Chapter 5
Chapter Five
The van beeped twice as Taylor swirled the keys in her hand, sliding them into her pocket. She whistled on the short walk to the front of the shop, feeling good with the day she’d had. She reached up just as the door swung open and Sam stepped out. Even though she’d just seen her, her breath caught. Sam had let her hair down so it fell in light blonde waves around her shoulders, framing her face in a way that really made you take it in. It looked good. Really good.
Not that she was looking.
Damn it, Taylor, it’s Taylor Time!
“Timing!” Sam said with a wide grin, oblivious to Taylor’s inner struggles. “You ready?”
She mentally shook her head.
“Yep. Which way are we headed?”
“This way, follow me.”
They strolled past some local shops, then around past townhouses overlooking the water and a couple of public marinas she’d been down to once or twice in the past for work. It really was a beautiful area, one she didn’t visit enough. But she should with views like these.
She took in the sun as it began its descent towards the sparkling ocean below and came to a stop.
“Man, this is a beautiful spot.”
Sam followed to look out over the water with her, a small smile playing on her lips.
“Yeah. I feel like this place is pretty special. I love that I get to call this home.”
“How long have you lived here?”
“This area? My whole life. But behind the shop? I think it’s coming up on almost four years.”
“Very cool. I bet you’d get some pretty picturesque sunsets.”
“Oh yeah.”
“How is it when storms roll in, though?”
Sam’s eyes lit up. “The absolute best! There’s nothing better than watching the dark clouds form, hearing that rumble and being able to literally watch lightning strikes from my bed. It never gets old.”
“Wow. Okay, now that sounds amazing.” Taylor joined in on her excitement. “You’d need popcorn for that light show.”
“That’s an awesome idea. Why haven’t I thought of that? Although when the wind picks up, it does sound like a freight train coming through the doors,” said Sam.
“Yeesh. You take the good with the bad I guess.”
They continued making small talk as Sam led them to the local yacht club and down onto the private pontoons.
“This,” Sam said, stopping in front of a larger boat than she was expecting, “is Manny. Manny, this is Taylor.”
The boat stood proud, with a navy blue hull, a white top, a beautiful wood trim and a tall mast.
Taylor gave an exaggerated bow. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Manny.”
Sam chuckled and shook her head. “Come on, over this way.” She gestured to the side of the boat. “I’ll show you what we’re dealing with.”
Below deck was like stepping back in time. It was all rich wood, with the couches and mattresses set in a vibrant colour mix from the ‘80s—a mish mash of reds, blues, greens, yellows and white that somehow still worked with the space and gave it character. Again, it was bigger in the cabin than what she was expecting. It looked to sleep at least four people and had all the essentials: a kitchenette, a toilet and lounge area with a chart table. The mess of wires hung out to the left, with the large electronics face plate removed and on the floor, making it look worse than it really was.
“Yeah, I don’t think I’m gonna be able to help you with that,” she said, pointing at the wires, trying to look serious.
Sam’s face fell.
“I’m kidding.” Taylor laughed, leaning over to have a quick look at the mess.
“Oh phew,” Sam said, relieved.
“I’ll have a proper look in a minute, but so far, it doesn’t look like anything I haven’t seen before. Now, you wanna give me a bit of a rundown on the boat first? What a project—it’s huge!”
“Sure.” Sam walked further into the cabin, and Taylor followed. “It’s definitely bigger than I originally planned, but it needed a lot of work and had been up for sale for a while. I ended up getting it much cheaper than I anticipated, which gave me the extra cash to start on some of the more urgent issues.”
She ran her hand along the table in the lounge. “As soon as I saw it, I had such a clear vision for how Manny would look once cleaned up, and that’s been one of the big motivators that’s really kept me going through all the work.”
“Okay, sorry to interrupt, but I have to ask. Why the name Manny?” Taylor tried to hide her smile.
“I know it’s silly, but he’s actually named after Barry Manilow.”
Taylor barked out a laugh. “ Okay , I was not expecting that.”
Sam couldn’t help but laugh with her. “Okay, wait, here me out. Whenever his song Mandy played on the radio, I always thought he was singing Manny . It became a family in-joke the day dad doubled over laughing at me when he realised I was saying ‘Manny’ while we were singing along together.” She smiled at the memory. “He’s never let me forget it.”
“Wow, that’s so cool. I love that.”
Sam’s smile grew. “Anyway, so here we are.” She gestured to the cabin around them. “My ultimate goal, now that it’s almost back up to scratch, is to set it up as a cruising yacht. Then, I want to travel around Australia, for as long as it takes me.” She shrugged. “It’s small enough to handle myself with all the right things in place, and… I feel like I just need to do something like this in my life,” she finished, a flicker of something flashing across her face before she pasted on a quick smile.
“Well, that’s an amazing goal to be working towards.” Taylor encouraged, giving her a smile to try and lighten things up. “Plus, I’m kinda jealous. Reminds me of when I was travelling in my van. There’s really nothing like being on the open road. Or the open ocean, in your case.” She chuckled. “I think everyone needs to try long term travel at least once in their lives. It changes you.”
“Yeah. Change is necessary, I think. Sometimes I feel like I’ve been doing the same thing for so long… I dunno…” Another shrug.
“You feel stuck?”
“You could say that.” Sam paused. “Dad wants to retire, and wants me to run Garner Marine.”
“Ah.” Taylor nodded. “And given your previous statement about wanting to travel around, let me guess—you don’t want to.”
“No.” She gave a pained expression. “I mean, when I was a kid it’s all I ever wanted. Then we lost my mum when I was six?—”
“Oh wow, that must’ve been hard.”
“Yeah. I remember being sad, but I think Dad was pretty depressed for a while. I’d always say I’ll run the shop forever and ever, because I just wanted to help him and make it easier, you know? Then I grew up. And sometimes, I think maybe it was easy—just working at the shop and helping Dad.”
She picked up a dirty mug off the table and took it over to the galley sink. Taylor waited.
“Then I bought Manny,” she continued, “and I started to get these wild ideas talking to all our customers and the amazing adventures they’d been on with their boats. I started to realise, maybe I didn’t want to run the shop like I thought I did. But it’s been just me and him for so long.” Sam sighed. “So that’s where I’m at.” With a final shrug, she leaned against the sink.
“That’s a tough one,” Taylor empathised. “So I’m guessing you haven’t spoken to your Dad about this?”
“Nope,” she replied, popping the ‘p’. “Why is this so difficult? Also, I’m sorry. You came here to fix the bird’s nest that is my boat electronics, not my brain.”
“Hey, any difficult conversation is always better than the alternative. Silence gets you nowhere. We humans are very good at making up worst-case scenarios in our heads, but usually, the real outcome is more positive—at the very least because the potential conversation is no longer playing on a loop in your head.”
“That’s really good advice that I probably need to take. And yes, before you say anything, I know it’s an excuse, but I just feel like there’s never a good time.”
“Because there isn’t.”
“Don’t beat around the bush or nothing,” Sam replied with a small smirk.
“Hey, I like to tell it how it is. But in all seriousness, have the conversation sooner rather than later. As my best friend likes to remind me, ‘it’s the second arrow that hurts the most.’ If you haven’t heard the phrase, look it up. That’s my one piece of advice today.”
Sam took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“You’re right. I’ll do it. I have to.” She gave a firm nod of her head, mind made up.
“Now, I know I’m here to look at these wires, but I feel like I need to ask if you need a hug after that? Is that weird?” Taylor scrunched up her nose and held out her arms.
Sam laughed. “Not weird. And sure, I think I need it.”
Taylor stepped into her space, wrapping her arms around Sam as she breathed in a mix of coconut and light citrus—comforting and homely. She almost forgot where she was before she stepped back to give her space, she was her client after all, and it was a longer hug than she anticipated, neither of them letting go straightaway.
Sam looked up at her, her arms falling back to their sides. “Thanks, I needed that.”
“Anytime. I know I barely know you, but I’m sure you’ll figure things out.” She reached up, giving Sam’s shoulder a gentle squeeze and a reassuring smile before she moved around her to the panel of hanging wires. “Now let’s look at what we’re dealing with.”
Taylor scrolled through the long list of things to do on Sam’s boat. Manny . She smiled, recounting the story. She needed to grab a few extra pieces, but otherwise, everything seemed easy enough, as long as Sam was happy with the quote she’d just sent through to her. Speaking of happy… Taylor was feeling pretty good right now.
It was the best she’d felt since the break up—and surprisingly, because of Sam—who she couldn’t stop crossing paths with… or thinking about apparently. Their banter was light and easy, but also serious, which she didn’t expect. Although she enjoyed being able to offer some, hopefully , helpful advice. Her phone vibrated, Sam had already replied about the job.
Sam 9:28pm:
Book it in. When can you start?
Taylor 9:29pm:
Next Thurs morning suit? 9am?
Sam 9:30pm:
Yep! You can pick up the keys at the shop.
Dots appeared as she went to reply. Then disappeared. Then started up again.
Sam 9:32pm:
Also, thanks… for today.
Taylor smiled.
Taylor 9:33pm:
You’re welcome, anytime. Cya Thurs.
Yep. Today was a good day.
“What are you smiling at?” Jess asked, as she walked over to the lounge, mug of tea in hand. She carefully placed it on the coffee table and plonked herself across from Taylor, eyebrow raised.
“Just booked in another job.”
“Must be a good job.”
“It’s for Sam’s boat.”
“Ah, Nauti Sam strikes again.”
“Ha. Ha,” Taylor replied with an eye roll. “Yes, that Sam. Had a good chat with her this afternoon, actually. She seems cool, I think you’d like her.”
“Cool enough to invite to board game night?”
“A little random, but maybe… Why?”
“Marie texted earlier. Hayley’s now on babysitting duty for her nieces, so she’s out. Would be great to have enough numbers for a big Dice Throne battle.”
“I mean, if you don’t think it’s odd asking some rando?”
“You’ve seen her enough times; I wouldn’t call her a stranger. Plus, making friends at our age is hard. We need all the new friends we can get.” Jess pouted, then sipped her tea and continued, “So I say if you think she’s cool, just invite her. Worst thing she can do is tell us no.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“A.K.A. you won’t do it.”
“No, I’ll think about it,” Taylor said, harder this time, running a hand through her hair. “I literally just booked her in to work with her, so I don’t want to text straight after and ask to hang out. Who does that?”
“Fine.”
“Fine!”
Jess poked her tongue out.
“I could always invite Liz,” Jess said sweetly.
Taylor shot her daggers and pulled her phone back out of her pocket.
“I can’t believe you.”
“What?”
“You’re so annoying.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Yeah, yeah, you just bug me until I do the thing you want me to do.”
“I’m just sittin’ here drinking my tea.” She slurped loudly.
“Sure, you’re just sitting there giving me shit.”
Jess rolled her eyes. “Can you just text her already and save us both the time?”
Taylor frowned and opened up her messages.