Dubrovnik #2
God, Ana could do without his negativity right now.
The library was free. That in itself meant people would use it.
But she mustn’t be sharp with him. He’d seemed very keen about everything last night, but a day spent on a laptop in a tiny cabin would take the edge off anyone’s enthusiasm.
She wondered for a moment how much Ivana had told him about the weekly reports she was expected to file, detailing library visitors and numbers of books loaned as well as usage as a proportion of permanent population, and how closely the education department would be monitoring the results.
But honestly, that was her problem not his.
What she had to do right now was chivvy him up a bit, if she could.
“I’m sure it will be all right, and if it’s not then we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
But for now, let’s get back to the practicalities.
” She traced her finger across the chart, relieved to return to her comfort zone.
“As you can see, Donje ?elo’s in a very sheltered bay, which is just as well because we’ll be anchoring off on Sunday nights, and on Monday mornings we’ll have to make a mad dash to the quay to unload the library between ferries.
The good news is that our pitch is only about thirty metres away, on the path to the village. ”
“Would it be an idea to get hold of a sack trolley to transport the boxes?” Lloyd asked.
Sranje, why hadn’t she thought of that? It would certainly make life easier.
“Good call. I’ll phone the hardware store in Ston tomorrow.
” She set a reminder on her mobile. “Now the next island, Lopud, has a proper harbour so we’ll head there after we close on Monday.
It’s only about an hour from Kolo?ep and is a much busier destination.
It’s popular with tourists, some pretty high-end ones at that – the Beckhams stayed there last year – and there’s also a massive hotel. ”
“How many people actually live there?”
Was Lloyd going to ask the same question every sodding time?
“Maybe three hundred? But there are more young families, because there’s work for them in tourism.
” Why was she feeling so defensive? Was it because she was scared Lloyd might be right?
What if it turned out to be an uphill struggle to get anyone to use the damn library?
That hadn’t even occurred to her when she’d tendered for the project, and it could prove to be her biggest problem of all.
Why, oh why, did she never think things through?
But Lloyd was at least smiling as he topped up her wine, which for some reason was disappearing mightily quickly. “Better then. What about the next place?”
“?ipan? It’s bigger again. Almost five hundred people.
And although there’s tourism, most work in agriculture.
It means they’re spread out, not all in Su?ura? where we’ll moor, but unlike our first two stops at least there are proper roads and cars – even a regular bus service.
It’s our shortest sail too,” she ran her finger over the chart and the others leant forwards.
“Honestly, you can see one harbour from the other.”
“So we always sail the night before?” Lloyd asked.
“Not from ?ipan. The distances aren’t great between the first three islands, but next there’s Mljet and that is a long old haul, but if we sail really early on Thursday mornings the winds coming off the mainland will help us and it should only take about four hours.
Mljet’s a big island, long and thin, and the education department has decided we should be right at the northern end, in the national park, so it’s going to be rammed with tourists.
The population’s spread out and the biggest village is inland, so we can only assume they’ve done their homework about where it’s best to be. ”
“So if we’ll have time to sail there in the morning, what are our opening hours?” Lloyd asked.
“Ten until four. Except on Kor?ula. That’s just a little bit shorter because the time we’re able to moor up in the marina at Kor?ula town is limited.
We’ll have to be fast with the set-up there, but we’ll have had a bit of practice by next Friday.
I thought maybe we could have our first run-through on the quayside at Ston over the weekend. What do you think, Lloyd?”
He was looking somewhere over her left shoulder, and didn’t answer. “Lloyd?”
“Yes, yes … of course. Good call.”
Ana explained that Kor?ula was the largest island and had a good educational infrastructure, even a high school, but they still saw value in the foreign language elements of the project, so they had been prepared to add extra money out of their own budget to be included.
At least Lloyd didn’t ask how many people lived there.
Thankfully. Because she wasn’t entirely sure she knew the answer.
“Then on Friday evening we sail back to Ston. It’s a long trip again, and if conditions are against us we may have to put in somewhere on the way if we lose the light, but that shouldn’t be a problem. Now, do either of you have any questions?”
“Not me,” said Lloyd, and Natali shook her head.
“Right,” Ana said, smiling at them both, “briefing over. Lloyd, I think you said you wanted to see Dubrovnik at night. Natali, are you coming?”
Lloyd drained the last of his wine. “I’m sorry Ana, I’m absolutely bushed.
Flight catching up with me and all that.
” Flight? It was only a couple of hours.
He levered himself up, pressing his hands on the edge of the table.
“See you both in the morning.” And with that he disappeared down the steps into the hull – surprisingly quickly for someone claiming such exhaustion.
Ana looked at Natali, who in turn was looking at the wine glass she’d barely touched.
“N-not me,” she said. “I need t-to walk Obi.”
Something felt out of kilter; not wrong, but not exactly right either, and it made Ana even more apprehensive than Lloyd’s incessant questions about population numbers.
Was she overreacting? Letting her own insecurities as a manager colour her view of the others? Probably.
She needed to get away to clear her head, and the jazz café was calling.
She needed to be herself for a while, leave her responsibilities behind and have a few glasses of wine with her friends.
After all, she had a glorious sail up the coast to look forward to tomorrow, and being out on the water would make everything right. It always did.