked.
"We will, we will, I just gotta check something out." Matt moved down the stairs, to the room below. "Caroline, hit the lights for me." I did as I was told, then watched the light that Martin was shining over the boat as he inspected it from the safety of the boat we were in. Matt came back out dressed in scuba gear, and holding a ladder. "Caroline," he said and I walked down to where he was.
"Let's tow it in." Martin said and Matt chuckled.
"Don't worry Martin. Nothing's gonna happen." He sat on the edge of the boat while I handed him gear, and he started getting his body ready for the dive by doing breathing exercises.
"What are we supposed to do while you're gone?" Martin shined the light at Matt.
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." Matt ordered. "Don't touch any of the equipment. I'll be back in two minutes." I handed him a flashlight and kissed his cheek, making him smile before pulling his mask over his eyes, did his breathing exercise once or twice more and took a deep breath, jumping into the cool salty water below.