Page 20 of Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt

‘Yes. Didn’t you know?’

‘Sorry, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Miles. I’m here with Electra.’

‘That’s the lady who models, isn’t it?’

‘That’s right. You must be Mary.’

‘I am, yes. But most people call me Merry.’

‘Here, take a gulp of this.’ Miles presented me with a bottle of liquid that was such a vivid blue that it could have been chemical. ‘It’s Gatorade. I figured stocks of it here on the boat might be a little lacking, so I made sure to bring a whole bunch over from the States.’

I took a swig of the cool, sweet liquid. It didn’t taste as terrifying as it looked.

‘Thank you.’

‘No problem. I tend to get up super early and exercise. I was going to visit one of the treadmills in the on-board gym, but this place is so enormous, and with no one else around, it seemed a shame to waste the sunrise. A few laps of each deck and I’ll be ready to start my day.’

‘Cheers to that,’ I said, taking another large glug of the Gatorade. ‘Sorry, I’m probably draining your precious supply.’

‘Not at all. You must have had quite the twenty-four hours.’

‘You could say that, Miles, yes.’

‘Well, I know just how excited Electra is to meet you. As is everybody else on board, quite frankly. Hey, you’re more in demand than the global supermodel.’ He gave me a wide smile.

‘If I can be honest with you, Miles, that’s what I’m worried about.’

‘I can understand. I know our situations aren’t really comparable, but this is all new to me too. I’ve only known Electra for a matter of weeks. I was a little surprised that she asked me to come along. To tell you the truth, I’ve been full of nerves for days.’

‘What do you do for a job? Are you an actor? Or a photographer or something?’

‘No, ma’am, nothing quite as exciting as that, I’m afraid. I’m a lawyer.’

I berated myself for making an assumption based on the fact he was dating the supermodel. In fact, there was something about Miles that had an incredibly calming effect on me. I was struggling to work out whether my head was clearing due to the Gatorade or the presence of this polite, down-to-earth man who was showing me some sympathy.

‘So, how did you and Electra meet?’

Miles looked out at the ocean. ‘Oh, we had, uh... mutual interests. Our paths crossed at a farm in Arizona. By the way,it was a real pleasure to meet your kids last night, Merry. Jack and Mary-Kate were the life and soul at dinner. I was glad to have them there, they did a wonderful job of making sure the conversation never ran dry. It could have been a little awkward, you know? Lots of strangers, such an emotional time for the sisters...’

‘That’ll be my two. If there’s one thing that people from Down Under can do, it’s talk.’

‘That’s true! CeCe’s girlfriend – uh, Chrissie I think her name is – is from Australia. She’s exactly the same.’

‘Right, so you’re from America, Chrissie’s from Australia... Does anyone else hail from an exotic location which I should know about?’

‘Well, it depends on your definition of “exotic”... Maia’s partner Floriano and his daughter Valentina are from Brazil. But all of the sisters have an amazing story to tell. Their father –yourfather – left clues for them to discover after he’d died. The guy had the coordinates of all their birthplaces engraved on this sculpture thing in their family garden – they call it an armillary sphere. It turns out that he adopted children from all corners of the globe...’

‘Gosh. He led quite the life, that’s for certain.’

‘As have you, from the sounds of things. Jack and Mary-Kate have been telling us about your journey over the last few weeks. Merry, I’m so sorry to hear of all you’ve been through. I don’t know how you’ve coped. The sisters following you around the globe must have frightened the life out of you. I think you’re an incredibly strong person to be standing here on this yacht. Your kids do too. They wouldn’t stop singing your praises last night.’

I don’t know quite what it was, but there was something about Miles’s calm sincerity that brought tears to my eyes.

‘Thank you, Miles. That’s very generous of you to say.’

‘And Merry... I haven’t known them long, but these are good people. I know a little something or two about character. I work in human rights, you see, so I’ve had to learn to be a pretty good judge on that side of things when it comes to my job. I promise that you’re safe here, and everyone is really excited to get to know you.’

‘I just hope I... live up to expectations.’ The feeling of being overwhelmed returned.