Page 11 of The Sailor in Polynesia
She smiled at me. “Thank you. It hurt like hell. Do you have one?”
“No, I wanted one, but Liam wouldn’t let me.” The words were out of my mouth before I realized what I was saying. Jonas’s eyes narrowed, and I quickly tried to steer the conversation away from Liam. “Elayna, when did you joinEik?”
“In the Canary Islands in November. The boys rescued me from the boat I was supposed to cross the Atlantic on. The captain was a horrible drunk.”
“And Marcella?”
“She joined in Antigua in January,” Jonas said. “Marcella is planning on leaving us in Tahiti, though, sadly, if she can find a job.”
“Was that weird?” I asked Lila. “Coming onto a boat almost like a fifth wheel?”
“Nah. Eivind was pretty smitten with me from the get-go.” She playfully nudged his side.
“I was. It took some real convincing to get you.” Eivind rolled over onto Lila and then rolled back, pulling her over with him in a fit of giggles.
The uncomfortable feeling of being old sank in. Eivind and Lila were young, in their early twenties, and Jonas was, I supposed, in his late twenties. At thirty-five, I felt like the mature and responsible matron, frowning at the misbehaving youths with their whole world ahead of them.
Until Jonas poked me with his foot. I met his eyes, and he lifted a brow. “A little disgusting, no?”
I laughed. Lila and Eivind paid us no heed and continued to make kissing noises interspersed with giggles.
Jonas stood up. “Would you like another coconut? Maybe with rum this time?”
“How about a beer?”
He nodded and climbed down the stairs.
Before Jonas could come back up, Marcella announced that dinner was ready. We settled around the table, Jonas and Marcella on either side of me, and tucked into the fish she had made.
“You guys,” Lila said, “the fish you caught today are nice.”
“Where did you go spearfishing?” I asked.
“Out in the pass,” Jonas answered. “The fish here in the lagoon are too small. These are much bigger.” He settled back next to me, sipping his drink. “I have not seen you out spearfishing.”
Eivind looked up. “You spearfish, Mia?”
I shook my head. “Not much anymore. Too dangerous going by myself.”
“Mia is an excellent free diver,” Jonas told his crew.
I blushed and shifted in my seat. I understood that I had put my life out there, publicly, but it was weird to have someone know so much about me when I knew so little about them. “Thank you,” I said. “I’m out of practice now.”
Lila perked up. “Eivind tried to teach me a few things about free diving, exercises to try to stay down longer, and stuff like that.”
“Ja,” Eivind said, nudging Lila. “We should try again now that we have nice clear water to play in.”
“If you want, we can give it a go together tomorrow,” I offered.
Lila perked up. “Really? That would be great! I am not very good, obviously. Certainly not as good as Eivind or Jonas.”
“Mia is even better than me,” Jonas admitted.
“I don’t know about that,” I said. “We might have to have a little friendly competition.”
“We can make a bet, ja?”
“We can bet coconuts!”
