Page 54 of The Hitchhiker in Panama
I took a deep breath. As our clothes had been drying, I’d made a pros and cons list, which never failed to help me think straight. “I’m thinking yes. It’s crazy, but yeah, why not, right? When will I ever get the chance to do this again?”
He smiled broadly and pulled me under his arm. “I think you will like it.”
While we ate, Jonas went over a watch schedule that made everyone relatively happy and a departure checklist, assigning tasks to each crew member.
Marcella walked me through the galley, showing me where she stored snacks that were for everyone, plus ginger snaps and cream crackers.
“For seasickness,” she explained. “It’s good to have things on hand. I get seasick if the conditions are bad enough, but that’s normal. When the weather is rough on board, no one is comfortable, not even Jonas.”
Eivind and Marcella took me to the supermarket to help me buy supplies for the trip. I walked up and down every single aisle of the store, putting items in my cart. Deodorant, toothpaste, tampons, more underwear. The list went on and the cart piled up.
“Where am I going to store all this stuff?” I asked Eivind.
“There is room in my cabin.”
“I guess so. Just don’t kick me out of bed—I’ll have to rearrange everything. Do we need more condoms?”
Eivind peered at the display and looked over the choices. I did some math in my head, but apparently so did Eivind. He grabbed five boxes—one hundred condoms—and threw them in the cart.
“One hundred?” I said. “You wantone hundredcondoms?”
“Yes.”
I waited, but he didn’t elaborate. “Why do we need one hundred condoms?”
He winked at me and continued down the aisle. “So you do not get pregnant.”
I took a deep breath and held it for a moment, debating whether I wanted to say anything or not.
Eivind eyeballed me. “Are you mad?”
“No.” I let out my breath. “I was thinking . . . I’m on birth control. I got six months’ worth before I left Straya”
Eivind stopped walking. “Are you saying you do not want to use condoms?”
“Well . . . we leave in three days. That’s probably not enough time to get tested, is it?”
Eivind thought for a moment. “I think we should stick with condoms. It does make cleaning up easier.”
“Nah, yeah, that’s fair.”
One fully loaded cart later, we arrived at the checkout. We stacked up all of my items on the conveyor belt for the cashier and when it was time to pay, I cringed as I handed over my credit card. I reminded myself that these things would last me for over a month, and it was better to be safe than sorry—if I ran out, there was nowhere to resupply.
Eivind bagged up my stuff with the reusable bags he had brought. We stacked the bags in the cart and waited for Marcella. Eivind helped her pack her stuff up too, and we pushed the two carts out to the parking lot.
We requested two Ubers and loaded Marcella into one that would take her and all of my new stuff back to the marina. Eivind and I hailed another and went to a chandlery—a boat supply store.
Eivind helped me pick out a headlamp and a harness. Like a gentleman helping me with a jacket, Eivind held the harness up for me to stick my arms in.
“Now this strap”—he tugged at the webbing that dangled in front of my crotch—“goes like this.” The strap slid through his fingers as the back of his hand swept down my shorts and stopped between my legs.
“Eivind!” I hissed at him.
“Yes?”
I looked around frantically. The shelves on either side of the aisle hid us from view, but enough people wandered the store to make me nervous.
Eivind’s fingers pressed firmer, and for a millisecond I ground down against him. He smirked at me and kissed the corner of my mouth.
