Page 23 of The Hundred Loves of Juliet
He gives me the saddest look I think I’ve ever seen on a man, and nods. Only once.
And then he turns and gives the orders to raise anchor and set sail.
SEBASTIEN
A week later, and Istill can’t stop thinking about her.
The dark sky is a ghoul’s cloak, it’s twenty degrees below zero with wind chill, and theAlacritylurches violently across the rough waters. I should be paying better attention to my crew, to thedifficulty we’re having setting the crab traps, to the fact that we’re seven days into this trip and the haul thus far is inversely proportional to the effort we’ve put out just to survive the stormy sea.
But my thoughts keep coming back to Helene.
“Captain?” Colin hangs in the doorway of the wheelhouse, peering at me like maybe this wasn’t the first time he called my name. How long has he been standing there while I stare out the window at the ocean?
“What’s up, Merculief?” I say, pretending like everything is fine.
“Piñeros sent me to tell you there’s a cot available. He said he can take over steering if you want to get some shut-eye.”
I wave off the suggestion. I know I won’t be able to sleep, so another member of my crew ought to take advantage of it instead. “I’m good. Let someone else have the cot.”
“You sure?” Colin asks. “Because you look like—”
I fix him with a hard stare, and it stops whatever he was going to say like a deer during hunting season. It’s not fair of me, but I can’t help it. I’m high strung and I need him out of my wheelhouse.
“Right,” he says. “Anything I can get you while I’m here?”
“A way to stop the cycle,” I mumble.
“Sorry, sir?”
“Nothing,” I say. “Actually, I could use some caffeine.”
“You got it, Captain.” Colin ducks out of the doorway to follow orders.
A few minutes later, he brings a fresh pot of coffee, then leaves me be.
Alone with a tempestuous sea and thoughts just as turbulent.
Juliet
Juliet
Juliet…
PEARL HARBOR NAVAL BASE, HAWAII—OCTOBER 1941
“Excuse me,” I say to the librarian in the blue dress with white polka dots. Her back is to me, but as far as I can tell, she’s the only one in the room. “I’m returning this book, and—”
She turns around, and the instant our eyes meet, the familiar shock of honeyed wine brushes my lips.
My jaw drops and I can’t move.
It’s her.
“You’ll catch flies with your mouth hanging open like that, Lieutenant.” She laughs as she sets down her stack of books and walks toward me, hips swinging, skirt swishing. I’m hypnotized by the motion. Only when she’s right in front of me do I manage to snap my mouth closed.
Her name tag reads Rachel Wilcox.
“You’re new,” I whisper.
