7. Mess
Chapter 7
Mess
Haley
I try not to watch Zane’s perfect ass go up the stairs.
“It’s a good one, isn’t it?” Shayla’s looking too.
I wrap up the rest of my sandwich and put it in the fridge. Shayla is one of those people whom you love or want to strangle, depending on the minute. I know after only a day with her I’m going to be friends with her forever. When she suggested we come down for lunch, I wasn’t going to eat. But then she made me a sandwich. How could I pass it up?
Shockingly, I never finished my complete tour of the ship. Shayla and I got wrapped up finishing the owner’s suite yesterday and today. We’ve gone from the back portico straight through to the main salon.
“You want to head back to the main salon? I’m going to go up to the wheelhouse and introduce myself to Brianna.”
“Will do, boss.” Shayla salutes me and heads up the stairs.
I gather my notes and stare at the luggage. Brianna really thinks she’s a guest. Why in the world would she need two giant bags and more? And where the heck is she going to put it all? I spent a few minutes yesterday during lunch checking out her social media, and after two minutes I closed it. And I shouldn’t be shocked by the giant bags.
In the wheelhouse, Brianna is sitting on the bench on the far wheel. She’s swinging her legs, but a flash of beige and bright orange on the far side of the captain’s chair catches my attention. A step forward reveals a goldendoodle wearing an orange life vest. The dog is glaring at Brianna.
“Oh, who is this?—”
“I’m Brianna.” She cocks her head at me.
But I’m after the furry goodness next to the chair.
“Oh, that’s my best mate,” the captain says.
“Thanks,” Anders, the first officer, pipes up from the corner of the bridge. I didn’t see him either. His head has popped up from under the control panel, his feet sticking out into the middle of the room. I bite at my lip, wondering why the first officer is under the control panel of a brand new mega yacht. It doesn’t build confidence in the Rock Candy for me.
“I’m going to have to get my vision checked,” I say. “I didn’t see the dog at first.”
“That’s Penny, ranking of first dog.” Anders laughs.
Dropping to my knees, I hold out my hand to let Penny have a sniff. She licks the side of my hand, and I scratch her behind her ears. “It’s nice to meet you,” I whisper into her fluffy curls.
The captain folds his arms over his chest, and his forehead scrunches up. Penny gives me an odd look too. “Wow. She likes you.”
Penny lies on her side.
“The feeling is mutual. It’s so awesome to have a dog on board. Dogs relieve so much stress for their owners.” I scratch her behind her ear, and her back leg thumps. “I bet she’s such a good girl.” I glance over at Captain Sam and Anders. Interesting, they’re looking at me like I’ve grown a second head. “What?”
Anders cocks his head. “It’s just Penny is particular about who she likes and who she doesn’t.”
“Yeah, dogs like me. All animals, actually.” I shrug it off and try not to think about my own dog. Well, she was Steven’s dog, but with us both working on ships so much, he gave her to his parents and then they moved back to New Jersey. He never really liked Ginger, said she wasn’t a real dog. Just because she was a mutt. I should have known then what an ass Steven was. Luckily, I like Barbara, his mom, enough not to worry about Ginger. I still miss her, though.
“I don’t like dogs.” Brianna is cowering on the bench. “One bit me when I was little.”
“I also used to be scared of dogs. You just need to get to know the right dog.” I scratch Penny again.
“Penny’s safe,” says Captain Sam. “She’s never been aggressive to anyone. I wouldn’t allow that kind of dog on my vessel.”
I extend my hand to Brianna. “Haley Brewster, chief stew. Nice to meet you.”
Brianna shakes my hand in a delicate grasp before pulling it back. “It’s nice to meet you. I was just talking to the captain about how excited I am to be working on the Candy Rock.”
“ Rock Candy ,” the captain corrects her.
“Right.” She gives a little smirk. “And I was saying how draining traveling is. So if you can just show me to my room, I’m going to take a nap.”
“A nap.” My eyebrows shoot up. “I see. We have a lot to get done before the owners come on board. Shayla, the second stew, and I have been working since we boarded.”
“That’s nice. But I’m tired, and trust me, I’m not good when I’m tired. I just need a good eight hours and I’ll be ready to go.”
“Eight hours is a nap?”
“Yes, I’m a terrible napper, so I need eight hours.”
I glance at the captain; his arms sit crossed over his wide chest, his lips firm, and I get it. He’s saying it’s my department, my call, without saying anything.
I take a big breath in and out. “Brianna, the interior is a team, one that works together. And I know you’ve got jet lag. I’ve got wicked bad jet lag too. But the way through it is to stay up. If you go to sleep now, you’re going to be up all night.”
“That’s fine, you can put me on nights.”
“Well, you’re the third stew, so you’re going to be doing mostly laundry and housekeeping. And that’s a position I need awake on mids. Let’s go find your cabin, get you changed, and I can show you the laundry room.” The middle of the day is the busiest on a yacht.
“Laundry room?”
“ L et me at her.” Shayla’s arms and legs are flailing about like a windmill, but she’s not actually moving, so I’m almost certain Brianna isn’t in any physical danger.
I want to train her, have her be an asset to the small team we have, but other than locking her in the laundry room and praying she actually does something, I don’t see how I’m going to get any work out of her. And worse, she’s hurting Shayla’s productivity already.
“Go take a nap, Brianna,” Shayla mocks.
Brianna cocks her head and heads down the main stairs. I spent almost an hour getting her into her cabin with Shayla. Which clearly isn’t going to work. Tonight I’m going to ask Shayla if she wants to move in with me. I was looking forward to having my own space, but it’s not going to be worth it if I have to work so much harder during the day to make up for Shayla’s frustration from rooming with Briana.
Seriously, it’s a super good thing the captain already told me about her being related to the owners, or I would have put her up for dismissal already. Less than three hours after she’s come onto the boat and I want her gone already. And it isn’t ever going to happen.
Shayla drops her hands at her sides and huffs, “You need to do something about her, boss lady.”
I nod. “I know.”
Shayla is glaring at me.
“Do you want to work on one of the smaller suites? We have to have two of them ready by tomorrow. And if you happen to take a little rest...” I shrug.
“I’m going to do the aft portside one. But I’m not resting. Though I am going to lock the door. Radio me if you need me.” Shayla nods and takes two steps toward the stairs, then pivots, grabs the large tote of cleaning supplies, and heads to the aft cabins.
The main salon is almost done. Really, there are a dozen more things I want to do. But most of them I can finish when the owners are on board. First, I need to let the captain know what’s going on.
Fresh cup of coffee in hand, I knock on the bridge door. “Captain?”
“Come in.” His tone is deep and vibrates through me.
“I thought you might be out of coffee. I haven’t seen you come down the stairs.”
“You’re an angel. Thank you.” He lifts the mug to his lips. “But you’ve got enough on your plate.”
“Shayla and I are making great progress. I’m moving on to the dining room next, and Shayla is taking on the junior suites.”
“It’s really looking good.” He holds his coffee mug to his lips.
“Thanks.” I want to run my fingers through the ends of my long ponytail. It’s a stress thing I’ve almost cured myself of, but my last chief stew told me it’s the biggest tell for when I’m uncomfortable and feeling insecure. I never want the captain to know I’m not in control of my department. That I can’t handle all two of my staff. But he needs to understand that Brianna isn’t here to work. At least, I don’t think she is.
Anders’ head is still under the main control panel. He and Calvin have moved their radio communication to another channel.
“What’s up? That’s the face of a department head who wants to have a chat if I’ve ever seen one.”
Anders wiggles his legs. “Calvin, try now. Anything?”
“Nothing,” Calvin says over the radio.
“Right, try the next breaker.”
The captain is staring at Anders’ feet.
“It’s okay. I’ll come back later.” I cross my arms over my chest to keep from pulling on my ponytail.
“I was just about to take Penny O-U-T. If you can spare ten minutes, why don’t you join me and we can talk and W-A-L-K.”
His dog is at his side in the next second.
“That sounds great. Can she spell?” I laugh.
“No, she thinks anything I spell has something to do with her. Which is fine until I’m spelling out call signs on the radio.”
I laugh again. Dang, I need to reel it back in because it’s not that funny.
He clips Penny into her harness. “I’ll meet you on the dock. I have to get my shoes.”
“Let’s go, Penny,” I say. She trots ahead of me, her ears flopping to the side. “What a good girl you are.” She sits and waits while I pull my outdoor shoes out of the crew bin by the gangplank.
We’re waiting for Sam when he appears out of the side door. I can’t help but lose my train of thought regarding what I was going to talk to him about. The man is amazing. Most captains have slumped postures. They’re tired and broken, but not Sam. The way his crew polo shirt pulls over his shoulders, I’d love to see him in one of the swim shirts the deck crew wears. But why would he ever have to wear that?
“There’s the girls.” He pats Penny on the head when he joins us on the dock, and I’ve never been so jealous of a dog before.
“So, I need to?—”
“Let’s walk first. We’ll put some distance between us and the Rock Candy , and you can really speak your mind.”
“Okay.” The wind is blowing at our faces, and the sun is dipping down into the afternoon sky. And if I didn’t have a list of three thousand things to do, I’d be enjoying it. “I’ve never been to Asia before, have you?” I glance up at the captain. He has the most stunning profile: square jaw, perfectly sloped nose, like an Adonis statue cut from marble. Geez, I need to get a hold of this crush before he picks up on it.
A slow smile spreads over his face, and he nods. His eyes catch mine, and he snaps his head away. He focuses on Penny leading us down the long private dock. A crew of a mega yacht named Payback is serving guests on their back deck. A woman with long raven hair flowing in the breeze raises her champagne flute to us—to the captain, really.
He doesn’t even glance at the bombshell. “A few times.”
“Right.”
We reach the end of the dock, and the captain holds the gate for me. “Ladies first.”
“Thanks.” It’s weird how that expression normally makes me want to run screaming in the other direction, away from whatever misogynist said it, but I don’t get those vibes from Sam—the captain—at all.
All right, Haley, get yourself together and stop thinking of him as anything but your boss. Your extremely hot, sexy boss. I smile at him and wait as he locks the gate. During the day, there’s a guard in the little box at the end of the dock that separates the big boats from the little ones.
We pass the day cruisers and some fishing boats on the way to land. Penny jumps on the captain the second her paws touch the ground.
“Wait a second, little girl.” He snaps off her vest, and she trots a few feet away and, well, does what dogs do.
A shiver runs through me when he says “little girl.” I reflexively bite my lip and look away from them. The temperature has dropped enough to make the evening bearable, but the breeze from the harbor brings goosebumps to my bare arms. The sun has dipped below the skyline, and the sky is an amazing orange and red.
“Haley, let’s sit while Penny runs around a bit.” There’s a small chunk of land that’s next to the dockmaster’s office, and a tiny bench.
“Sure.” I perch on the edge of the bench, and when the captain sits down, it feels intimate. His bare knee is inches away from mine.
And I’ve suddenly forgotten everything I wanted to say to him. Instead, we both watch Penny running crazy loops around the yard. With the dog sprinting and the sun setting over the water, this feels more like a date than me conferencing with the captain. I don’t want to talk about Brianna. I don’t want to think about her. The captain is watching his dog. She’s chasing a bug, and it’s hysterical. When I turn to him to ask about her, I pause. His blue eyes are twinkling at me, his lips open like he wants to say something but has forgotten what. He holds my gaze and then turns away.
“How old?” I ask about Penny.
“Thirty-nine.”
I lean forward, turning my attention away from the dog to focus on the captain. “In dog years?”