Page 2 of Sail Away
Not that it mattered. She’d only been looking for a distraction, and it wasn’t as if she really cared for Jim.
She didn’t.
Not in that way, at least.
Unfortunately, she still carried a torch for Reid, one of the primary charter guests coming on board tomorrow, and a man she’d spent the last year desperately trying to forget.
Craig, one of the deck crew, was the first to appear with two suitcases in his hands as he headed off the side deck. “For the record, what Captain Jim just did was a dick move.” Craig set the bags on the cart and jogged back up the plank, passing his co-workers. “He shouldn’t be rubbing it in like that.” Of all the guys on her team, Craig had to be the most sensitive and empathetic. For the most part, it was a great quality, but Craig tended to take everyone’s side and couldn’t be trusted to have your back in general. He meant well, but he was going to take the side of whoever he was talking to in the moment.
Which meant he changed his mind all the time, and when confronted, raised palms to the heavens, saying that all he wanted to do was help.
“He’s excited to see his latest notch in his bedpost,” Darcie said. Of course, she could have had Jim fired, but that meant she would have been canned as well because she would have had to come forward for sleeping with her captain. Having his ability to lead the crew called into question because she’d gotten her feelings hurt was a pretty stupid thing to do.
Besides, she was better off without Slimy Jim and his shallow compliments filled with sweet nothings.
“Can’t blame the guy for wanting to spend time with the love of his life,” she said with a hint of sarcasm, disguised as a dollop of support.
Craig handed her a couple more suitcases from the plank and gave her the evil stink eye, which looked more like a child trying to do a pirate impersonation, but it went horribly wrong. “Ever since he dumped you for Kim, you have made excuses for him. Why?”
“None of you even knew I was going out with him until the shit hit the fan, so why does it matter?”
“Because he’s a dick.”
“Well, we all have to work under him,” she said.
“You could have quit,” Craig said.
“Of course I could have, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. And oddly, I enjoy watching him squirm. And besides, since no one knows I had a thing with Jim, technically, I did nothing wrong.”
Craig raised a brow.
“Okay. The bottom line is Captain Jim is much easier to get along with when he’s happy, not when he’s got a stick up his ass. That’s why I’m defending him. So, let’s go say goodbye to these guests, start this flip, and smile our asses off during the tip meeting.”
“Are we allowed off boat tonight?” Bradley asked. “I’m asking for a friend. Not.”
Darcie laughed. “We’re rotating. But I’m asking that you don’t get drunk. This is a short turnaround, and our new guests are going to be a pain in the ass. However, I worked it out so that you can at least have a meal in town, and I didn’t want Haley to have to cook for you.” Darcie adjusted her stripes as she made her way toward the receiving and unloading area. “Once you have the outside hosed down and dried, you can go to dinner, but you have to be back aboard by eight p.m. The interior will be going ashore for a few hours after that. For the record, I won’t be staying on board tonight. I have family obligations, so Kirk will be in charge. Don’t give him a hard time and make sure everything is done right. I don’t want to get any flak from Captain Jim tomorrow. Got it?”
“Sure thing. But if I didn’t know better,” Craig said, “I’d think there was a threesome going on with you, the captain, and our former chief steward.”
“Bite your fucking tongue, Craig,” Darcie said. “If you must know, it’s my parents’ wedding anniversary, and we managed to get my brother home on leave. The whole family is here, and I had permission to leave the vessel before Captain Snake decided to stick his slithering, nasty body into that backstabbing bitch—”
“Why don’t you tell us how you really feel about our ex-crewmember?” Kirk, another one of her team members, said as he loaded up the suitcases. He was the oldest on the team and the hardest-working deckhand she’d ever had.
He was also one of the most laid-back people she’d ever met. Not much got to Kirk. He didn’t let the drama of the ship affect his work, and his mellow attitude was a breath of fresh air. She and Kirk saw eye to eye on many topics, and of all her crew, if she had to be stuck with anyone on a desert island, it would be Kirk.
“I wouldn’t want to shock those poor sweet innocent ears of yours,” she said, shooting him a sarcastic smile. Kirk had her back, and she trusted him. “I’m just glad she did the right thing and gave her resignation, because her life would have been hell if she stayed on this boat. I would have made sure of it.”
“Even our chief stew would have turned on her eventually, and we know she’s not your biggest fan,” Craig said.
“Why do you say that?” Darcie shouldn’t have asked the question, but she absolutely wanted to know, but only because Milia, the chief stew, was a stickler for the rules and sleeping with the captain was a big fat no-no, but Milia had been close to Kim. They spent a lot of time together and they rarely had any conflict.
“Because that’s Milia’s modus operandi, her MO. She always sides with the boson. Or the captain, because they are the highest rank on the ship. It would have been difficult for Milia, considering everything that went down, but in the end, she would have had to side with you because Kim quit. If she hadn’t, she would have gotten fired.”
“So would have Jim. And I just don’t think Milia would have turned on Kim, ever. She has always sided with Jim on any issue when it came to me. But it doesn’t matter anymore. Besides, there are only two charters left, so can we just forget all that shit.”
“I’m down with that. Do we know how long this next charter is? I’m just asking because my mum is going to be flying in from Sydney, and I want to let her know what the best dates would be so I can actually pick her up at the airport. And how much time off do we have before the last charter?” Craig asked.
“This charter is three days and two nights, starting tomorrow at noon. Unfortunately, it cuts your vacation from four days to three,” she said. “But Jim told me the owners of the vessel plan on making it worth our while.”
