17. Rigging Snob
Chapter 17
Rigging Snob
Haley
M y back hits the door of the butler’s pantry, and Sam grabs the base of my chin and tilts it up.
“Sam?”
“You know you’re amazing, right?”
I try to nod, unable to form words. Not with his hand on my chin. I lay in my bunk last night from two a.m. until six this morning. I’m not sure I slept at all between my to-do lists and thinking about Sam. My hand goes to the smooth skin on his cheek. He must have shaved right before the owners arrived.
His lips touch mine quickly and softly. Unlike yesterday, our kiss is tender. The tension builds in my toes and zips energy through me. I want to climb him or drop to my knees and reciprocate yesterday. But he pulls away.
“You’re amazing. I think that, and so do the rest of the crew. Keep up your good job.” He steps back and lets me back away from him. How the hell am I going to focus on what I need to do now?
“I’m going to need a minute.”
My eyes flick to the bulge in his pants, and I nod.
“Open the door and show me how to use this absurdly fancy coffee maker.” He clears his throat.
I crack the door open, and Dante is staring at me. He looks away from me to the captain with a smirk on his face.
I reach around Sam for the large carafe that’s conveniently inaccessible behind him. “Are you sure you don’t want me to refill your coffee cup? Honestly, I don’t mind.” Mostly because I know the carafe is empty.
Dante has moved around the edge of the hall into the kitchen.
Sam blinks at me. “Maybe bring my coffee up to me just this one time. I’ll have to figure that machine out later.”
“Sure.” I put the empty carafe on the counter, and when he scoots past me, I step back, making sure my hand brushes against his length.
“Thank you, Haley.” His smile lights up the dark pantry.
“Anything for you, Captain.”
He steps out of the pantry. I have to take a few seconds to get my head back in the game. The first thing I do is pull out my phone and order a new bedspread from the provisioner. I might have been able to get out that stain if she’d let me finish. But by tomorrow morning or even tonight, when we get in there, it’s never coming out. We have one spare. But we’re going to need more. We gave away a lot of things but not a useful linen.
I head into the kitchen and expect an earful from Dante.
“Breakfast can go whenever the guests are ready,” he says. Not a word about me being in the pantry with the captain with the door closed.
“Haley, Haley, Shayla.”
“Go for Haley.” I hold the radio to my face.
“Can you meet me in the main salon?” Shayla’s a great communicator. I love that about her.
She’s behind the bar mixing a cocktail. There’s a neat scotch on her tray already. It’s nine a.m.
“Hey girly. Chef says breakfast is ready. By the way, your tablescape is amazing. I know they’re going to love it.”
“Well, maybe if they love it for dinner. Rocky says Candy made them eat at the hotel for breakfast. He’s stuffed. They’re not planning on eating.”
“Right.” We share a look. I pivot back to the galley and brace myself waiting for him to blow up about the guests not eating his meal.
But he shrugs it off. “You want to take it down for the crew?” He cocks his head to the spread he’s made.
“I’ll be right back, let me check on the guests first.” I go through the dining room to the bar area in the main salon, just as Emily’s coming in from the back deck.
“Hey ladies, can I get a glass of water, no ice?” Emily asks.
“Coming right up.” Shayla pours a bottle of water into a glass.
“Tap is fine next time.” Emily lifts her water in a cheers motion. “Thanks. Easton told me all about the Brianna drama. I’m really sorry about what happened.”
“Thanks.” Shayla pours the blender drink into the glass and puts it on her tray.
But Emily sits up at the bar and looks at me. “So, tell me about yourself.”
“I’m twenty-nine. I like to read. I like dogs and long walks on the beach.” I wiggle my eyebrows at her. “How about you?”
“I’m twenty-six, the daughter of a billionaire. I couldn’t give a shit about money, but that’s easy to say because I’ve never been without it. I love plain vanilla cupcakes, and I was born in Maine and mostly raised in Boston. Until Dad’s second wife, Susan, didn’t like the snow and moved us to Florida.”
“I feel like we could be besties now.” I refill her water glass.
“I’d like that. Last summer was horrible. The first year I haven’t enjoyed being on the boat with Dad. He mostly turns work off and we talk. But then Susan used to go to bed early. Not Candy. She doesn’t let him out of her sight after dinner.”
“So, do you still live in Florida?”
“Yeah, in the same house with my dad and Candy. I still miss New England. Although, the move to Florida turned out okay for Easton.”
“How’s that?”
“We had an Olympic-sized pool in the mansion Dad bought, and Easton realized how much he loved it. Everyone thinks my dad made the pool for Easton. The pool made Easton.” She laughs and takes a drink of her water. “Are you single?”
I have to consider it carefully. “Yes, I’m just coming out of a long relationship. It ended, well, messy.”
“Don’t they always? Brick and I have been together for ten months.”
“Nice.” I wipe the bar. Emily smiles, but I’m not sure she’s happy. Instead, she nods at me.
Normally for a charter, the guests have decided what they want for dinners and the chef adapts the menu. But for owners, there’s a lot more catering to their wants. And instead of waking up the kraken in the primary suite, I turn to Emily. “What do you want for dinner?”
“Oh, Dad will want steak. Candy will want something fancy that she can push around on the plate.”
“No, what do you want?”
“You know what?” She stands on the footrest of the bar stool, leans across the counter, and whispers in my ear. “I would love something local.”
“I’ll see to it.”
She gives me a high five as I head for the kitchen to tell Dante.
“All right then, now we are talking.” Dante’s smile is infectious. He bounces around the kitchen in his plastic crocks, singing at the top of his lungs.
Well, at least I’ve made two people happy today. I think back to Sam in the pantry. Make that three.
I find Shayla cleaning the crew mess. “I’m not sure what to do with myself,” she says. “They are all napping now. Other than Emily—she’s reading a book in the main salon. Laundry is done.”
“Take a twenty-minute break. I’ll hang around on deck and make sure everyone is good if they get up.”
“Sure.” Shayla shrugs. “I didn’t think we’d have any downtime.”
“Right?”
I head back to the aft of the ship and watch the water. We’re getting out there; there’s no land in sight. Most yachts don’t leave the shoreline. But this one is big and designed for the open ocean. Apparently, Rocky’s got a thing for being far out at sea. We’re really high-tailing it, hitting some gigantic waves as we go.
“Anders, Anders, Calvin,” comes over the radio.
“Go for Calvin.”
“Turn to the other channel.”
“Copy,” Calvin says, and the line goes silent.
I take a deep breath. I don’t like to think about what the bridge and Engineering are talking about. This isn’t the first time they’ve brought the ship through deep water.
“Hey.” Zane comes up on the railing.
“Hey back at you.” I bump his shoulder. “We’re really moving.”
“Yeah, we’re heading for a shelf a few hours away so we have someplace safe to anchor.”
“Oh, that makes sense.” I guess I should have asked Sam myself, but I was a little preoccupied. “Do you know where we’re going after that?”
“Rocky is in the wheelhouse talking to Captain Sam right now.”
“Gotcha.”
“How are things going for you guys so far?” Zane motions back to where Emily is sitting inside.
“Not to jinx us, but pretty smoothly. Although, Candy came on board and basically went right to sleep.”
“Yeah, Easton implied Candy medicates herself.” Zane mimes popping a pill.
I raise my eyebrows because any kind of illegal drugs on board could make Sam and the rest of us lose our licenses.
“No, all doctor-prescribed. We’re good, she’s good. And when she’s asleep, we’re all good.”
“How many years have you been with Rocky?”
“This is my fourth. I started green here. I was on a few other boats when the Mermaid’s Tale was docked. I still miss her. I saw her before I left Fort Lauderdale. The new owners renamed her Caribbean Orchid .”
“Really? Don’t they know that’s bad luck?”
“I guess they don’t care. You pay almost twenty million dollars and you want to call it what you want to call it. But ‘the Caribbean Orchid?’ They could have come up with a different name.”
Zane and I stand watching the ocean. Until we both feel like we need to be doing something. I wave goodbye and get ready for dinner by changing into my black evening uniform.
Shayla’s already set the table—a beautiful red Asian-inspired table. It’s so pretty.
I squeeze her shoulders. “Darn girl, you are talented.”
She waves her hand at herself. “I know.”
Candy is the last one to arrive at the table. She’s wearing a silk kimono, and I wonder if Emily told her what the menu is.
“You look lovely, Candy,” I say, holding her chair for her.
She rolls her eyes at me, and I smile back. I’m going to win this woman over.
“That color looks great on you,” Brick says.
“Why, thank you.” She reaches in front of Emily and squeezes Brick’s hand.
Shayla is standing behind the table, waiting to pour the wine. I can pick out the little flare of Emily’s nostrils as she reacts to Candy touching Brick.
I step to the table. “Tonight, the chef has prepared for you a selection of traditional dishes from the region?—”
“I don’t want General Tso’s Chicken.” Candy lifts a scowl to me.
“It’s not American Chinese food he’s made?—”
“I want something French,” Candy interrupts.
I glance at Rocky, who is staring at Easton.
“Candy, if you could quit interrupting Haley, I’m sure you’ll like the meal,” Easton says.
“Do you hear how he’s talking to me?” Candy bangs on the table to get Rocky’s attention.
“Would you shut up, Candy? Thank you for getting the food I asked for, Haley. I know it will be lovely.” Emily smiles at me.
“You shouldn’t order food for us, Emily. You don’t know what I like.” Candy is pointing her finger.
“Don’t point your finger at my sister.” Easton crosses his arms over his chest and glares at his dad, waiting for something I think we all know won’t come.
“Babe. I don’t like Chinese food,” Boyfriend Brick complains.
“I hate it,” Candy says.
“Oh my God.” Emily pushes back from the table. “I’m sorry, Haley. I can’t eat with these two. When you get a chance, would you bring me my food in my cabin?” She’s talking to me, but she’s glaring at her dad.
I nod.
“Babe?” Brick doesn’t stand to go after her.
Candy storms off in a competitive way. Rocky goes after her, while Easton stares at Brick until he leaves too. Only, Brick doesn’t head for the cabins but rather the top deck. I saw him puffing on his vape up there earlier.
Shayla fills Easton’s glass. “Do you want dinner?”
“I would love it, if it’s not too much trouble. I’d say I’ll take it in my cabin too, but this table is far too nice.” Easton taps the paper lanterns over the table.
“We’ll bring it right out.”
S hayla and I wash up in the kitchen. We put away the tables as the clock turns eight.
“This is batshit crazy,” she grumbles.
“I know. You go to sleep. I’ll take the late shift in case any of them get back up.” I head upstairs and finish the last of the dishes. The digits on the butler’s pantry clock flip over to eleven. I might as well make the rounds and see what cabins have light or sound coming out of them.
The owner’s cabin is dark, but it’s also huge. They might have lights on in the back that I can’t see. I go down a level to where Emily, Brick, and Easton are. It’s quiet in Emily’s cabin, but Easton’s door is shaking.
I knock. “Easton, do you want some help?”