Love Overboard

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Six

When she awoke, she could feel a throbbing on her side. The pain was confusing in her sleepy daze until she looked down. Her skin was taut and alarmingly pink. She had fallen asleep in the sun. What else did you expect? she berated herself. It had been years since she’d gotten burnt. She’d ended up lying on her side, so she was horrified to find the burn resolutely set into the shape of a triangle on her left side and back where the shade had vanished as the sun moved.

She gingerly pressed her fingers against it, wincing as they left three distinct white shadows in their wake.

‘Damn,’ she muttered under her breath.

Then she checked the time, and muttered a much more anxious ‘damn’. The guests would be back in half an hour and she hadn’t even started meal prepping yet. She gathered her things hastily and trotted across the deck to see Jack zipping into the distance, a vision of blazing white among the cerulean waves.

In the kitchen she was on autopilot, chopping and whisking at double speed, but her mind was firmly stuck on the deck, turning over the conversation with Jack. She was worried. Hating him, finding him insufferable, that was challenging; but liking him, that might be its own kind of trouble. She had chastised her lurid brain for spending the night with him, because she couldn’t quite convince her body that it hadn’t happened. Up on the deck, she had felt drawn to him, and when he had told her about his mother, she had felt compelled to hold him.

No good would come of this. She could not keep making the same mistakes. This was a new start; that was the plan. Maybe if she repeated these things to herself, she could override whatever it was she was starting to feel about him.

‘Sofia! How are ya?’ She was startled out of her thoughts by Declan, bounding into the kitchen with the energy of a puppy.

‘Great,’ she lied. ‘How was the trip?’ She looked down and realised the batter she was mixing had begun to separate.

‘It was amazing, honestly. You missed out, although I think there’s something weird going on between Petra and Milly,’ he mused, aimlessly pacing around the small square of floorspace. It wasn’t helping with Sofia’s nerves. ‘And Patricio, honestly, he’s like a genius or something. He knew the name of, like, every plant. It’s crazy.’

Sofia was glad at least to see that any residual awkwardness between them had evaporated.

‘Sounds cool.’ She was distracted, adding more flour with one hand as the mixture stiffened into something far too dough-like. ‘I’m a bit behind, Dec, so if you could give me, like, an hour to get the dinner ready, I’ll be all ears.’

‘Course course, did you know that Patricio and Jack already know each other? Such a small world eh?’

‘Really, how come?’ Now Sofia was interested. She couldn’t seem to get enough of knowing about Jack.

‘They’re family friends or something. They go way back, but basically Jack got him the job.’

It wasn’t really a big deal, but Sofia wondered why nobody had mentioned it to her, especially Jack. She wasn’t sure why she felt like she’d been left out of something.

‘Interesting,’ she said, busying herself with a new batter. She hoped that Declan hadn’t clocked the edge of bitterness in her tone.

‘Anyway, I’ll leave you to it,’ he said cheerily. He turned to leave then stopped suddenly and spun back around looking like he wanted to say something else.

‘Yes?’ Sofia’s patience was running thin.

‘I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Milly mentioned earlier that she thinks she’s a bit bloated, so she’d rather avoid anything too heavy for the next few days.’ He shrugged apologetically, eyeing the bowl in her hands.

Sofia had to take a deep breath. This job was certainly keeping her on her toes. ‘So I’m guessing no deep-fried tempura then?’ she said through gritted teeth.

‘I mean, you’re the chef but I’m guessing probably not.’ He flashed her a grin and raced out of the kitchen before she could shoot the messenger.

Sofia dumped the bowl in the sink and slumped against the counter, remembering too late the burn on her back and letting out a yelp. She was really being tested.

After a flick through her notebook and a review of the vegetables she’d already prepped she landed on ratatouille. Brian and Milly would have to make do with a slightly later dinner – she wasn’t a miracle worker.

In the end, dinner was only seven minutes behind schedule, and Sofia felt a little triumphant as she radioed Patricio for service. She wanted to pick his brains about his mysterious shared past with Jack but she knew that he was all business when it came to dinnertime so she waited until he brought back the dessert plates.

As he put them on the side she noticed, with a mixture of relief and annoyance, that they had been scraped clean. Banoffee pie evidently didn’t fall under the category of ‘heavy’ in Milly’s mind.

‘So,’ she began, ‘a little birdie told me that you and Jack are old friends?’ She had intended for it to sound casually inquisitive; instead it came out probing.

Patricio blushed and looked embarrassed. ‘Um, yeah, our parents knew each other, but I mean I have the experience as well. I had an interview with Captain Mary and everything.’ He was defensive, and Sofia was confused.

‘It’s OK, I didn’t mean it to sound judgemental.’ Now she was the one being defensive. ‘I’m just being nosy.’ She chuckled anxiously.

‘Oh, it’s OK, it’s just that Jack warned me that...’ he paused, looking for the right word ‘...people might think I only got the job through... um...’ again the cogs whirred ‘... nepotismo? I don’t know the English word.’

‘Nepotism,’ Sofia offered, realising that the ‘people’ he was referring to must be her. Sofia was mortified that she was getting a reputation for being judgy. Worst of all it was Jack going around telling people that she couldn’t be trusted. She was angry, and – she had to admit – a little hurt.

‘Don’t worry, Patricio, I can see that you’re more than qualified, better than most of the waiters I used to work with in London, in fact.’

Patricio grinned at the compliment. ‘Ah well, a little misunderstanding then. Yes Jack has known me since I was a bambino. His mother, God rest her soul, she was good friends with my father. She was Caprese too, you know?’

It all clicked into place. If Jack’s mum had been from the island, it explained the Italian, and his uncanny ability to navigate around the place. She wondered how she hadn’t managed to put it all together earlier.

‘I didn’t know, I knew his grandmother lived there, but he never mentioned he was half Italian. I thought he was American born and bred.’

Patricio shook his head. ‘No, surely you can tell! He is the prime example of what you Brits call an “Italian Stallion”, no?’ Sofia laughed and Patricio joined in.

‘Oh I don’t know, I hadn’t noticed,’ she said coyly. Patricio laughed at her and flounced out of the door.

***

Sofia was left with a collection of revelations and yet more questions. It seemed she could never get to the bottom of it all. Each new detail only confused her opinion of him. One thing was clear: as friendly as he was now being towards her, he didn’t think much of her. He thought so little of her that he felt compelled to warn off others, lest they invite the same judgement she had made of him.

She realised that the fantasy she had been in for the past twenty-four hours was just that, a fantasy. He had not been in her bed that night. She had imagined it; it was all her. She felt like a fool for talking herself into a ‘connection’ that was now so evidently one-sided. At least she didn’t need to worry about breaking any of Captain Mary’s rules. It takes two to tango, she thought, and she was waltzing with an imaginary friend.