Chapter 17
Daniel
Daniel too had lost track of time and was a little startled when Ore knocked lightly on the door. He stood to open it and through the glass was surprised to see that she looked uneasy. Even in the short time they’d known each other he’d come to associate her with natural confidence. Whatever had happened in the kitchen was obviously still affecting her.
‘Ore, my apologies, I hadn’t realised what the time was.’ Her nervous energy was infectious; he felt as though he didn’t know what to do with his hands, how to stand or where to look.
‘No problem, I was also running behind.’ They stood in silence, Daniel realising too late that he would need to step back to let her into the room.
Before he did Ore said: ‘Sorry about all that back there.’ She wasn’t looking at him; instead she was fiddling with the end of one of her braids, her eyes trained on the grey carpet.
‘No problem.’
Daniel stepped back to let Ore pass. Before she did, she looked up at him, her dark eyes brimming with something he couldn’t decipher. He found himself compelled to ask her if she was all right. He opened his mouth, saw her eyes glint, and then lost his nerve.
‘Come on in,’ he said. She quickly looked away and walked further into the room. ‘I’m afraid I won’t be able to accompany you on any more interviews today or tomorrow.’
She had her back to him, first looking down at the control panel and then out to sea.
‘Uh-huh.’ She sounded miles away. ‘That’s fine, maybe I can just talk to Dudley on his own.’
‘I’m not sure that’s a good idea.’
She spun around, the soft sadness of her expression morphing into something harder. ‘I assume that’s because Chuck wouldn’t allow it?’
He was a little taken aback by the harshness of her tone.
Almost immediately she looked contrite. ‘Sorry, God I don’t know what’s wrong with me today. I guess I have a lot riding on this.’
He could understand that. ‘There’s been a bit of a change of plan, which I’m not totally happy with myself.’ He didn’t want her to think he was trying to make her life harder on purpose. At that moment he didn’t want to think about why her opinion of him mattered so much.
‘I’m guessing you heard the choppers arriving?’ Ore nodded and Daniel continued explaining himself. ‘That’s a new batch of investors for Chuck to “entertain”, and now we have to reroute as he wants to head towards the Barrier Reef, again.’
Ore nodded once more, thoughtfully, Daniel could almost see the wheels turning as she digested the information. ‘Do you think he’ll let me talk to them?’
‘Worth an ask.’ Daniel shrugged. He half hoped Chuck would refuse the request. He already had enough to be getting on with, without a new batch of interviews to chaperone. Theother half of him was pleased to see Ore light up again with excitement.
‘That would be really something …’ She was muttering, talking to herself more than him. ‘Thanks, Daniel.’ She walked over and for a second he thought she was going to hug him. His body stiffened reflexively; he worried it would betray him.
Instead she turned and continued towards the door, and he felt a flash of disappointment.
‘I’m going to go find Chuck and see what’s going on, find out who’s on board.’ Ore looked determined.
‘Sure thing, I’ll be up most of the night so perhaps if you need to do some interviews tomorrow, we could arrange something for early afternoon?’ He cringed. He sounded too eager.
Ore had one hand on the door handle. ‘Yep, I’ll let you know.’
As the door shut behind her, Daniel tried to dismiss the feeling that he was already looking forward to seeing her again.
Daniel got back to work. He’d have to plan a stopover straight after their detour, as the boat needed refuelling, and he was dreading having to go down to the kitchen and tell Carlos that he wouldn’t be getting any new ingredients for five days.
He had just fired off a request to the port authorities in Cairns when Dudley burst in. He was beginning to learn that the first officer was prone to intense changes in mood.
Standing in the middle of the room, Dudley crunched over, with his head in his hands.Pretty dramatic, thought Daniel.
‘Are you OK, Dudley?’ he asked, although his instinct was to ignore what he thought of as attention-seeking behaviour. When Dudley looked up though, his face was red, as thoughhe’d been crying, and Daniel felt bad for having assumed theatrics.
‘I’m raging.’ Dudley’s breath was ragged, and he ran his hand through his hair exasperatedly as he tried to formulate a sentence. ‘Vicky just told me … Told me that Claude is back on board. I can’t believe it. I honestly … I don’t know what hold he has over Chuck.’
