Page 11

Chapter 11

Changing the Helm

Haley

I want to scream. I glance up at Calvin and then back at the incoming tender. Then back at Calvin. Why the hell did he do it now? Why? He loves me. And he wasn’t just saying some shit. He means it. I can see it in his eyes. Why now? I can’t even focus on what I’m feeling. Not with Sam coming in. It’s like some weird version of when we all line up on the dock and greet the incoming guests on the first day of charter.

Only, now that I’m seeing Sam coming, I’ve got more butterflies than I ever had meeting any guests. Even more than the one time I had a prince on board. It’s more than Sam. Zane touches my back. I want to ease back into his touch, but I don’t. My face is neutral, like it would be to meet a guest. A pleasant smile, nothing else, but when he gets closer and I can see his blue eyes shining out at me, I can’t help but smile. I turn to Zane next to me. He’s smiling too. But the rest of the guys have their serious faces on. I’m not na?ve—I know they’re worried. I’m worried. What is Sam going to think? And then I start thinking about home. Home.

We can get home. Calvin will be able to fix things. He’ll be able to get the engines going or at least a radio. I know he can. He’ll be able to get us out of here.

I want to be happy. Going home is what we all want, right? Granted, until we had our do-nothing day and found the Rock Candy, found Sam and Penny, I was kind of getting used to, well, being here. With the guys. But in the long run, we need things. We need medical supplies. We need clothes. Pizza and chocolate are also two things I don’t want to live without.

The tender bounces on the ocean, coming over the reef. It’s rough. Sam is gaining air with each wave. He’s got one hand on the outboard motor and the other on a stack of large plastic storage boxes. I’m standing on the sort of beach that guests always want to go to when they’re lounging on the yacht deck. It looks so inviting. But I have to remind them that the ride in will be super rough, that they won’t like it. They still go—the first time—but never a second.

A few more feet and Sam will be over the roughest part. He’s twenty feet out when Zane and Calvin high-step through the waves to grab his ropes and get him set.

“Hello,” he yells, but his eyes are on me. He hands Calvin a rope and then Zane one. “Thanks.” Sam tilts the outboard up, and the guys pull the tender bow up onto the sand.

Zane and Easton gather some large stones to anchor their side. Calvin has it tied up to a large boulder near the mouth of the fish weir.

“Impressive,” Sam says. He nods at the trap.

“It’s keeping us fed.” Calvin offers his hand to Sam, but Sam jumps out on his own.

We’re all just staring at each other.

“Where’s the dog?” Dante finally asks.

“I wasn’t sure how rough it would be next to the cliff, so I left her on the Rock Candy. It also let me bring more supplies.” He glances back over his shoulder.

“We should get those unloaded.” Zane charges for the tender.

“Wait!” Sam shakes his head. “First, let me give you a hug.”

We all kind of laugh.

Sam starts with Zane. “It’s good to see you.” He slaps his hand on Zane’s back twice.

“Fuck, it’s even better to see you, Cap. I didn’t think we...”

“I know... I know... Same.” Sam’s lip trembles. “Calvin?” Sam pulls him into an embrace. “I’ve thought about you a lot over the last weeks, months—every time I try to track down a problem and another one appears. What would Calvin do? That’s what I say to myself. I guess I’ve been talking to myself, or rather to all of you. No volleyballs, though, but a heck of a lot of chattering at Penny.” Sam gives Calvin a slap on the back. “I’m really glad to see you.” His lips purse, and I really think he might cry.

“Easton.” He gives him a quick hug. “Good thinking with the jacket.”

“That was Haley’s idea.” Easton points his thumb at me.

“Of course it was.” His smile takes over his face. He turns to Dante. “Good to see you, Chef.”

“Sam.” Dante stresses his name. “I’m glad to see you too.”

“I brought your knives.”

Dante can definitely be bought—a smile breaks out over his face. At the same time, the clouds break and part overhead and a beam of sunlight shines on the lids of several boxes in the tender. He slaps Sam on the back. And I wish they would start to unload those boxes because, right now, all eyes are on me and it’s too much. Too much. I want to run into the jungle and find Pepper. Sit in a tree and hide away from all of them.

“Haley.” He steps closer to give me a hug. I don’t think he’s trying to kiss me, but I turn my head away quickly. A brief hug. I don’t want to make this weirder than it will be. My toes curl in the sand. He’s alive and here, and that’s an awful lot. The rest can be worked out later.

“I’m glad you’re here, Captain.” I swallow and take a step backward.

His eyes cloud over. “Yes, me too.” He takes his own step backward. “Let’s get the supplies unloaded and talk about things. I’ve got a ton of questions for you, and I’m sure you have the same for me.” He’s looking mostly at Calvin, but then he glances back at me.

“Right.” Zane takes the largest black tote off the inflatable. “Damn, this is like the best Christmas morning ever. It’s like you’re Father Christmas.”

“Want help with it?” Easton asks.

“No. It’s light for its size,” Zane says.

“Blankets and things. I only brought necessities for now. I don’t think we can all live on the ship.”

“Water?” Calvin asks.

“Yeah, and weight. I’ve got a collision patch on. One that I’m anxious to have you take a look at.”

Calvin nods. “Me too. How’d it happen?”

“When I got thrown on the reef. It’s not big. But any hole is big enough.”

Calvin grunts.

I’m watching them banter and I’m so confused. I step around Calvin to go to the tender. He moves his hand back, and it brushes mine. It’s not much, just a little touch. But I see Sam’s eyes dart down and back up. I freeze, just for a second, then I shake it off, going to the tender. There’s six or seven of the smaller boxes, the type the provisioner sends us perishables in. I stack two of them. They, however, are a lot heavier than I thought they would be.

“Careful, that’s glass.” Sam looks up from where he’s talking with Calvin still. I can’t hear them, but I assume they’re talking about the mechanics of the Rock Candy.

I nod and put one back. I don’t need to be a hero around here. I’m not trying to prove anything. I follow Zane up the trail to the shelter.

Dante and Easton are right behind me. They’re carrying the largest of the boxes together.

“What’s in that one?” Zane asks. He really is excited.

“I don’t know,” I reply.

“Well, open it.”

I unlatch the salmon pink plastic box. There are six bottles: four bottles of hard alcohol and two of red wine. And Sam grabbed the good stuff. Wrapped in a dish towel is a bottle opener and two wine glasses. I laugh. But then I pull the dish towel to my nose and breathe in. It’s a little musty, but it’s clean and I want to rub it all over my body.

“You’re a drug addict now? Addicted to huffing laundry—I would never have guessed.” Sam’s warm chuckle fills me, and when I look up at him, his laugh lines around his eyes are firing and I want to throw my arms around his neck and give him a real hug this time. I shake it off, temper myself.

“Wine glasses are a necessity?” I smile, holding one up.

“I tucked a few frivolous things into the boxes. I figured we needed a toast. But six glasses seemed like too much.” His lip twists sideways. That’s when he looks up. “Whoa.” He touches the bark on the tree and then moves around the kitchen space. The posts are up to finish closing it off. I want to keep animals out—well, other than Pepper.

She jumps up on the work surface next to the stove.

“You have a cat. And a stove? Where did you get a stove?” Sam turns, and that’s when he notices the platforms stepping up into the canopy of the jungle and the twine rope hanging down with my latest basket attached. It’s a lot better than the ones before it.

I look up at the top sleeping platform. “Holy crap, is the platform finished?”

“Yeah, Little Bird. What do you think? It’s bloody brilliant, isn’t it?” Zane puts his arm around my shoulder, and I give him a kiss on his cheek. I can’t stop myself.

“You did amazing. You were a bit of a drill sergeant, but it’s fantastic.” I don’t pull away from Zane. I can’t. I would never hurt him. But as my spine straightens, I can feel the captain staring at me.

Zane takes something out of the tote he was carrying. “We have blankets and pillows. And two yoga mats!”

Sam nods. “I thought they might be good for cushions.”

“Yes.” Zane takes a large handful of cloth and darts up the ladder.

I turn slowly. The captain’s blue eyes are locked on me.

“Well, I should go get another load,” I say. “I’ll be right back. To help unload things.”

I’m taking long, fast steps when he catches up to me. “Whoa, you guys have really made the island a home.”

I nod, but I don’t slow or turn to look at him. “We didn’t think we’d ever leave. We’ve hardly seen any ships. And those we have were going the wrong way, or they had their lights off.”

“Pirates?”

When he says it, it gives me shivers. “That’s what we were thinking. From the top of the map tree?—”

“Map tree?”

“The tree with the bits and pieces we know scratched into it. It’s the one that’s the base for the shelter platforms.”

“Right.”

“From the top we can see a string of islands near us, but there aren’t any signs of civilization. No campfires.”

“You seem good. Actually, better than good. More relaxed.” Sam nods and reaches for me but then pulls his arm back.

“It’s crazy that I’m more relaxed now that I’m trapped on an island. I guess that says something about my chosen profession.” Laughter erupts out of me, a short burst of nervous energy.

We get to the tender, and I take another small box. There are only a few things remaining. I pivot and flee. Keeping busy is a lot better than running into the woods and hiding with a cat on my lap. Maybe. Then again, it’s probably not.

Sam catches up to me again. He’s holding one of the small boxes. “Do you know anything about the other raft? Easton asked me if I knew anything, and when I told him no, he grunted and grabbed a box.”

“Rocky made Anders launch the big tender with him and Candy on it. That all happened before I went up to the deck. The tender capsized, and only Rocky and Anders were rescued. We’d drifted apart from them by the second morning. We never saw them again. I thought we might. We watched... but nothing. Calvin hooked a big fish the second day, and as strange as it sounds, I think it pulled us into a different current pattern than them. I keep hoping they were rescued.” It happened so long ago, it feels like a dream.

“Same. But then I was hoping for both rafts to be rescued. Hindsight is hindsight, but abandoning the ship was the right thing to do. I know the Rock Candy is floating upright now in the water, but up until I ran aground, it wasn’t. It took a while for me to get the listing under control too.” He looks away from me, and I get that there’s something else but he’s not saying it. “In good weather, it was a little less, but in bad weather, the Rock Candy felt like a damn sailboat.”

“I can only imagine what the interior looks like.”

“I had some time. I might have done some redecorating.” Sam laughs.

“All of those horse sculptures?” I raise my eyebrows at him. I put the small box on top of the table and head back to the raft.

Sam follows me. “They’re confusing some bottom-dwelling fish right about now.” He stiffens. I turn and see Dante at his other shoulder.

“That’s the only good thing you could have done with them. They were so horrible.” I’m focusing on not looking at him because it’s too hard. There’s nothing left in the tender but a suitcase—my suitcase, or rather, the expensive suitcase that was left on a yacht by a guest a few years back. My suitcase I hadn’t unpacked. The one with all my going-out clothes and my... my personal things. I have them in a small lock box. Okay, not that small. It’s the type you would get at an office supply store, with a little spin lock with a code. And now I can’t remember if it was locked or if Sam would have seen what’s inside. Fucking hell, if he did... I smile. “Wow, you brought my whole bag.”

“I didn’t open it.”