“To Jules!” I start the toast, and even Patricia, never one to be outdone, lazily raises her martini.
“Catch us up on your first week at sea, mi amor,” Harry redirects the conversation. He’s probably an expert at it by now—God knows he must have ample opportunities to practice. “What do you think of the Vela Bianca?”
“It’s such a dream, really,” my sister gushes, her whole face lighting up like a sunrise. Her whole life, she’s been one of those contagiously happy girls that other people just gravitate towards. And having spent a few days with Harry’s family, I can see why he needs her. When she talks about something she loves, it feels like the generations of carefully cultivated ice in the room just melt away.
Even when her future mother-in-law’s just insinuated she’s nothing more than a consolation prize.
“I can’t thank you enough for bringing us along,” she continues. “What a gift to see the islands from the water like this! And the whole crew has been so wonderful.”
“I have to say, Dad,” Harry says, “When you told me you were replacing Captain Tim, I was skeptical. But Caleb’s certainly taken to his new position.”
“Agreed.” Steven pipes in. “And so young!”
Ugh. More Caleb worshipping.Don’t think about the elevator. Don’t think about the elevator…I look across the table to see if there’s anything I could use to gouge out my ear drums.
“He really is something, isn’t he?” Arthur agrees.
“He’ssomethingalright,” I say into my ratatouille. Apparently I’ve said it out louder than I thought, because everyone’s suddenly looking at me.
“Stella, you disagree?” asks Patricia skeptically.
“Well,” I cover, “I just mean… he could be a little bitnicer.”
“Ha!” Patricia caws, and I realize after a second that it’s a laugh.Everyoneat the table is laughing as if I’ve said the funniest thing they’ve ever heard. Ofcoursethey think I’m kidding. Caleb is so damned charming to all of them that they think it’s a joke.
“He issucha dear,” Patricia says. “And so loyal. In fact, we’ve never had a First Mate stay for so long. Yacht crew are always jumping from ship to ship, searching for something new and exciting… they’re a quite nomadic bunch. But Caleb is so dedicated. And we trust him. So when Captain Tim left, it seemed like a natural fit.”
“Did Tim move to another boat?” I asked, eager to put my verbal vomit behind me.
“No,” Arthur answers. “He retired.”
“He wanted to spend more time with his family,” adds Patricia.
“Who, his great great grandchildren?” Matthew cuts in. “What mom means is that Captain Tim was losing it. He’s older thanDad. Last spring, he hit awhale.”
I gasp, and feel a piece of eggplant lodge itself in my throat that nearly chokes me. What did he just say?
“Matthew!” Patricia gasped. “That’s not appropriate dinner conversation. And hedidn’thit it.”
“He would have if Caleb hadn’t intervened!”
“To be fair, the ocean was crawling with them,” Arthur defends Tim, and I feel my fists clenching. “We couldn’t go five minutes without seeing one! Apparently it was breeding season in Baja.”
“They’re fifty feet long, dad,” Matthew argues. “It’s not like they’re hard to see.”
“Watch out, Arthur,” Steven gestures his fork at me. A piece of roast beef so rare it’s still bleeding dangles off the prongs. “Stella looks like she’s about to put a fork through your eye.”
Jules grips my leg—hard, and I throw her an incredulous stare.
“Obviously it would have been terrible,” Patricia looks at me sympathetically. “You’d think they’d have learned to get out of the way by now. It’s not like they haven’t been living with ships for decades!”
I try to shift my face into a less hostile expression, but I feel as though I’m being choked. Did I hear them correctly? Are they seriously joking around about killing awhale?
My fork clatters against the table as I try to loosen my grip. I’m about to open my mouth and say something when I feel the edge of Jules’s slippered-foot connect with my ankle.
“Don’t worry about Stella,” she says a little too tersely. “She’s a little sensitive about animals.”
I whip my head to her in disbelief.A little sensitive?Is Jules seriously going to let this go?
