‘You wouldn’t think it’d be easy to hide something the size of a swimming pool down here, would you?’ I say. Glancing up ahead, I see the cave splits off in two directions.
‘You try that side, I’ll try this side,’ I say. ‘Shout if you find it first.’
‘Just don’t go too far or take any crazy risks,’ he says.
‘Do I strike you as a crazy risk taker?’
‘You came to a remote island to marry yourself,’ he says with a shrug.
‘Touché. Better than dull though.’
‘A whole lot better,’ he says, then pulls his head torch out of his pocket and puts the band around my head, clicking it on. ‘There. Be careful.’
I roll my eyes. ‘I could see just fine.’
‘And now you can see better,’ he says.
I don’t argue because he’s right. I stand on tiptoe and kiss him instead, gripping the collar of his coat.
‘Cleo, you’re blinding me,’ he says, laughing against my lips.
‘I’ll see you back here in ten if neither of us finds the pool before.’
He looks at his watch. ‘It’s a plan.’
I find the pool first. The path twists narrowly to the right and then opens out to reveal its secret, but something in me stops me from yelling to Mack. Almost every place on Salvation has an element of magic about it, but the ethereal quality in here is off the scale. A narrow shaft of daylight from somewhere overhead dapples the water with stars and I’m struck momentarily silent by the tranquillity of the cavern. It feels unreal. I watch the water, an idea already forming in my head. It’s like an ice-box in here, but I really would love to look back on the last day of my twenties and remember how daring I was.
I jiggle from foot to foot, aware I don’t have much time before Mack comes searching for me. Brisk, I unzip my coat. I know it’s going to be freezing but this very second I don’t feel it because adrenaline is coursing through my blood, warming me from the inside as I begin to undress – coat, sweater, boots, jeans – until I’m down to just my underwear. I pause, unsure for a second. Am I brave enough? I think of Julia’s majestic galleon turned towards unknown shores and it gives me just enough courage to step out of the last of my clothes. I feel exhilarated and alive – this is the most freeing thing I’ve ever done. I stretch out one leg and dip my toes into the water. Jesus God, it’s polar cold.
‘Cleo, are you –’
I startle at the sound of Mack’s voice and turn to see him round the corner into the cavern.
‘Oh.’ He opens his mouth to speak and then closes it again, obviously taken by surprise. ‘You found it already.’
‘I did,’ I say.
‘And you took all your clothes off,’ he says.
‘I did that too,’ I say, the sides of my mouth twitching because the big, confident American is as wrongfooted and dumbstruck as a teenager.
He glances behind him. ‘Do you want me to leave you alone?’ he says. ‘You looked like you were having a moment.’
I consider his offer. He’s right, I was in the moment. I push my shoulders back and let the frigid air harden my nipples. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more womanly as I take the clip from my hair and shake it out around my shoulders. ‘Mack, I’m twenty-nine years three hundred and sixty-four days old today. I feel magnificent and I’m going to get in this pool now and I’d really like it if you’d stay and photograph me while I do it.’
I hear him swallow, loud in the quiet space.
‘I can do that for you,’ he says, kind of sexy but also in a tone that suggests he’s genuinely touched I’ve asked him to document this moment of my life. ‘You probably shouldn’t stay in there too long though. I don’t want to make a habit of rescuing you from cold water.’
I smile, holding his gaze for a blazing second, and then I close my eyes and draw in a deep, fortifying breath. I can feel the air settling on my skin like glitter. I’m a beam of pure magic. I psyche myself up and jump into the water, immersing all at once because I know from experience it’s the only sane way to do it.
‘Oh my God!’ I yell, opening my eyes wide to blink away the water droplets on my lashes. ‘Mack, it’s like actual ice! I think I might die!’
He’s on his haunches, camera raised, and he gives me the thumbs-up as I gasp and laugh with pure shock, chilled to my bones as I swim across the surface of the water and then turn on my back, floating, thrilled, turned on, alive. I want him to catch every stroke with his lens, to see the woman who has shed her clothes like a snakeskin on the rock, to somehow record this intoxicating feeling so I can look back on it when I’m home again and remember who I was in this very moment, because I want to be this version of me for ever.