Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Thursday came around faster than Taylor was ready for. She felt like she was still catching up with work from the previous week, but new emails were already coming through to book her in for even more jobs. She’d never been this busy, and almost couldn’t keep up at this rate, but it was a good problem to have and she was thankful for every single one of her customers.
She crunched along the gravel in her favourite work boots, puffs of white coming out with each breath. September was showing its true temperamental spring colours with the cold this morning, the light breeze absolutely freezing. She couldn’t wait for the sun to start warming up the day. She tugged her beanie down further, rubbing her hands together as she reached the marina gate. She’d texted Sam last night to start early in the hopes to play a little catch-up with everything else coming in. Hopefully Sam wouldn’t be too much longer?—
“Morning!” Sam called from behind.
Taylor whirled around to see Sam bouncing down the path, looking way too sprightly for seven in the morning. She eyed the two steaming cups in her hand.
“For you,” Sam said, handing one over. “I have no idea what you like, so I took a guess and got you a flat white and there’s a couple of sugars in my pocket in case you like it sweet.”
“Aww, that’s so nice. I barely remembered to feed Belle this morning, let alone fuel up myself, so this is very necessary. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Sam grinned.
Taylor gently took the cup from Sam. “Promise I won’t spill it on myself this time either.” Taylor grinned back, carefully popping the lid off, the scent of perfectly roasted beans rising into the cool air.
“Oh, that smells so good. Flat white is actually my usual order, but no sugar for me. I’m sweet enough.” She winked.
She watched as Sam’s face flushed pink. Way too adorable. Then she realised she was staring a beat too long and looked away, taking a quick sip of her coffee. The hot caffeine hit her lips, and hopefully her brain soon enough. Sam did the same, rocking back and forth on her feet.
“Oh, right! I need to let us in.” Sam smacked her forehead and moved around Taylor, fishing the fob out of her pocket to hold it up to the sensor. The gate swung open with a beep, and they made their way down to the boat.
Once inside, they sorted out everything Taylor was going to work on for the morning based on which parts had arrived and were ready to install. Taylor made a quick trip back to her van to grab all the right tools she’d need. Back on the boat, she heaved her big tool bag down into the cabin, hoisting it up onto the chart table.
“You don’t muck around,” Sam said, eyeing the bag.
“Nope. Every job ends up needing a special tool, and, well, after a while, you end up with a lot of special tools.” Taylor laughed.
“I’ll say.”
Taylor rummaged through the bag, pulling out a pair of side cutters to make a start on the wiring.
“So quick question,” she asked Sam, flinging the cutters around in her hand. “What do you call these?”
“Uh, pliers?” Sam replied with a shrug of her shoulders.
“They're a type of pliers, yeah. We usually call ‘em side cutters, but fun fact—they’re also referred to as dikes.” Taylor laughed again.
Sam half-choked on her mouthful of coffee. “ What! ” she almost screeched.
“No joke. It’s the shortened name, slang, of course, for diagonal cutters. Clearly not so popular these days, but I find it particularly funny when I’m using them,” she said, raising an eyebrow.
“Huh?” Sam looked at her in question, before realising. “Oh!”
“Yeah, one hundred percent lesbian here.” Taylor gestured at herself with a huge grin.
“That’s cool,” Sam said, nodding now. “I didn’t realise… but yeah… cool. I said that already. Please ignore me.”
Sam fumbled over some boxes on the ground, a new flush making its way up her neck as she sat down on the lounge. Taylor smothered a laugh at her awkwardness and picked up her next favourite tool.
“Oh and we can’t forget these—strippers!”
Sam chuckled, leaning back on the couch, enjoying the educational tool lesson.
“Okay, and what do they do?”
“Well, the dikes cut the wiring, and these bad boys,” she said, snapping the tips together. “Strip the wires back, ready for work.”
“I feel like these are the kind of things I need on my boat in an emergency, especially on my trip.”
“It wouldn’t be a bad idea. Everyone needs dikes and strippers on their boat. What a party.”
Sam rolled her eyes playfully as Taylor cracked up at her own joke.
“Nah, in all seriousness, it could be good to have some. Do you keep a toolbox on the boat?”
“A little one, but it’d look pretty sad next to yours. I have a few things on here now after working on Manny for so long, but I’ll usually just borrow anything else I need from Dad or his friends.”
“That’s fair enough. Well, if you ever need anything you can add my tools to your list as ‘free to borrow’,” Taylor offered.
“Thanks. I’m sure I’ll probably take you up on that at some point.”
Sam looked at her watch.
“You gotta go?” Taylor asked as she started sorting out the nest of wires.
“Probably soon, but I have a few more minutes if you don’t mind.”
“Be my guest. Well, I mean, be your own guest. It’s your boat.”
“True. Gosh, sometimes it doesn’t feel real that it’s actually mine and I’ll be able to live on it soon enough.”
Taylor felt a slight pang at the thought of Sam leaving. Strange . She hardly knew the woman!
“Well believe it. You certainly look like you’ve done a lot of work so far and things like fixing this,” Taylor said, holding up a couple of wires, “inch you that much closer to that ultimate goal every day.”
Sam had pressed herself up against the side of the boat, legs tucked under her as she nursed her coffee in thoughtful contemplation.
“Have you taken it out on many trips yet?” Taylor asked as she stripped the wires and started relabelling them all to ensure they matched the main switchboard.
“Only local. Every now and then, I’ll go just outside the marina, off the beach overlooking the city, and stay out there overnight. There’s nothing better than the gentle waves rocking you to sleep.”
“Sounds like a home away from home.”
“It really is. It’s so snug in the cabin too, once it’s all set up properly. I also made sure to get a hatch put in right above the bed so I can stargaze.”
“Okay, now that sounds magical. Watching lightning storms in bed and stars from your boat? I’m noticing a trend here.”
“Yeah, I do love appreciating nature. Especially the sky,” Sam reflected.
“I feel like that when I’m on my SUP. Actually, I was surprised when you said you hadn’t tried paddleboarding yet. You live in the marina!” Taylor playfully scolded.
Sam covered her eyes with her hand. “I know . I see people down on theirs all the time. I guess I’m just usually on the boat or working and hadn’t thought of getting my own.”
“Fair enough.”
“I am keen to try it though, and I’m also looking forward to tomorrow night. As long as you promise it’s not a game that takes four hours to play or anything like that?”
“Promise,” said Taylor, hand over her heart. “We’re into modern board games. Think Wingspan, Dice Throne, Quacks of Quedlinburg —that sort of thing.”
“I’m sorry, what? Was that last one even English?” Sam said with a laugh. “I’ve literally never heard of any of them.”
“Good. Then there’ll be no expectations, and they’re easy to learn. Just follow my lead.”
“If you say so.”
“I know so. Want to meet at mine and I’ll drive us over? Jess is heading straight to our friend Marie’s house from work, so it’ll just be me.”
“Oh, is Jess your, um, girlfriend?” Sam asked, almost squeaking out the last word.
Taylor laughed hard, settling herself as she wiped at her eyes and saw the stunned look on Sam at her reaction. “ No . Definitely not. She’s my housemate and my best mate. We’ve known each other since primary school, so she’s more like a sister to me than anything.”
Sam seemed to relax at that. Interesting .
“Cool. I’m looking forward to meeting them all. Do you have a partner coming as well?” Sam probed.
Taylor sobered thinking of Liz. And there was that bucket of water on the moment. She put the tools down, folding her arms at the thought of her ex, the cabin suddenly feeling way too small and claustrophobic.
“No.” She didn’t elaborate further. Didn’t want to even think about Liz right now, let alone open up that whole can of worms.
“They’re all just friends,” she finally added through a tight smile, turning back around to the wiring. God, she needed to get better at talking about this sooner or later. Stupid Liz. Stupid feelings. She took it out on the wires. Stripping them with unnecessary force.
Sam cleared her throat. “Okay… well, anyway, I’ll, um, leave you to it. I better get ready for work. Spare fob is here”—she pointed to the lanyard on the table—“so you can get back in if you need any more tools.”
Then she picked up her coffee cup and headed out of the cabin, turning around just before she left. “Call or text me if you need anything, and I can pop back out if it’s not too busy in the shop. If I don’t answer, I’m probably with a customer.”
“Yep, no worries. I should be good, but thanks. I’ll drop the fob off on my way home.” She gave Sam a quick nod. “See you later.”
“Bye,” Sam replied, pausing a beat on the step looking slightly unsure before climbing out the rest of the way.
Taylor let out a breath she hadn’t realised she was holding. She was frustrated that even with Liz not in the room it still felt like she had a hold on her, this confusing swirl of energy still affecting her and her actions. She wanted to be able to talk about it. Sam seemed to open up to her so easily, but instead she’d shut down. Once again, the familiar threads of anger wound into her thoughts to start their downward spiral. She took out her phone on autopilot, opened up Instagram and—oh yeah. Still blocked. “Second arroooow!” she could hear Jess singsonging in her head.
She took a deep breath, pocketed the phone, and instead looked down at the wires in front of her. The dike and stripper ready to get to work. A small smile made its way back onto her lips.