Chapter 8
8
Tonight is Xander’s eighties-themed party with the George Michael tribute act.
I help Berry set up the dinner table with neon decorations, garlands and balloons, and then go down to the galley to find sparklers and paper umbrellas for the cocktails, which we’re going to serve in triangular Martini glasses with bendy straws.
I walk through the boat, dimming the interior lights and checking everything is clean and tidy and in place.
While the guests are getting ready in their cabins, we all take turns to change into our evening uniforms, but with the classic ‘Choose Life’ T-shirts Jeff brought on board and requested we all wear tonight.
‘I had one of these the first-time round,’ Captain Liz tells me, as I’m walking through the mess on the way to the galley.
‘Begged my mom to buy me one but she wouldn’t and then sneaked to New York one weekend with friends and bought a bootleg in Chinatown. ’
‘My mum’s a huge George Michael fan,’ I tell her, while thinking that sneaking away to New York with friends sounds so unbelievably cool.
‘When he died, she and her best friend went to London to lay flowers outside his house.’
‘I love that. You’ll have to FaceTime her tonight to show her the guy.
He’s not here yet, right? ’
I shake my head.
‘I think Nico and Liam are going to get him now.’
She frowns.
‘Has Adam talked to you at all? About the job?’
I shake my head.
‘Not really. There hasn’t been much time. ’
‘Ben said he’s struggling a little bit.
Which is normal! I just thought, since you’re friends, you could maybe have a word.
See if there’s anything he needs and won’t say.
Sometimes the deck crew can be a bit, you know. ’
She waves her hand.
‘Macho.’
I nod. ‘Okay. Thank you for telling me. I’ll talk to him. ’
‘I appreciate that. Everything else ready to go?’ She shuffles along the seat and stands.
‘I’m going to go check on Carlo, but the table’s done? ’
‘It is. It looks great.’
‘Good work.’
The tribute artist looks uncannily like ‘Faith’-era George Michael.
To the point where I wonder if he’s had surgery to refine the look.
He’s got the hair and the stubble, a similar build.
He’s not wearing the jeans and leather jacket of the music video though; he’s in a black suit over a black V-neck T-shirt.
When he starts to sing – opening with ‘Fastlove’ – I’m even more stunned.
I’ve grown up with these songs – Mum’s always played them in the car and in the kitchen while she cooks, she pulls them up on YouTube when her friends come round and they all drink too much wine and cry to ‘Careless Whisper’ – and to me he sounds exactly like him.
It’s spooky.
Adam is standing on the other side of the deck.
He looks smart and hot in his blacks and I wish I could go over and properly share this with him, with his arms around me, but I stay where I am, singing along with everyone else while also keeping an eye out in case the guests need anything.
‘Isn’t he incredible? ’
Berry says, nudging me with her elbow.
I nod, but he’s singing ‘Father Figure’ which makes me well up.
My mum’s got a tattoo of a line from this song, about loving someone until the end of time.
‘Do you think it’s okay if I call my mum? ’
I ask her.
‘It’s fine.
Go for it.’
Once Mum answers, I hold the phone up for a minute so she can hear the singer, and then I go down to the galley so I can talk to her.
‘He’s brilliant,’ she says.
‘That’s made me weepy. ’
‘Me too. I miss you! I can’t talk now.
I’m working. I just wanted you to hear him. ’
‘Oh, chicken. I miss you too.’
I hang up and cry a little while I empty the dishwasher.
I love this job so far, but it’s hard to be away from home.
‘You okay?’ Berry asks, coming down the stairs with some glasses and plates.
‘Just a bit homesick.’ My voice cracks and I shake my head.
‘Sorry.’
‘Don’t apologise!
The first one is the hardest and you’re doing so well. ’
Tears are properly falling now and I swipe at them with my fingers, apologising again.
She smiles at me. ‘Stop apologising! Do you want a hug?’
I don’t.
Because it’s likely to make me cry more.
But also I really do.
I manage a nod and she wraps her arms around me, hooking her chin over my shoulder.
‘Breathe,’ she tells me.
I suck in a ragged breath, my nose filling with the scent of her spicy cherry perfume, and as I breathe out again, I relax.
A bit.
‘There you go,’ she says, rubbing my back.
‘We’ve got, what? Less than fifteen hours left?
And you’ll be asleep for some of them.
Not enough, but some.
You can do it.’
I cling to her in a way I doubt I would if I wasn’t so emotional, but she feels warm and strong and I miss my family and I miss being held by Adam, and I’m so, so out of my comfort zone.
‘You good?’ Berry says, untangling from me and setting me back upright.
I nod, but I still feel like if I speak, I’ll cry.
She holds my face in her hands, brushing the tears off my cheeks with her thumbs.
I feel about five years old.
‘They’re dancing up there now.
Let’s go join in.’
I laugh.
‘Okay!’
‘And earn a huge tip!’
I can definitely work with that.