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The door behind clicked open. ‘Honey, we’re hooome!’ came a booming voice with a distinct North American twang. Olivia wasn’t well travelled enough to take a stab as to where exactly. ‘Janine? Christa? Are you two decent?’
Two women stood in the cramped doorway. The older woman was slightly in front, wearing a bright yellow shell jacket, black leggings and a bum bag, like it was the 1980s. She had lurid pink lipstick on, accentuating her wide smile, which faltered only for a moment as she realized Olivia was in the room. It was only a split second of surprise, though, before she was back to her warm self. A true pro. ‘Oh, hello. Did we accidentally break into the wrong cabin?’
Olivia gestured to the sleeping form in the bottom bunk, and the woman cringed, holding up her hands before backing out into the hallway. Olivia followed, shutting the door with a quiet click.
‘No, you have the right cabin. I’m Olivia,’ she said, stretching out a hand. ‘I switched with Christa so that she could share a cabin with her new husband.’
‘Oh, you are such a doll! She seemed so bummed not to be with him. I’m Patricia, but call me Patty,’ the woman said. ‘And this is Annalise. We’re from Toronto. What about you?’
‘I’m from London.’
‘Oh, London! Annalise is doing her MBA there near that famous market. What’s it called again?’
‘Covent Garden,’ said Annalise.
‘Right! Is that near you?’
Olivia shook her head. ‘Not exactly. I live on the other side of the town – a place called Chelsea.’
‘Sounds so fancy when you say it in your accent.’
Olivia couldn’t help but laugh. She’d never thought of her gentle Scottish accent as ‘fancy’, but she supposed it could be true. It still felt strange to refer to Aaron’s Chelsea home as her own. She’d only moved in a month ago, and his gorgeous Georgian conversion was a world away from her flat share with Tricia in Tooting.
‘What university are you studying at?’ Olivia asked.
‘LSE. But right now, I need to get in there,’ Annalise said, scowling. She was different to Patty – at least a decade younger, rail thin and in dark jeans paired with a Led Zeppelin T-shirt and leather jacket, her hair dyed box black.
‘Someone’s sleeping …’ said Olivia.
‘That’s Janine,’ said Patty. ‘Poor thing is suffering from terrible jet lag. Add in a bit of seasickness and I guess she’s conked out.’
Annalise shrugged and entered the cabin anyway.
‘Don’t mind her,’ said Patty. ‘A once-in-a-lifetime trip to Antarctica and she’s still grumpy. So you gave up your own private cabin? Do I need to take you to the medics? You must be a loon!’
‘I hope not. Just didn’t want to be here on my own! My partner, he … had a work emergency and missed the boarding time.’
‘Oh, honey.’ Patty enveloped her in a warm embrace.‘What an idiot. Is he normally like that? No, you don’t look the type to date someone simple-minded. But we all do dumb stuff from time to time. And he’s a fool for missing this. I wish my Karl were here too, so we can mope around together.’ Patty tutted, then clapped her hands together. ‘Instead, I’m stuck with that sourpuss. But I can’t complain – I’m here on the company dime.’
‘You’re here for work?’
‘Well, my branch was the top performer in sales for Pioneer this year,’ said Patty, red blooms appearing in her cheeks. ‘And Annalise was my top sales gal before she jetted off to London to do her studies. This is a kind of thank-you present from Mr Hughes, I suppose. A spot on the maiden voyage of the newly refurbished ship. And the art auction should be exciting. That was a big draw for our customers.’
‘That’s why I’m here too. The auction is my partner’s baby. He’s the art dealer who set it all up.’
‘No way! Well, I am extra glad to have you with us. You can get us into the VIP events, right?’
‘Of course.’
Patty glanced at their cabin door. ‘Look, I’m sure Janine won’t mind if we get on with a bit of unpacking. She had those fancy headphones in and an eye-mask – I’m sure she’s out like a light.’
‘You go ahead. My bag’s not been transferred yet so I might have a look around the rest of the ship. Give you guys a bit of space.’
‘I wouldn’t worry about that, my dear. We’ve got two weeks together, the four of us. We’d better get used to being in close quarters.’
8
Close quarters. On that, Patty couldn’t be more accurate. Olivia needed to find somewhere less claustrophobic to be.