Chapter 8
Daniel
Daniel caught himself hoping that Ore would have a good night’s sleep. He was sitting alone in the captain’s quarters. The first officer, Dudley, was taking over the night shift. He had to admit that it was nice not to have to be within flinching distance of the helm at all hours.
It had been an eventful day. Daniel told himself that the reason he kept thinking about the errant journalist was because of the absurdity of the whole situation: the mistaken identity, the vomit. But if he allowed his brain to wander into less rational territory, something he generally tried to avoid, he knew that he was also a little taken aback by how pretty she was.
All these years at sea, he’d seen relationships blossom and rot in front of his eyes. It was a tale as old as time: young strapping deckhand, playful pretty stewardess, a whirlwind, followed by a destructive storm. He’d taken the mantra of not mixing business with pleasure seriously, and it had served him well.
But now here he was thinking about how beautifully the sunlight bounced off the smooth skin of her shoulders, how her collarbones delicately crested out from beneath that totallyimpractical strappy top she’d been wearing and how her eyes twinkled when she smiled. He felt a little ridiculous and reasoned that infatuation was not beyond him. He’d once had a mind-numbing crush on his elementary school teacher, which had faded naturally. He’d even gotten over Alice, his ex-girlfriend, eventually, so this little crush was sure to dwindle.
It was just unusual for him to be struck so suddenly like this. Miss Rachel had been a pretty constant presence in his young life and he’d been in classes with Alice in high school for years before he realised his feelings were ‘romantic’. They’d kissed once at a party when they were seventeen but it hadn’t been until another five years later, when he was back staying with his mom between charters, that they’d run into each other at the grocery store. A few weeks of gentle courting, and then just before he left for another season, he’d asked her to be his girlfriend.
They managed intermittent long-distance for three years, before she came to terms with the fact that he’d never give up the seafaring, not for her anyway. Daniel had always been sure of the fact that they wouldn’t ‘end up together’ but he thought it would be good practice to have a girlfriend before he had a wife. Alice was lovely, caring and understanding. She got on with his mom too. But she never made it into the version of the future he imagined for himself, however hard he tried to make space for her there.
Still, it had shocked him how bereft he’d felt when she finally ended things. He hadn’t managed to eat anything for days, and even though he didn’t cry about it, the dull but persistent ache in his chest took longer than he had expected to die down. Almost a year, in fact.
He was used to slow feelings, not whatever this was.
I wonder if she’ll realise that the Kwells were from me.It was bothersome, the way his thoughts intruded so forcefully, when he was trying to concentrate on the seabirds episode ofBirds of a Feather, the documentary series he’d put on to try and unwind. He hadn’t put them there for the recognition, he reminded himself; he was only helping out a fellow traveller.
He had just managed to convince his brain to refocus on the diving sea puffin in front of him when there was a soft knock at the door. He checked his watch; it was just after midnight.
‘Dan, you in there?’
Daniel was shirtless, and felt that Chuck might interpret that as some sort of masculine showdown.
‘Just a moment, sir.’ He scrambled for a T-shirt and was still pulling it over his head when Chuck pushed the door open. Chuck seemed taken aback to be met with Daniel’s taut, sculpted torso.
‘I see you work out, man.’ Chuck chuckled nervously, and Daniel was glad that his skin was dark enough to conceal the hot flushing in his cheeks.
‘A little,’ he conceded, unsure whether to sit down in the armchair behind him or stand. In the end Chuck strolled over to it and took a seat, leaving Daniel to perch on the edge of the bed. He should have known he’d have no chance of winning any kind of showdown with a man like Chuck Regas.
‘I need to ask you a favour, Dan.’ Chuck was leaning back in the chair, hands steepled under his chin, and Daniel considered if he wastryingto look like a movie villain. ‘Could you take care of this Ore girl for me?’
There was no way Chuck could have known what he had been thinking only moments before – Daniel knew that – but still he felt like he had been caught out. He was aware of his sweaty palms.
‘Urm, excuse me, what do you mean by that, sir?’
Chuck let out a bellow of laughter. ‘Oh Danny, God, no don’t get any ideas, although she is rather lovely isn’t she?’ This last part he mumbled to no one in particular, and then, remembering what he wanted to say, he carried on. ‘I just mean I need you to keep an eye on her. I’ve told her she can speak to any of my staff but I’d like you to be with her at all times when she does so.’
He held Daniel’s gaze intently. Daniel didn’t know what to say, but Chuck continued. ‘Of course it’s not that there’s anything to hide per se, I just like to know that my staff are being suitably discreet and they’re more likely to remember that if there’s a …’ Chuck scanned Daniel up and down, and it made his skin crawl ‘… a captain in the room.’
Daniel had supposed that men with inordinate amounts of money and influence might worry about people feeling intimidated in their presence. Chuck seemed to enjoy it. More than the pure power play, he seemed to enjoy other people’s discomfort as well.
‘So what do you say?’ Chuck smiled and Daniel broke eye contact and looked off into the middle distance, focusing on the bland seascape print on the wall.
‘Whatever you need, sir.’ Chuck stood up suddenly and patted Daniel on the shoulder as he walked past him.
‘I knew I could count on you, Dan. I’ll be in my office at the end of each day, and I’d like to keep track of her reporting …contemporaneously. If that suits?’ The question was obviously rhetorical because he didn’t wait for an answer.
After he’d left the room, Daniel fell back on the bed exasperated. Why had he taken this job? He could be wandering around the Acropolis right now, and instead he’d been demoted from captain to babysitter.
He wasn’t even sure exactly what he was supposed to be stopping Ore from hearing, although after that interaction he suspected there would be more than a few people on this boat who would have uncomplimentary things to say about Chuck Regas. It was going to be a long two weeks.
