‘Night,’ she whispered into the darkness.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The next morning, Sofia was surprised to see that Jack was still fast asleep when she came down from her bunk. He looked peaceful, his eyelashes casting long shadows down his cheeks in the low light.
She got dressed in the bathroom again. She didn’t want him to wake up to her naked – and now softly peeling – body. The burn had started to itch. She spent the morning in the kitchen, rubbing her lower back against the counter occasionally when her hands were full, like a cartoon bear.
Petra came in looking a little worse for wear. ‘I was up until three with Stuart and his whisky in the captain’s quarters,’ she explained. At the look on Sofia’s face, she clarified. ‘Oh not like that! Just chatting. Did you know his dad was a marine biologist? Spent years out at sea looking for whales to tag.’ She sounded genuinely fascinated.
‘Random,’ said Sofia, only half listening and slicing up a grapefruit, the smell transporting her back to the afternoon in the citrus grove and bringing a smile to her face.
‘And after spending his whole childhood resenting his father for being away, here he is doing the same thing,’ Petra continued.
‘Men and their fathers, eh.’
Petra latched on to her throwaway comment straight away. ‘So Jack’s been telling you all about his daddy issues then?’ There was that tone again, the one that wasn’t really asking about theconversationsshe was having with Jack.
‘It’s not like that!’ Sofia parroted, noting with a tang of something like jealousy that Jack must have opened up to Petra as well.
‘If you say so, Sofia,’ Petra chimed with a devilish twinkle in her eyes. ‘But I have found myself wondering how that whole bunk-sharing situation is playing out.’
‘Well, I’m sorry to disappoint, Petra, but it’s mainly stilted pleasantries and sleeping.’ Sofia kept her eyes fixed on the knife in her hand, fearful that Petra might pick up on something in her expression. It was ridiculous really; she was telling the truth, mostly.
‘Hmmm, how boring.’
Sofia could feel Petra’s gaze burning into the back of her head. For a moment the only sound was that of blade on chopping board.
‘I better get on.’ Sofia threw Petra what she hoped was an easy smile, which seemed to do the trick of bringing the interrogation to an end.
‘OK, I’ll leave you to it.’ But Petra didn’t leave immediately; instead she examined Sofia’s face suspiciously. Eventually she broke into a grin, deciding to bide her time. ‘See you at dinner then!’
Sofia responded with a half-hearted ‘see you’ as the door swung shut. It was never a good sign when she felt like she was hiding things from a friend, but then again Jack was her friend now too, and there was something to be said for roommate confidentiality.
Another day passed, another three meals and a crew meeting over dinner about the plan for Gaeta. They would dock, sort the mould, get more supplies, and there was the chance of another night out, as Brian and Milly were once again spending the night on land. Sofia dreaded the thought – she had barely recovered from their last excursion.
She hadn’t seen Jack all day, and when he walked in and sat down, Sofia was aware that he was looking everywhere apart from at her. She felt dismayed. Hadn’t they made some real progress last night? Maybe it had just been the whisky talking.
By the time she’d finished eating, the itching on her back had become almost unbearable, and she could think of nothing else. She excused herself and half walked, half ran back to the cabin, bending her arm at awkward angles to try and get a good scratch.
When she peeled off her T-shirt in the bathroom, the redness had flared into an angry foam of peeling skin. She was peering over her shoulder, tentatively picking at it, when Jack opened the door.
‘Excuse me!’ she protested.
He quickly shut it again. ‘Damn, sorry! I didn’t realise you were in there,’ he said from the other side of the laminated wood. There was a pause, but Sofia didn’t hear retreating footsteps.
‘That burn looks pretty bad,’ he said softly through the door.
‘It’s fine, I just need to moisturise it.’ She wasn’t convincing even herself.
‘I have some aloe vera somewhere – I think that’d help. What kind of chef doesn’t come prepared for burns?’ He was teasing, but there was fondness to his tone.
She looked at the patch of skin. ‘He’s the first-aider on board, Sofia. Why must you always make life more difficult for yourself?’ she muttered sternly at her reflection.
‘What was that?’ he called.
‘Nothing!’ She pulled her T-shirt back on and opened the door. She was face to face with Jack, barely a breath between them in the tiny room. He stepped back awkwardly and they both made a point of looking in different directions. ‘Aloe vera sounds great, thanks,’ she said quickly.
‘Sure yep, I’ll grab it,’ he said equally quickly before dropping to his knees to pull his suitcase from underneath the bunk. The cabin was so small there was barely enough room for them both to stand, let alone rummage through a bag. She sat down on his bunk gingerly, as he looked for the bottle.
