‘Aye, aye, Captain.’ Declan drunkenly saluted Jack and then realised that Captain Mary was still sitting at the table and began to giggle uncontrollably.
‘Well on that note, I think it is time for me to retire.’ Captain Mary got up from her seat, smiling with good humour. ‘Have a good evening, everybody. Jack and Declan, I will see in the morning to get the tender ready.’
‘Night, Captain,’ everyone replied in a primary-school-like chorus.
One by one, the rest of the crew excused themselves. First Jack, and then Declan. Sofia was left with Petra and Stuart. He was talking about his childhood, growing up in Scotland, what school was like. Sofia was interested in what he had to say, but at a certain point she began to feel like she was intruding on something. There was a shift in the energy of the room, and she felt it was time to go to bed.
‘OK, guys, I’m off. Gotta be up early to make Milly and Brian’s picnic lunch so...’ Neither of them really seemed to notice she was still there.
‘Oh yeah, night, Sofia, have a good one.’ Stuart didn’t even look up. He and Petra were sitting opposite each other, knee to knee. As she walked back to her cabin Sofia found herself wondering what it was about work that made people fancy each other. She had fallen into that trap before and suffered the consequences. Petra and Stuart, she hoped, were older and wiser – maybe they knew what they were doing.Shecertainly would not be making that mistake again. She made a note to herself to double down on her efforts to dissuade Declan and then her mind wandered to the subject of Jack. He’d been so sullen at dinner, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to try and clear the air with him, if only to make things less awkward.
Chapter Thirteen
Sofia was in the kitchen, chopping up a grapefruit for a citrus pavlova, when there was an urgent knock on the door. She checked her watch. It was only 8a.m. – she had another hour until the guest breakfast needed serving.
‘Come in?’ She was expecting Petra, so she was caught off guard when she looked up to find Jack standing in front of her.
‘Sorry, I know I am very much on your turf here.’ He looked bashful, and Sofia was intrigued to hear what had brought him down here, into her lair. She raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to say more.
‘I have a pretty big favour to ask you.’ She had not expected this, but she was surprised to find that she was enjoying this change in their dynamic. It was nice for him to be on the back foot for once.
‘Oh really?’ She was a little too gleeful to sound cool and composed as she had wanted to.
‘Dec is in a bad way... after the whisky... and I need someone to come with me on the boat trip later on. You wouldn’t need to drive the boat or navigate or anything, I just need someone there to keep an eye on the guests, keep their glasses topped up, make sure they keep their life jackets on, that kind of thing.’ It was fascinating to watch him ramble, because he was flustered. Sofia bathed in the smugness of his discomfort.
‘Well as long as you don’t require too much brawn, I reckon I can help.’
He gave her a shy smile, and Sofia felt a twinge of compassion towards him. He was clearly grateful. ‘Thank you very much. You’ve really got me out of a sticky situation, and I’m sure Dec will be very appreciative too, once he can stand up without vomiting again.’ He ran his hand through his hair, clearly relieved.
‘It’s the least I can do really, after he covered for me the other day when I um, well, I wasn’t well and I couldn’t get dinner ready. He and Petra really saved my arse...’ She trailed off, and it was her turn to be humbled. Jack gave her a strange look that she couldn’t decipher.
‘Right yes, well, great, meet me up on deck after you’ve sent breakfast. I’ll have to talk you through basic safety procedures. It’s not very complicated – don’t worry.’
There it was – once he had done his grovelling, the patronising tone was back. ‘I think I’ll be fine. I know you like to think that the only alternative to brawn is beauty, but there’s also brains, and girls have those too!’ She tapped her head sarcastically.
He let out an exasperated sigh. ‘Yes, of course, sorry, I just meant it won’t take long.’
Sofia turned back to her grapefruit. ‘I’ll see you around nine then?’
‘Great, looking forward to it.’
She wasn’t best pleased with the sarcasm dripping from his voice but she decided to let it go. They would be spending the whole day together on a small boat, no room for delineated territories, so she needed to practise exercising patience.
After Jack left, Sofia busied herself with breakfast: pancakes with summer berry compote. At 9.04 there was still no sign of Petra and Sofia was worried about the steaming mountain of freshly flipped batter going soggy.
‘Petra, breakfast is ready.’ She hadn’t quite got the hang of the radio yet.
‘This is the captain. Try channel six, over,’ came the reply.
‘Sorry, Captain, over.’
She tried the other channel, and just then Petra burst through the door, looking a little worse for wear.
‘Long night, huh?’ Sofia teased.
Petra groaned. ‘Honestly I completely see why you don’t drink anymore. Once you hit thirty hangovers are no joke.’
‘Excuse me, I am twenty-seven, thank you very much.’ Sofia rolled her eyes, but thrust a bottle towards Petra. ‘Here have some of this coconut water. You need to rehydrate.’
