Chapter Five
LAUREN WAS IN the galley prepping the burgers she was going to make for lunch when the sound of excited voices spilled through the open sliding doors into the salon. The Mueller family had finally arrived.
Lauren looked over her shoulder at the clock on the range, and was shocked to see that three hours had passed since she and Grey had returned to the Veritas.
She had spent the time preparing as many of the ingredients she would be using during the next couple days as she could, while Grey stayed as far away from her as possible, checking and re-checking the boat’s mechanicals to make sure they were ready to sail.
The break from the inexplicable tension that simmered between them had been a blessing, and Lauren sighed as she felt her stomach twist uncomfortably when she looked at Grey, who was already on the back deck greeting their guests.
Whatever it was that had Grey behaving so strangely obviously had something to do with her, because the genuine smile lighting the brunette’s face now showed none of the strain that had been directed toward her earlier.
Both of the parents and all three boys were smiling as they nodded in response to whatever it was Grey was saying, all of them obviously thrilled to be on the boat, and Lauren wiped her hands off on a dishtowel as she walked out of the galley to greet them.
Though Lauren was sure that none of their guests noticed, it did not escape her attention that Grey’s smile dimmed the moment she set foot on deck, and she forced herself to act like she did not notice it as she approached the group.
Grey took a deep breath and held it as she watched Lauren saunter out of the salon like she had done it a thousand times before.
Lauren had changed into the shirt she had given her—a white ClimaCool polo with Veritas stitched in red over the right breast—and seeing her in the polo made Grey regret giving it to her.
It was hard enough to look at Lauren and not be assaulted by the ghosts of her past when the redhead was in her regular clothes, but when she was in uniform…
Grey sighed and focused her attention on the Mueller boys, who were dressed in matching blue and red patterned boardshorts and white rash guards and were practically vibrating with excitement.
“This is Lauren Murphy.” Grey waved a hand at Lauren.
“She’ll be the one preparing all our meals. ”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you all,” Lauren said, tipping her head in greeting.
“I’m Will,” the husband introduced himself, smiling as he shook Lauren’s hand. “And this is my wife Kim, and our boys Reid, who’s five, and Peyton and Max, who are seven.”
Lauren nodded and shook Kim’s hand before turning her attention to the boys.
All three took after their mother with their honey-blond hair and bright blue eyes, though they had their father’s olive-toned skin.
“How’s it going, guys?” she asked, holding her hands out and getting high fives from each of them. “You hungry?”
“Starving!” Reid announced dramatically as his brothers nodded their agreement.
“Great.” Lauren grinned at them and arched a brow questioningly. “How do burgers sound?”
Grey smiled at the way the boys cheered and jumped up and down eagerly in response to Lauren’s question.
Taking families out on cruises was always fun because the kids got so excited about everything.
And the younger they were, the more amplified that excitement became, which made the trip all the more enjoyable for her.
Because she knew that they were running on a tight schedule to get out of port before the seas kicked up later that afternoon, Grey clapped her hands and drew everyone’s attention back onto herself.
“Well, while Lauren makes lunch, why don’t I show you guys to your cabins so you can unpack a bit.
After lunch, we’ll leave for Saint Frances Bay.
It’s a short sail, and you’ll have plenty of time to swim or explore the beach before dinner. ”
The kids needed no further encouragement as they ran off to find their rooms for the trip, and Grey chuckled as she led Will and Kim inside, giving them basically the same spiel she had delivered to Lauren earlier that morning. “This is the salon…”
Lauren hung back on the deck and watched through the open doors as Grey showed the Muellers around, and only wandered inside once the family had disappeared down the starboard stairs to the cabins Reid and Will and Kim would be using.
She smiled at Max and Peyton when the boys sprinted back into the salon to check out their cabins again, and she chuckled under her breath at the sound of them bouncing on one bed, running through the small bathroom that joined their rooms, and then jumping on the other bed.
Lunch was definitely a more active affair than Lauren was used to, but the boys’ excitement over being on “a real sailboat” was palpable, and she found her own anticipation for the trip building as she listened to them talk about everything they hoped to see and do.
She was no stranger to being on the water, but the Caribbean promised far more adventure than the lake she had grown up on could ever do, and by the time the burgers and oven fries were polished off, she was just as ready as the kids were to get underway.
Lauren collected everybody’s plates and carried them into the kitchen, waving off Kim’s offer to help, though she did smile gratefully at Grey when the brunette brought all the condiments inside and put them back in the fridge.
Lauren rinsed off the plates and loaded them into the dishwasher, and she was pleasantly surprised when Grey picked up a dishtowel to dry the baking sheet for her.
“Thank you,” Lauren murmured as she watched Grey put the baking sheet away in its proper place.
Grey glanced at Lauren and nodded as she hooked the door shut with her heel.
She was halfway to the sliding doors by the time the cabinet door clicked shut, the magnet in the frame holding it closed.
She did not look back as she wandered through the salon to the back deck, and she took a deep breath as her eyes swept over the familiar contours of the marina.
The promise of having the wind in her face as they skipped across the sea made the weight that had settled on her chest all morning completely disappear, and she was suddenly itching to go.
To motor to the mouth of the harbor, hoist the mainsail, and let the wind carry her away.
Even the sound of Lauren’s quiet footsteps coming out of the salon behind her did little to dampen her spirits, and Grey was still smiling when she turned to look at her. “Can you throw the lines?”
Lauren’s breath hitched at the sight of Grey’s smile. Grey was radiant. Her smile was wide, carefree, and brimming with a zest for adventure, and Lauren was shocked at how strongly she reacted to it. She stared into Grey’s eyes that seemed to sparkle, and nodded once, not trusting herself to speak.
“All right. Start with the bow, then do the spring line, and save the stern for last. I’ll be up on deck following you, so you can just toss them to me, okay?
” Grey’s smile grew wider when she was answered with another small tip of Lauren’s head.
“Awesome. Wait for me to get up to the helm before you throw the stern line, just in case the current decides to do something weird. As soon as you get the last one free, jump onto the dive platform and make sure you keep the line away from the props.”
“I got it.” The skin on Lauren’s arm tingled where it brushed against Grey’s as she edged past her, and she shook her head as she hurried down the stairs to jump onto the dock.
Lauren worked quickly, untying the lines and tossing them up to Grey, who coiled them around her arm before stowing them safely away, and less than five minutes later, she was back on the small square dive platform with the stern lines in her hands.
She wrapped the ropes around her elbow and fist as she made her way up to the deck, dropped them into the small storage compartment Grey had left open for her, and flipped it closed with the side of her foot.
The Muellers were sitting at the starboard-side table on the back deck, looking out over the harbor with wide, eager eyes as Grey began pulling smoothly away from the dock.
Wanting to give the family some space to enjoy the start of their vacation, but still wanting to experience the departure for herself, Lauren made her way along the port-side hull to the trampolines that stretched across the bow.
Standing at the helm up on the bridge, Grey stared out over the horizon, feeling more content than she had all day.
The wheel beneath her hands was solid and warm, and she could feel the pull of current sliding around the rudders.
She was in her element, totally in-control of everything, and she relished the calm that knowledge gave her.
Sailing had always been her escape. She had spent her childhood on the much cooler waters off the coast of Rhode Island racing two-man catamarans with her father, and when she had gone west to UC San Diego for college, she spent the majority of her weekends at Mission Bay sailing casually around the bay or taking on whomever she could goad into a race.
Salt water ran in her veins, and when she was away from the sea for too long, she would actually become ill.
Movement in her periphery drew her eyes down, and she held her breath as she watched Lauren lower herself gracefully onto the starboard trampoline.
Though she would be the first to say that the twelve years she had spent since college sailing the Caribbean had been a dream, the last three had been more of a nightmare: an all-encompassing, never-ending horror that she could not escape.
She thought she had been doing a decent job deluding herself into believing that she was okay, that the alcohol and the faceless women she lost herself in were enough—until she walked into the salon earlier that morning to find Lauren Murphy staring at the galley like it was the most incredible thing she had ever seen.
Lauren’s fiery red curls had thrown a blinding spotlight on her futile struggle to forget, and she was left wondering how she had ever managed to convince herself that she was okay.