Page 7 of The Sailor in Polynesia
I handed her the bag of sugar. “Are you going to be okay paddling back to your boat?”
“Nah, yeah. Probably.” She looked thoughtful. “Hopefully. I’m kind of new to the paddleboarding thing.”
“Well, I do have a dinghy, but it’s pretty heavy and really hard to get up and down by myself. But we can call your boat on the radio if they are listening?”
“That’s okay. Thanks, though.” She took a step toward the companionway and then hesitated. “Listen, based on the whole falling-in-the-water thing, and the way Jonas is behaving back on our boat...”
My brows rose. “How is Jonas behaving on your boat?”
Lila placed a hand on my arm in reassurance. “Jonas is not himself right now. I don’t watch sailing vlogs, so I, like, don’t understand your fame and whatnot, but he’s excited and clearly way too enthusiastic. I promise, he’s a nice guy. He’s just... fangirling?”
I tried to hide a smile behind my hand, but Lila caught it.
“I know, it’s hard to picture a six-foot-tall hardy Norwegian man fangirling, but he is.”
“I mean... it was kind of adorably dorky?”
“Well, get ready for more adorable dorkiness. Come over for dinner tonight. I promise I’ll act as a buffer and calm him down if he gets to be too much, but by the end of the night I bet we can get him to be his normal, charming self.”
“Ah, I don’t know...”
“Well, Marcella, our chef, insists, since you’re giving us sugar.”
A grin tugged at my lips. “You have a chef?”
Lila sniffed and stuck her nose up in the air, a teasing glint in her eye. “Yes,Eikis serving the hottest cuisine this side of Tahiti. You would be remiss if you ignored my invitation. Tonight will betheparty in the lagoon.”
I giggled. “All right, count me in.”
“Good. You saved our captain from near death. We owe you.”
I escorted Lila back out on deck. “Your paddleboard is cool.”
“I know, right? I’ve only used it a couple of times, so I need to get more practice in. Do you have one?”
I shook my head. “I wish. It would make my life a bit easier right now, but it was the last thing on my mind when I was getting ready for the season.”
Lila carefully stepped down onto the board and lowered herself to her knees. “We have two. Maybe once I get the hang of it, we can go for a paddle together. But for now, I’ve got to get this sugar to Marcella. Thanks, Mia!”
* * *
At five o’clock sharp I heard an outboard fire up. I grabbed a plate of cheese and crackers I’d made and went on deck to greet my ride as Jonas pulled up alongsideWelina.
We exchanged little smiles and I sat on the edge of the boat. He wiped his hand on his shirt nervously and then offered it to help me down into his dinghy.
I slid my palm into Jonas’s, braced for the drop down, and slipped off the deck. The dinghy rocked and my momentum pushed us together, our chests brushing.
Jonas caught my waist with a firm grip and gave me a shy smile. “Hi.”
“Hey,” I said back, a blush rising at his proximity. “Thank you for having me over.” We stepped apart and I settled onto the tube.
He nodded and focused on driving us over toEik, a fast and quiet ride.
Eikwas filled with music and laughter, quite the contrast. I climbed aboard—using Jonas’s firm grip to help me again—and followed him onto the boat.
“Mia!” Lila cried out when she saw me. “Welcome toEik.Oh, you brought something; that’s so nice of you.”
I shrugged. “Honor among thieves, right? We may be seaward vagabonds, but at least we have our social niceties.”
