‘I’ll take those ginger biscuits then. Thanks.’
‘Good choice – and don’t look directly at the water, it’ll make you feel worse. When I first started working on the ferry, I used to have an emergency bucket by the side of me, but I found it helped going out onto the open deck and taking in the fresh air.’
Glancing out of the window, Verity saw the rain still looked heavy.
‘There’s a cover so you won’t get soaked, though maybe a little sprayed,’ the assistant said kindly while ringing the items up on the till. After Verity paid, she gingerly made her way back to her seat. The first mistake she made was to look at the water as she sat down. Her stomach flipped again. Closing her eyes, she tried to think of anything to distract herself, but it wasn’t working. Her stomach had decided it was competing in gymnastics at the Olympics as it lunged into a triple somersault. With her eyes still closed she took a sip of water and nibbled on the biscuit. It was no help. Fearing she was going to vomit, she grabbed a sickbag from the pocket of the chair and looked towards the seats in the middle of the ferry. It appeared it wasn’t just her who was feeling the effects of the stormy seas, as there was a long line of people sitting with their heads back and their eyes closed, clutching a sickbag.
Feeling her body temperature rising, she desperately wanted fresh air. Up on her feet she staggered on the unsteady floor, brushing against numerous other passengers as she made her way towards the open deck. As soon as she opened the door Verity welcomed the blast of fresh air. She walked to the stern rail and grabbed onto it for dear life. Gulping air, she was grateful for the light spray of the rain. Keeping her eyes closed and her head down, Verity breathed in deeply and filled her lungs with air. But still it wasn’t helping. No matter how hard she tried not to think about how she was feeling, the nausea swirling in the pit of her stomach was only intensifying.
‘The joys of ferry rides, eh?’
Verity lifted her head slowly and opened her eyes.
The handsome stranger from the greasy spoon was standing right next to her. His timing couldn’t be any worse. Verity swallowed hard, trying to think of anything except the bile rising from her stomach. She didn’t trust herself to speak.
‘You look kind of green.’ He gave her a lopsided grin. ‘I suspect that seagull did you a favour as it means you haven’t got a sausage sandwich swirling in the pit of your stomach.’
The very thought made Verity heave but somehow, she’d mislaid the sickbag on the walk to the outside deck. Her eyes began to water and she feared she couldn’t hold back for much longer. Raising her hands, she frantically wafted them in front of her face.
The handsome stranger looked horrified. ‘You’re about to be sick, aren’t you?’ He didn’t wait for an answer. Quickly leaning behind him he grabbed a sickbag from the holder on the wall and thrust it into Verity’s hands. Mortified, but thankful for the bag, she threw up.
As soon as she stopped heaving, he passed her a tissue. ‘Sam Wilson,’ he shared. For a moment they stared at each other in an awkward silence. ‘We meet again. First you get me wolf-whistled and second, well, you throw up. It’s not often those two things happen to me in the space of a couple of hours. As Monday mornings go, it’s been eventful!’
Still feeling green, Verity managed a laugh. She liked his sense of humour.
‘I have to say, though, there are other ways to get a man’s attention. Just a normal “Hello, I’m…” would have been enough.’ He had a glint in his eye and Verity’s stomach began to flip again, this time for all the right reasons.
It had been a long time since she’d flirted with anyone, and that’s all it was, because the last thing on her mind was the possibility of getting involved in any romantic entanglement, no matter how sexy he was. The next six months would be all about finding out who Verity Callaway was, and what she wanted from life. But from the way he was looking at her, it was clear that he found her just as attractive as she found him.
‘Hello, I’m Verity…Callaway.’ She smiled but suddenly felt a little shy.
‘There’s a little bit of colour coming back to her cheeks.’
She knew she was blushing and wiped her mouth with the tissue hoping to hide that very fact. ‘I’m really sorry. The second the ferry started moving, that was it, my stomach no longer belonged to my body. Would you excuse me?’ She wrinkled her nose as she held up the sickbag. ‘I think I need to dispose of this.’ She leaned behind Sam and dropped it into the bin.
‘How are you feeling now?’
‘Kind of dizzy.’ Verity wobbled.
Sam put out his hand to steady her. ‘Keep drinking water and breathing in the fresh air.’ He looked at his watch. ‘You’ll be over the worst now.’
‘Thank God,’ she replied. ‘One thing I’ve learned from my very first ferry trip is that I’ll never want a job in the Royal Navy. In future, my feet are staying firmly on land. I’m not sure I’ll make the fifteen hours to Amsterdam.’
Sam’s eyes widened. ‘You do know it was the other ferry going to Amsterdam, not this one?’ Panic was evident in his tone.
‘I know,’ she rushed to reassure him. ‘That’s where I should be heading right now but I got distracted.’
‘Distracted?’ Sam raised an eyebrow.
‘Don’t go getting any ideas. I didn’t see a perfect handsome stranger in the queue at the greasy spoon, then follow him to the ferry port and decide to change my ticket at the last minute because his four-wheel drive was getting on a different ferry from myself and Hetty.’
Sam looked over his shoulder. ‘Hetty? Do you have company?’
Verity smiled. ‘Hetty is my travelling van. This is our first adventure after…’ She paused.
‘After?’
‘After my separation.’ Verity couldn’t quite believe she was sharing all this information with a complete stranger. ‘She was my old works van and when I resigned, I decided it was about time I did something out the ordinary. So I converted her into a camper. It took a couple of months but now she’s just perfect. Tonight, we’ll be sleeping under the stars.’
