Page 31 of The Sailor in Polynesia
Jonas threw his head back and laughed. “Please, no. I like you much better than Ariel.” He sipped his wine and pondered something. “Do you own black lingerie?” he asked carefully, a glint in his eye.
I groaned, and it was my turn to blush. Well, Ihadbrought it up. “No, I don’t. Sorry to disappoint.”
He pulled me in close. “I am not disappointed. I get to see you in a bikini all the time.”
We sipped our wine and gazed at the sunset. The sky was cloudier than it had been lately, but the clouds were high and wispy, forming pink streaks across the sky. I changed the subject. “Will you tell me what the Northern Lights are like?”
Jonas told me about trips to visit his uncle in the Arctic Circle and camping with Eivind to see the Northern Lights on the outskirts of the city when Jonas was in college. I wasn’t surprised to learn that Jonas had taken on the responsibility of raising Eivind to help out their single mother, and had gone to college nearby and delayed his military service until Eivind was old enough to take care of himself.
When it was dark, the colors of sunset washed away, Jonas followed me inside to make our dinner plates. “No wonder you and Eivind are so close,” I said as I pulled the dish out of the oven, where it was being kept warm. I handed Jonas an empty plate and gestured for him to help himself.
“Ja. Our mother worked hard as a nurse, but she was rarely home.”
“You’ve been pretty responsible your whole life. Not many teenagers would step up like you did.”
“It means Eivind and I are close to each other but not to our mother.” I watched him while he scooped up potatoes. “I resent her for it sometimes still.”
Back in the cockpit, I switched on some simple solar-paneled lights and fake candles so we could see.
“What about your mom? Are you close to her?” Jonas asked me as he cut into a sausage.
“Yeah, but she was a stay-at-home mom. Hyper-involved in our lives, and I have a big family.” Talking about them made my heart pang with homesickness, so I switched the subject. “Lila told me you work remotely?”
And then we talked about work. Jonas had a degree in engineering and worked for a scientific journal, editing and fact-checking, and I told him about my degree in marketing and the jobs I’d worked after college, aimlessly trying to find something that made me happy. We were slouched together back in the corner now, our plates empty, the wine bottle dry, and the lights out onEik.
I stifled a yawn. It was way past my bedtime. Jonas squeezed my shoulder with the arm he had around me. “Thank you for having me for dinner.”
“You are welcome. It’s been a long time since I stayed up this late.” With no one else around, I’d usually gone to bed early out of boredom. Staying up this late, talking about everything and anything, was something I hadn’t done since dating Liam.
Nerves fluttered in my stomach. The night was winding down, and this had felt so much like a date. I sat up and stretched before gathering the plates and glasses, trying to hide awkwardness with activity.
“Can I help?” Jonas asked.
“Why don’t you hand this down to me?” I descended the stairs and turned back at the bottom. Jonas handed me the dishes and then stepped down too, resting his arms on the companionway entrance.
I scrubbed the dishes while Jonas waited. He stepped closer and wrapped an arm around my waist.
“Mia,” he said gently. “I am going to go back toEik, okay?”
“Yeah?” Tension spooled out of me. “Okay.”
He kissed my forehead. “Thank you for dinner. We will pick you up tomorrow for snorkeling, ja?”
“Ja—I mean, yes.”
Jonas chuckled and squeezed my shoulder. “Good night, Mia.”
“Night.”
Jonas climbed the stairs, and a few minutes later I heard the dinghy engine start up.
Twelve
When the crew ofEikcame by to pick me up, I was out in the cockpit, ready to go. The high clouds from last night had rolled away, leaving the sky painfully blue and clear. I wore a long-sleeve rash guard and bikini bottoms and I’d slathered on sunscreen and packed the bottle, too. If the snorkeling was as good as they said it was, we would be out there for hours.
“Good morning, everyone.”
With a chorus of good mornings, and a soft smile from Jonas, I dropped into the dinghy. He scooted closer to the outboard, trying to make room for me. I sat down and arranged my gear with everyone else’s, and we puttered off toward the pass. The tide was incoming, but not full throttle, so we slowly exited out of the pass and into the ocean. Jonas turned right, steering along the edge of the reef, and slowed.
