Love Overboard

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Sofia would remember the next hour as a sort of fever dream. There was Milly, crouched over Brian on the deck, red hair flying as Jack sped the boat through turquoise waves. When they arrived in Capri, Sofia had to talk Milly down from calling an ambulance.

‘We’ll need a stretcher to get him off the boat.’ The tiny woman was strangely formidable. Once Jack had helped Brian to his feet, though, it became clear that he was still pretty mobile. He managed to hobble off the boat and onto the marina with only Jack’s shoulder to hold on to, to steady himself. As he limped along the dock, Sofia sensed that he was beginning to feel embarrassed by the fuss that Milly was making.

‘Maybe we should just go back to the boat,’ he muttered weakly as he was lowered into the back of a waiting taxi.

‘No way, I’m having a specialist take a look at that foot,’ Milly said already tapping away furiously on her phone and Sofia wondered who she might know that could recommend a sea urchin sting specialist in Capri. ‘We’re probably going to spend the night at the hospital,’ she said, turning to Sofia, ‘or we’ll go to the villa if he gets discharged, so I’ll text you guys tomorrow when we want to come back to the boat.’ She was all business. There was no doubt who was staff and who was in charge now.

‘Yes of course, just let us know.’ And then, after reminding herself that ‘the customer is always right’ she added, ‘I hope he finds the care he needs.’

Milly gave her a look she couldn’t quite decipher and Sofia worried she had sounded sarcastic. ‘Thanks,’ was all Milly said. Then she was in the taxi and the pair of them were sped away.

Sofia stood for a moment in a daze and jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Jack chuckled. ‘What a day.’

‘That’s an understatement.’ She found herself laughing as well, trying not to think about the weight of his hand on her shoulder. ‘I don’t think anything else could have gone wrong if we tried. Talk about a series of unfortunate events.’

‘Welcome to the yachtie life – always unpredictable, never dull.’

‘This is why I’m supposed to stay locked up below deck, in my hole of a kitchen where I belong.’

‘Oh but it’s so nice out here above ground. The sunlight suits you.’

She laughed and it felt like she was releasing all the tension she’d collected throughout the day. She laughed like she meant it and Jack smiled, flushing a little. ‘You have a lovely laugh,’ he said quietly.

For some reason that made her laugh more. How absurd it all was. After the day they’d had, he still could find the time for some inappropriate flirting.

‘You never take the day off, do you? Always ready with the corny chat-up lines?’ She had meant it teasingly, but he appeared surprisingly dismayed, looking down suddenly.

‘And you never give a guy a break, do you?’

She slapped him playfully on the shoulder, annoyed with herself for dampening what had been a carefree moment. ‘Not my style,’ she said.

She was relieved when he rolled his eyes good-humouredly. ‘Yes, Chef!’

‘Now, Captain Carter, how the hell are we getting back to the Lady Shelly?’

‘Right this way.’ They walked back to the tender and he held out his hand to help her onto the boat. ‘God, I am dying for a drink. You looking forward to your first crew night out?’

‘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.

‘We went to a citrus grove place – kind of random. Jack took us there.’

‘Oh really? Jack took you? I wonder if that’s his grandmother’s place...’ Petra trailed off, deep in thought.

‘Grandmother?’ Sofia was puzzling the pieces together slowly. That would explain the Italian.

‘Yeah, I remember him saying something about that once. His mum’s mum has lived on Capri on and off for years. He used to spend summers on the island when he was a kid.’ Petra peered out of the side of her eye as they walked along the narrow corridor together. ‘So you two managed to get along today then?’ There was an edge of conspiracy to her tone, and she gave Sofia a playful nudge.

Sofia had a lot more questions she wanted to ask, but she knew that that would only give Petra more of the wrong idea.

‘It’s not like that, Petra,’ Sofia said a little too defensively, ‘but if you must know, yes, it was quite nice actually. He’s not so bad once you get past all the...’ Sofia mimed running her hand through her hair, and turned to give Petra a big Jack-esque grin.

Petra giggled right on cue. ‘Oh yeah sure, the Prince Charming act is a lot,’ Petra conceded, ‘but he’s a sweet boy really, and he’s saved your arse twice now.’

‘Twice?’

‘Well today and then the other day when he made those burgers for Milly and Brian.’ It took Sofia a moment to register what Petra was saying.

‘Wait, when, you mean after you...’ Sofia was embarrassed remembering that evening ‘...put me to bed.’

Petra nodded. ‘You didn’t think it was me or Declan who cooked for them, did you? I can barely fry an egg and I don’t think Declan would even know how to crack one.’

Maybe the Prince Charming act was not just a performance. He seemed to be making a habit of saving the day.

‘Oh, I didn’t know that,’ she said slowly.

Petra wagged her finger playfully. ‘You should never judge a book by its chiselled cheekbones, Sofia.’

‘Apparently not... anyway, this is me.’ They were standing outside her room.

‘Don’t get too comfortable. You have one hour and then we need to eat before we go out.’ Petra marched off down the corridor.

Sofia sat down on her bed. That morning felt like a million years ago. She peeled off her stewardess uniform and lay down, not meaning to fall asleep but only to rest her eyes for a moment or two.