Page 52 of The Sailor in Polynesia
“Jonas? Mia?” I heard a voice call out.
Jonas and I grinned at each other and climbed out of bed. “Coming!” I called through the open hatch.
We both pulled on shorts and climbed up top.
“Good morning, Eivind. Would you like to come up?”
“Good morning, Mia! Yes, please.” Eivind tied his dinghy toWelinaand climbed aboard. “How was your sail over?”
“A little eventful.” I told him about my thru-hull problem as we walked into the salon. Jonas had started a pot of coffee, and began to add tidbits to my story.
When we finished, Eivind told us about their passage, which had been easy. No near sinkings onEik.
Eivind declined a cup of coffee. “We were going to head into Carrefour today. Marcella is excited to reprovision. Do you want to come with us?”
I shook my head. “I will have to shop when I get back. For now, I have enough to last until I leave.”
“Jonas?”
“I will stay and help Mia getWelinainto the marina.”
“Ah yes, that will be much easier, thank you.” Docking boats was the hardest part, and usually the most embarrassing. I was an expert, but even still, it would be good to have a linehandler on board.
“Okay, we will go, then.” Eivind tapped his fist on the table, but made no move to get up. “We spent some time yesterday using the internet at the marina.”
Jonas nodded.
“Marcella has a phone interview next week.”
I looked between Jonas and Eivind. “That’s good, yes?”
Jonas smiled sadly. “Good for her but bad for us.” His lips turned down and he rubbed his brow.
“She wanted me to talk to you about it before she made any moves. Make sure we will be okay. Are we going to look for another crew member?” Eivind asked.
Sighing, Jonas leaned back on the couch. “What do you think?”
I felt a little uncomfortable having this discussed in front of me, but I would guess that Jonas and Eivind didn’t have much alone time on the boat without the crew around.
“Lila does not like the sailing much either, but she is learning.”
“And she will not leave you.” Jonas smiled at his brother and teased him. “Just do not do anything stupid.”
“She said yes. I think I am doing good.”
“Anyway,” Jonas continued, “I do not think we need another crew member. It was our intention to only have four of us on board anyway.”
Eivind darted his eyes over to me. “That is, if Elayna stays.”
“Right. If Elayna stays.”
A pang of jealousy hit me. I knew that Jonas was spending so much time with me, but long-term? Elayna was going to be there, for as long as she wanted, it seemed.
“Okay.” Eivind stood up. “Have fun moving the boat. We will return with lots of food!”
We waved goodbye to Eivind and I hailed the marina on the VHF to get directions and make sure my dock was free. Jonas prepared breakfast and we ate quickly before pulling out fenders and lines, firing up the engine and heading toward the marina.
The winds were calm; I didn’t have to worry about the current. But even with tranquil conditions, my heart beat a little faster and my palms got sticky.
