‘Oh God that’s tonight! I was actually thinking about how much I was looking forward to going to bed.’
‘Well that simply won’t do, Chef Harlow. You’re going to have to pull yourself together and learn to loosen up.’ He winked at her.
‘Hmm, we’ll see. I am famously very uptight.’
When he laughed, his eyes sparkled. His hair was still a little wet from earlier and the tousled curls framed his face perfectly. Sofia became uncomfortably aware of how handsome he looked, almost exactly as he had when she had first spotted him in that bar. She reminded herself of what she had deduced back then – that he knew exactly how good he looked – and resolved anew not to give him the satisfaction of her admiration.
‘Well, we’d better go then,’ she said, busying herself, picking up the soaking towel on the deck that had acted as Brian’s operating table.
Jack checked his watch. ‘Oh God, yeah we really better. We’re so late, the captain will be wondering where the hell we’ve got to.’
It dawned on Sofia that they would have to explain the day to Captain Mary and she felt a pang of dread. Her first excursion and she had completely messed up. Would this scupper her chance at becoming permanent crew? And if Jack hadn’t been there to save the day, she was sure she would have had no idea what to do with Brian’s foot.
Declan and Petra were waiting for them as they pulled in, up beside the main boat.
‘Where the hell are the guests?’ Petra shouted over the motor.
‘It’s a very long story,’ Jack shouted back. ‘Dec, can you give me a hand here?’ The pair of them manoeuvred the tender back into place, as Sofia tried to keep herself out of the way. Petra got stuck in, manning one of the pulleys.
Once they were all back on deck, with the boat safely secured, Petra turned to them. ‘So?’
‘OK, so don’t freak out. It sounds way worse than it is, but they’ve both gone to the hospital in Capri.’ Jack shrugged, offering a boyish grimace.
Petra was decidedly unimpressed and trying to conceal her growing agitation. ‘What!?’
Sofia chimed in: ‘Brian got stung by a sea urchin in the um, the blue cave?’ she looked over to Jack.
‘Grotta Azzurra,’ he corrected.
There was that perfect Italian accent again. She had to remember to ask him about that, but right now she was getting distracted, and Petra wanted answers, so she continued: ‘And then Milly freaked out and then we went to Capri, and then they went to the hospital.’
Sofia took a deep breath, wincing in anticipation of Petra’s reply. To her surprise, she began to laugh. Declan, who had been watching the exchange anxiously, joined in, tentatively at first, but soon enough all four of them were doubled over.
Petra wiped away a tear from the corner of her eye. ‘Right, OK, OK, let me get this straight, Brian has gone to the hospital, with a sea urchin sting?’
‘That is correct,’ replied Jack.
‘Wow, and there was me thinking that these guests weren’t precious at all. Did you tell him he probably just needed to soak it in warm water?’
‘He did,’ Sofia confirmed, glancing at Jack, who seemed unperturbed by Petra’s questioning of his methods.
‘Well I guess that just gives us more time to get ready for this evening then. You looking forward to your first crew night out, newbies?’ It was phrased as a question, but Sofia felt sure there was only one right answer.
Declan had it. ‘Absolutely psyched,’ he said, nodding enthusiastically.
‘Sure, it’s been a long day but I’ll come for a couple of drinks.’ Sofia’s response was met by a raised eyebrow from Petra and Jack, who exchanged a look.
‘Sure, a couple of drinks. You got it, honey.’ Petra’s eyes sparkled mischievously. ‘OK so let’s get this lovely lady into port and then we can start driiiinking!’
Whilst Jack and Declan went to find the captain to coordinate the docking, Sofia and Petra headed back below deck.
‘Hey, Petra, I’m really nervous about what the captain will think about all this. Do we have to have a debrief or something?’
‘Oh don’t worry about that. Jack will tell her all about it, and it’ll be best coming from him,’ Petra reassured her. They were ambling down the stairs, taking the scenic route to accommodate their very own debrief.
‘Right, yeah.’ She paused a moment, wondering if she should confess to her picnic fiasco. She guessed that Jack would tell the captain and everyone would find out anyway. ‘I also left the food for lunch on the boat when we left,’ she admitted quietly.
‘Oh damn, so it was a whole day of drama then. What did you guys eat?’ Petra seemed to be finding it all amusing, which was reassuring for Sofia.
