Page 19 of The Hitchhiker in Panama
“I did! Did you know that some people estimate the death toll for the workers building the canal at twenty-five thousand?”
“No, I didn’t.”
I leaned back on my bed, letting Dad tell me all the interesting facts he’d learned. When I’d told him my plan to transit the canal, he’d been so excited for me, helping me pitch it to Mum as an “educational adventure.”
Part of what intrigued me so much about this adventure was living it for my dad, and his excitement bubbling up through the phone made it more real to me.
Eight
The next day, in the late afternoon heat, I sat by the pool reading. Peter had some new project he had to work on, and Edith had quickly hustled me out of the boat and toward the pool before I could be recruited.
The antithesis of hard work was lounging by the pool, so that was where I went. Neither my accommodations nor the pool facilities were luxurious, but I tried to make the best of it. I had time on my hands to relax and read, plus I had an esky full of tinnies to drink. As nice as a fruity daiquiri would have been, I couldn’t afford it.
I’d been out for half an hour when a voice called my name.
“Hello, Lila!” The crew ofEikwalked toward me, dressed down in bathers and thongs.
“Hey there!” They claimed the chairs around me. After dropping their stuff off and exchanging pleasantries, Marcella, Elayna, and Jonas stepped down into the pool.
Eivind had stretched out on the chair to my right, kicking his thongs off and lowering the back of his lounger. He turned his head and smiled at me. I was close enough that I could see his eyes behind his sunnies, and I watched as he checked me out from head to toe.
My curly hair was up in a messy bun on top of my head, and I’d only packed one bather, a red string bikini that gave me plenty of coverage but no support—not that I needed much.
I couldn’t be affronted about being so openly scoped. I ogled Eivind too. He wore short trunks, showing off his chest and legs. My first impression had been right: Eivind’s shoulders were broad, his arms and abs muscled and bulky.
He bent the knee closest to me and met my eye. We grinned at each other in mutual appreciation.
I put my e-reader down beside me. “No swimming for you?”
“Nah, I would rather sit here for a little while.”
“I like to work up a sweat a bit, sitting in the heat, and then take a dip.”
“Back home we do the opposite, in hot springs. When I was a child, Jonas and I used to sit out in the snow until we could not stand it anymore, and then we’d hop into the hot water.”
“How old were you?”
Eivind scratched his chest. “I must have been seven or eight?” He was silent for a moment. “Now that I think about it, Jonas must have been letting me win. He would have been seventeen or eighteen. There is no way I could have lasted longer than he did out there.”
“Aw, that’s cute.”
Eivind smiled softly.
I held up my sunscreen bottle. “Hey, can you put some on my back? I need to flip over to even out my tan.”
“Sure.” Eivind grabbed the bottle while I twisted away from him. I gathered the wispy hairs from the back of my neck and held them up out of the way.
Eivind slopped some sunscreen onto my back and focused on rubbing it in. He was thorough. Very thorough, sweeping his hand under the strings of my bikini. So thorough that before long I was giggling.
“All right, handsy, you got everything.”
He chuckled and handed me the bottle. “I am just concerned about your skin health. If you sunburn, let me know and I will come over and rub some aloe on you too.”
I snorted and adjusted my chair all the way down, then flipped onto my stomach. Eivind did the same, and we lay facing each other.
We talked about our days; I told Eivind about the project I’d been helping Peter with, and he told me about working on the watermaker with Jonas.
We were interrupted by Elayna approaching, dripping wet, and asking for Eivind’s help finding a pool toy they’d stuffed into one of the bags with the towels and beers. She stood off to the side, dripping onto the concrete while Eivind’s dry hands dug through the bags.
