Page 59 of Sail Away
“It’s going to have to wait. We’ll be anchoring soon, and I’ve got work to do.”
“Why’d you call me to be your boson?”
“Because I needed a good one, and I heard you were between jobs. You know how small the industry is.”
“Nice standard, well-rehearsed answer. But I’m not buying it.” She set her computer down on the table by the stairs. “Tell me what the fuck is going on.”
“With?” Jim stared at her with wide eyes.
“Me. You. This fucking charter. Everything. It doesn’t add up.”
“You’re not making sense.” He placed both hands on her shoulders and lowered his chin. “Are you feeling okay? Is something wrong? You’ve been acting off for the last two days.”
She opened her mouth and then snapped it shut.
“Maybe you should go lie down. I can have Kirk take over your responsibilities for the rest of this charter if things are too much for you,” Jim said.
“Are you kidding me?”
“When I found out Reid was coming on board, I thought about asking you to sit on the sidelines. I know you’re a tough girl, but with all that transpired over the last twenty-four hours, I think it’s best—”
“Oh, shut the fuck up.” That went nowhere fast, and she quickly realized the error of her ways. Whatever was going on with Jim, he was too far gone to reason with at this juncture. She snagged her laptop.
He grabbed her arms.
“You’re out of control, and your eyes are bloodshot. Did you even sleep last night?”
Motherfucker. “No. I didn’t,” she admitted. “Anything else? Do you want to drug test me? I’ll pee in a cup right now, no problem.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
“I didn’t think so.” She tucked her computer under her arm and jogged down the stairs, then marched herself into her cabin and slammed the door. Only there was no space to pace in her room. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”
“What?” Milia popped her head out from under her blanket. “What’s wrong?”
“Sorry. I didn’t know you were in here.”
“I’m on a break, and I’m hiding with my nose in a book.”
“Hiding from what?”
“Can I be honest?”
Darcie let out a long sigh. “Please. I’d appreciate it.”
“I don’t like these people. They say weird things in hushed tones, but it’s obvious they want me to know what they are saying, and it’s all bad things about you and Reid. Things that I know, at least with you, aren’t true. And with the way Jim is acting and Kim constantly texting me, wanting to know what is going on, well, I just want this season to be over.”
“You and me both.” Darcie climbed into her bunk. She hooked up her phone to her charger and checked the time. She still had another half hour on her break. She’d use the time to look at more of the files and emails from the server. She glanced at her text thread with Reid.
Nothing.
Well, he had a lot on his mind. She had to believe that he hadn’t meant the harsh words he’d said earlier. Whatever had transpired between him and Preston had fucked with his head something good. She just needed to give him some time to sort it all out. And it didn’t help that they were stuck out at sea.
She squared her shoulders and pulled up the folder labeled:Operation Dream.
It seemed like a weird descriptor for both Reid and Preston. Neither of them were dreamers. They considered themselves doers. Go-getters. Not dreamers. That term was reserved for people who thought about shit but never went about doing it.
An argument she used to love having with Reid when they’d been dating.
