Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Four
When they got back to the Lady Shelly, two hours behind schedule, Petra was standing on the deck with her hands on her hips. Once she saw Sofia in Milly’s arms, her expression melted from agitation to worry.
‘Is everyone OK?’ she shouted over as Jack attached the pulleys to each side of the tender.
‘We had another accident!’ Milly shouted back. ‘But Jack saved Sofia’s life so yes, now everyone is OK.’
Petra shot Jack a look, which Sofia couldn’t translate, but it was adjacent to scolding.
‘Yes I heard,’ Petra said flatly, reaching out to help Sofia off the tender. ‘Let’s get you all on board. The captain has been wondering where you all are. I’ve just told her you were held up, until we can get to the bottom of everything.’ Petra, always thinking one step ahead. Sofia was grateful to have a friend who was always willing to cover for her. What would they tell the captain? That was just not something she could think about at that moment.
Once they were all safely on deck Petra held Sofia at arm’s length, examining her. Before Petra could ask her if she was okay, Sofia reassured her with an ‘I’ll be fine’, giving her the sort of look that says: I’ll tell you all about it later.
Petra seemed satisfied with that answer for now and began to lead Brian and Milly back to their suite, but not before Milly lunged for one last rib-crushing hug. ‘He’s a keeper,’ she whispered into Sofia’s ear. Sofia waved at them limply as they walked down into the boat.
Left alone, Sofia felt she had to say something meaningful to Jack; she just wasn’t sure what. In the end it was him who broke the silence. He seemed agitated. Sofia had never seen him look so nervous.
‘I’m just going to come out with it, because I don’t know how else to say it.’
Sofia held her breath. The possibilities were sending her thoughts into a spin.
‘It was my fault that you ran out of air. I should have checked the gauge before we went deeper, and I didn’t. You could have...’ he stammered, full of contrition, ‘you could have died.’ His eyes were glossy and Sofia could hardly bear to look at the anguish on his face.
‘Jack,’ she said softly. From her lips the word sounded like a prayer. She stepped towards him and then couldn’t remember what she had planned to do. She folded her arms across her chest. ‘Please don’t blame yourself. It was my own stupid cavalier attitude towards the whole thing that got us into this mess.’ She sighed. ‘Sometimes I don’t like to be told.’
She detected a faint smile and it rallied her. ‘We both were fully aware that we shouldn’t go deeper and I pushed it,’ she said calmly. ‘We swam right up to the limit and then we crossed the line and then we reaped the consequences.’ As she spoke they broke eye contact. Suddenly it felt like they were talking about something else.
‘At least no one got too badly hurt.’ It was almost a whisper from Jack.
‘Speak for yourself.’ The words were out before Sofia had time to think. She needed to get away from him, before she said more things she’d regret. When she looked up, he seemed visibly pained, like he had something else to add. She waited a beat, but he said nothing.
‘Anyway, thank you, Captain Jack, for the heroics. I better be off back to my dungeon. All this time you thought I was the princess, but I’m actually the troll,’ she remarked dryly. Her attempt at levity fell flat. He just nodded absent-mindedly and then turned away.
‘Take care of yourself, Sofia,’ he said with his back to her. Something about that phrase sounded so final. She presumed it was his way of reaffirming their pact to keep their distance.
She had planned to walk to the kitchen, but as she passed her cabin door, she suddenly felt shattered. Just ten minutes of shut-eye wouldn’t hurt she thought, as she collapsed on her bunk and closed her eyes.