Page 38 of The Sailor in Polynesia
I ended the call and set the phone on the table. Jonas crouched next to me.
“Is everything okay back at home with your family?”
“My grandma died.”
Jonas took my hand in his. “Ah, Mia. I am so sorry.”
I blinked. “It’s... Well, it’s okay. I’m okay. She was old.”
“How old was she?”
“Let’s see... ninety-four? I think that’s right. She’s had dementia for a while, and last time I visited, she didn’t know who I was. Who any of us were, actually. She thought Doug was my dad.” My eyes filled. I was so lucky to have been able to spend time with her while she was alive, but time was the one thing we couldn’t buy, and now I’d lost any chance of seeing her again.
“Come sit.”
Gently, Jonas tugged me out from behind the desk and led me to the love seat on the port side. He sat and pulled me next to him, holding me close to his side. I was stunned, bombarded by my emotions as tears slid down my cheeks. Jonas held me carefully until I could talk again.
“Crackers,” I began. “That’s my grandma—she was pretty healthy physically until a couple of months ago. And I guess I hadn’t had an update in a while, so I thought that things were a bit better.”
Jonas rubbed circles on my back, kneading the muscles and comforting me at the same time. “Why do you call her Crackers?”
“Oh God.” I laughed through my clogged throat. “She was always a pretty thrifty lady, like most people who grew up post–Great Depression. She always had crackers in her purse that she’d stolen from the local diner, and my nephew Seanlovedthose crackers. Whenever he saw her, he’d ask for crackers right away and the name stuck.”
As I talked more about my grandmother, I leaned into Jonas more. He was so warm and comfortable, and at a time when I felt so far away from everyone I loved, I needed something to ground me. He listened patiently, grabbed tissues for me when I needed to blow my nose, and when I was all tired out, he made me a cup of tea. My satellite device had pinged a few times, so I had Jonas turn it off for me. The pull to my family was calling, but a few choppy phone calls or text messages weren’t as comforting as Jonas.
The sky throughWelina’s portholes had darkened with the approaching evening. I sipped my tea and finished telling Jonas about the birthday party my grandmother had thrown for me when I was twenty-five.
“Crackers kept telling everyone who would listen—waitstaff, other patrons, my friends—that she was so proud of her ‘working girl.’ Of course, James teased me about it mercilessly. And my dad too.” I laughed and tilted my head back against the seat.
“Your family sounds so close. And...”
“Big?”
He smiled at me. “I was going to say rowdy.”
“That too.”
Jonas played with his own mug, flipping the tea tag around. “Will you go back home? To be with your family?”
“Yeah, probably. I can’t afford it, but my parents will insist on me flying back and them paying. It’s hard to get the whole family together at the same time, and I haven’t seen some of my siblings in a while. And it’s summer, so it’ll be easier since the kids aren’t in school.”
I tilted my head to look at Jonas, and I saw the sadness in his eyes. If I was flying back home, it was likely we would be parting for good soon. I didn’t know what any of my options were yet, but I doubted that the next few weeks would be easy.
Jonas brought his hand up to my cheek and stroked softly with his thumb. Suddenly I wasn’t thinking about how difficult it could be. Instead I wondered if Jonas would stay with me tonight. The idea of being alone seemed awful.
My eyes flicked down to his lips and then back up. His eyes changed, the softness and concern in them growing to something different, something bigger.
But that something scared me and made me pull back. It wasn’t right to use Jonas like that for comfort; it was too risky for both of us.
Jonas saw something in my eyes and flicked his gaze away. I rolled my head to his shoulder and sighed. “Thank you for taking care of me.”
He turned back and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Anytime.”
By unspoken agreement we stood up and with one last hug, Jonas went home.
Fourteen
That night I checked my emails and had one from nearly each of my siblings and one from my mom. Doug had emailed me more details: Crackers had slipped away peacefully in the night, with no suffering, which gave me more comfort.
