Page 8 of The Sailor in Polynesia
Lila laughed and led me by the elbow. Jonas’s brother Eivind, broader, but with the same light hair and blue eyes, sat at the main salon table rolling meat and cheese and stabbing them with skewers. Lila took the plate of cheese and crackers from me. “Eivind, this is Mia. I think you can stop rolling nibbles now.”
Lila’s boyfriend tossed the skewer aside and collapsed back. “Thank God.” He smiled and leaned forward to offer me a cheek. We kissed on both sides and Lila spun me around.
“Marcella,” she called out. “Here is your sugar fairy godmother.” Marcella oversaw two pots in the kitchen, a wooden spoon in one hand and a potholder in the other. Her hair was dark and long, spilling over her shoulders and accenting her olive complexion.
“Benvenuto,”she said, and we kissed cheeks too.
“I’m lucky to have her,” Lila stage-whispered. “You should see what the boys cook when they give Marcella a night off.” Lila shuddered dramatically.
Marcella rolled her eyes. “Those boys. I’m a professional chef,” she explained. “And thank you for the sugar.” Marcella’s accent was light and sultry. She was a little bit older than the rest of the crowd, more in my age group than the others’.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do when you’re gone,” Lila moaned.
Marcella grinned and patted her head. “You’ll be my little sous chef until then; I will teach you not to starve.”
Lila focused her attention back on me. “Elayna is the last of our group—I think she’s back in her room still. Oh, we have a special treat for you.” She turned us both until we found Jonas standing in the corner. His eyes immediately snapped to mine and he shifted uncomfortably.
“Jonas, offer her the drink.” She elbowed him and gave me a wink.
Jonas licked his lips and ran a hand through his hair. It was loose now, the blond strands grazing his shoulders. “I, ah... I got you something. While I was onshore.”
He pulled open a drawer in the galley once Marcella was out of the way, and reached in and pulled out a husked coconut, the pale fibers roughly cut. Jonas blushed and held it out to me.
My heart melted a little bit. “Aw, that’s so sweet. They’re my favorite.”
“Ja,” he mumbled.
Lila stifled a giggle behind her hand.
Marcella peeked over Jonas’s shoulder. “Take that outside and open it for her.” She passed Jonas a chef’s knife. “Careful!” she called out to him as he climbed up the stairs. She craned her neck and caught sight of the sky. “Actually, all of you outside; it’s almost sunset time.”
“Sunset time, Elayna!” Lila yelled toward the front of the boat.
We gathered up drinks and platters and napkins and trooped upstairs.Eik’s cockpit was spacious, so much bigger than mine, and filled with stuffed pillows and cushions. I took a seat in the aft corner, out from under the Bimini so I could see the sky. Instead of raising the table in the middle, Lila climbed up behind me, where the back ofEikwas flat and wide-open. Eivind tossed her some pillows and a beach blanket, and she made a nest on the deck.
“This is where we lie to stargaze,” she told me. The platters of snacks went between us, and Lila and Eivind lay down on their stomachs.
Elayna appeared at the top of the stairs. She was willowy, with dishwater-blond hair and a bohemian style that Frenchwomen always pulled off so effortlessly.
She offered me her hand and a brittle smile, her eyes taking my measure.
“So, you are the sailor girl we hear so much about from Jonas.” She had a thick French accent and the way she said Jonas’s name was much smoother than my American tongue could handle.
“Yes, Mia. Nice to meet you.”
Marcella came up the stairs with a drink in one hand and a reusable straw in the other. Jonas returned from the stern and wordlessly offered me the coconut. He’d skillfully cut a square out of the top. Marcella dunked the straw in, and I gripped the coconut with both hands. Looking up, I caught Jonas’s eye. “Thanks for the coconut. That was thoughtful of you.”
He ducked his head and sat in the corner across from me. Marcella sat beside me, kicking her feet up on the center console, while Elayna sat next to Jonas, tucking her feet delicately underneath her and resting her elbow on the back of the bench. She gave a melodramatic sigh and touched Jonas’s cheek lightly with her fingers. “You are being so shy.”
Jonas blushed and swatted her away.
“Your boat is gorgeous,” I offered.
He brightened immediately. “Thank you.”
“How long have you had her?”
“I bought her in England, about a year and a half ago. She was built only two years ago, and had just one owner, who never took her out.”
