Page 20 of The Hitchhiker in Panama
“Lila, would you like to come play? It is a game of keep-up.”
“Yeah, that sounds fun. I’m breaking a sweat here anyway. Eivind, you want to play?”
He shook his head and sat up. “Thank you, but I will watch only.”
He twisted around to fiddle with the lounge chair while I followed Elayna into the pool. As I stepped in, the water cooled my sun-kissed skin.
It took me a little while to get into the game; I was distracted by Eivind’s eyes constantly watching me. He wasn’t helping the situation or being shy about it. Every time I glanced over, he grinned at me and I blushed.
Eventually I focused, and the four of us passed the ball back and forth, setting it like a volleyball. We didn’t keep score, just passed to whomever we wanted and tried not to let it touch the water. Jonas, with his long limbs, made some good last-minute saves.
We wore ourselves out and retreated to the shade. Once dry, I asked Eivind to reapply the sunscreen—which he enthusiastically did. Elayna and Marcella grabbed their pool noodles and returned to the water, while Jonas sat on my other side.
My lounger had been pulled slightly closer to Eivind’s than it had been before I went in the water.
“Jonas, what doesEikmean?”
“Eikmeans ‘oak,’ like the tree, in Norwegian. The Vikings built their boats out of oak because it is strong and flexible. AlthoughEikis not made of wood, she is strong.” He smiled.
“How long have you owned the boat? And where did you start?”
Jonas told me about buying the boat in England the previous year. He bought it nearly new. Someone had ordered it from the factory, launched it, and then had to sell it due to an issue with their job.
“That’s insane,” I said. “I can’t imagine spending all that time and money only to have to give up your dream.”
We traded stories for a while, talking about home. Jonas relaxed more than I’d seen him before, happy and stretched out in the sun. He smiled more, and I wondered what had changed.
In contrast, Eivind was quieter, happy to listen to his brother’s chatter.
In the pool, Marcella and Elayna bobbed in the water, whispering to each other in low voices, and occasionally stealing glimpses of Jonas, who was oblivious.
A light touch on my arm brought my attention back to Eivind.
“If I swim, will you come?”
Sweat dripped down my elbows. “Yes, that sounds lovely.”
Eivind and I stepped into the pool, and I felt a little bad that we had invaded the girls’ space. They smiled at us, but after a few moments, they climbed out of the pool to dry off.
Eivind and I were alone. There were other people in the loungers on the deck, but it was still pretty quiet around the pool. The sun started to duck behind the buildings, and shade crept over the concrete.
We sighed in pleasure at the cool water.
“Jonas seems different today,” I remarked.
Eivind nodded. “Yes, it takes some time to unwind from a passage. The responsibility for us all falls on him, so it is hard on him.”
I hummed and leaned back against the wall, thinking about what it must be like to captain your own boat. We bobbed in silence. Suddenly Eivind took a deep breath and sunk down into the water. I stood up and watched from the surface as he cycled his arms and legs, keeping himself down at the bottom.
And I waited.
And waited.
I chewed my lip. I could see him pretty clearly down at the bottom, and he didn’t look panicked. I’ve been told since I was a child, though, that drowning doesn’t look like drowning, and to reassure myself, I reached down and tugged his arm. He stood up, surfacing and wiping the water off his face.
“How do you do that?” I asked.
“Hold my breath for that long?”
