Page 81 of The Hundred Loves of Juliet
“He’s real eager to get back on the boat.”
“So soon?”
“You know how Colin is. He’s wanted to be a crabber since he was a kid.”
I nod. I still remember back when Adam and I were greenhorns ourselves. Colin was eight then, and obsessed with king crab boats. His mom—Adam’s sister-in-law—brought Colin to the harbor to greet us after our first trip out to sea. He ran to Adam, shouting “Uncle, Uncle! Did you bring me a crab? Did you wrestle an orca? Tell me everything!”
Daniel sets my drink in front of me. I take a sip while Adam waits for my assessment of the peculiar combination of pineapple and jalapeño in a beer.
“It’s got a nice kick to it. A little sour, with a sweet finish.”
“See? Not bad, right?”
“Not bad at all.”
I should probably get to business, which is why I’m here. None of what I felt after Colin’s near death has changed; I still believe I should step down as captain of theAlacrityand pass that on to Piñeros. Initially, I’d planned to just leave Alaska and have my lawyers take care of all the legal transfer of title, et cetera. And then I’d meant to broach the subject with Adam a few days ago,after I dropped Helene back at the cottage, but Merrick showed up, and all my plans were once again cast aside.
“You’re doing that thing,” Adam says, “where you spin your glass in that obsessive pattern of yours. What’s on your mind?”
I look down at my hands, and I am, indeed, spinning the beer on the bar. Clockwise twice, counterclockwise once. I’ve been doing that for so many centuries I don’t even register the movement anymore. I stop and take a long drink instead.
“All right,” I say. “You know how much I’ve enjoyed being in business with you, and god knows I love theAlacrityand our crew, but…I’d like to retire.”
Adam just stares at me, expression inscrutable.
So I continue. “I know the boat could go out once or twice more before the crabbing season ends, but I’ll cover the pay for the crew for the rest of the season. And Piñeros will make a great captain—”
“I don’t understand,” Adam says. “You want to quit? Right now? Is this because you feel guilty about Colin? ’Cuz it’s not your fault, Seabass. That shit happens on the water all the time. It’s a fact of the biz, and you can’t let it hound you.” He jostles his maimed leg to make his point.
“It’s a little bit about Colin, but it’s also…” How do I explain to him that my soulmate—whom I only see once every few decades—has come back to me? And that I know my time with her is short, so I can’t spend another second on the ocean without her?
But Adam and I have been friends for too long, and he already has an inkling. “Oh, I see how it is,” he says, grinning. “It’s about a girl.”
“It’s complicated.”
“That’s what you told me the night she walked into The Frosty Otter. I heard through the gossip mill that she’s living with you now.”
I sigh. Small town talk is so…well, like this.
“Is she that special?” Adam asks. “You just met her. She seems nice, but still. You’re going to give up your entire life’s work because of her?”
He doesn’t know that Helene—Juliet—ismy entire life. All theyears in between her reincarnations are just treading water. I’m not truly alive except when she’s with me.
Dana comes out of the kitchen with a basket of barbecue for Adam.
“Thanks, babe.” He pecks her on the cheek.
“Didn’t know you were here, Seb,” Dana says. “I’ll get you some food, too.”
“But first,” Adam says, “can you help me talk some sense into him? Seabass is trying to retire from theAlacritybecause of a woman.”
Dana puts her hands on her hips and surveys both me and Adam.
“Adam, honey, any bad decision Sebastien makes due to a woman is probably your fault. As I recall, thelastconversation we all had about his dating life involved you telling him to sleep with only tourists because then they leave town and he doesn’t have to make any commitments.”
“Ouch,” Adam says, laughing. He turns to me and says, “More advice: Get yourself a stupid woman. These smart ones push back and cause trouble way too often.”
Dana grabs a spatula out of her apron pocket and whacks him with it. “Focus on what you’re good at: Eat your chicken and stop doling out relationship advice.”
