Page 58 of The Second Chance in the Mediterranean
She introduced me to some friends of hers, and then we moved on to another group and another. I resisted checking my watch, reminding myself that Roy was capable.
“Which boat is Alex’s?” I asked Natasha in a lull in conversation, stepping up to the rail and shielding my eyes from the sun. We were outside the harbor, looking at the island of Malta, which was several miles off. In the distance, I could see dozens of smaller sailboats, their multicolored spinnakers flying in the light breeze as they approached us.
“His spinnaker is the light blue one. With the Boyd Technologies logo, naturally.”
From this far away, I could tell which one was the light blue one, but the logo of Natasha’s company was too hard to make out. She handed me a pair of binoculars and I was able to see it better.
“How many people are on each boat?”
“Only two. Alex and his best friend, Daniel.”
I put the binoculars down and turned to Natasha. “How is he doing in the race?”
She couldn’t hide the pride in her voice, her eyes still staying trained on the sails. “It’s too soon to call anything, but so far they’re in the lead.”
“Lovely.” I glanced around the deck, at the food stations, which were still voluptuous, and the waitstaff darting back and forth with cocktails. “If everything is to your satisfaction up here, I will need to go back down to the galley.”
Natasha waved me off. “Yes, wonderful. Please do what you need to do.”
As I turned away, Seb caught my eye, standing watch from the starboard side ofThemis. He winked at me, and I hid my smile as I stepped back inside.
* * *
“Good evening.”The words in Italian startled me, and I nearly dropped the pastry bag I was washing. Andre stood at the corner of the room, a smile on his face. “One of your crew said I could come in.” We were back on the dock in Grand Harbour. It was late: the Boyds had already returned from dinner out and most of the crew had gone off to sleep early, preparing for a big day tomorrow.
I was alone in the galley, having sent Roy off to bed early. He would wake in the morning to prepare breakfast for the crew. Natasha and Justin were having brunch out with the owners ofPegasus,so while I was free from making breakfast, I was going to be spending the whole day preparing for the evening’s party. I had just wanted to test out the consistency for one of the cheese fillings for tomorrow before I went to bed. Natasha wanted more tartness in it, so I was sampling and testing with more lemons.
“Yes, of course. How was the day onPegasus? Good?”
“It was. We were out by one of the other turns, but I could seeThemisfrom my window. Could you see us?”
I grimaced. “Too busy to notice, unfortunately.”
“Ah. Well, we had fewer people onPegasus. The Kozlovas don’t enjoy strangers on their boat. Besides, everyone wants to be on the magicalThemis.”
“I think they kept the number pretty low,” I said. “Exclusivity and whatnot.”
Andre moved to lean his hip against the counter next to me. He crossed his arms and smiled.
I dunked the pastry bag under the water again. “Did you need something?”
“I had a few last-minute suggestions for tomorrow’s menu, if you are interested.”
I raised an eyebrow. This wasmygalley,mybig event. Which started tomorrow. What exactly was he trying to change? “Oh? Natasha has personally approved and tasted a lot of the menu items; I doubt there’s going to be much that I’m willing to change.”
Andre spread his hands out in front of him. “Humor me, please. I’d like to get your opinion on some of the ideas I have had.”
I glanced at the clock. My alarm would go off in six hours to wake me up.
“All right, but let’s make it quick.”
“All work and no play onThemis,huh?” Andre called over his shoulder as he retreated to the crew lounge and pulled out some papers. I finished drying the pastry bag and prayed that he would be quick.
I wanted to stay standing and try to keep this short, but I was too tired on my feet. I slid into the booth next to Andre and looked over the notes. “Natasha doesn’t like nasturtium,” I mumbled, and crossed out the plating suggestion. Some of the ideas were ones I’d already run past Natasha but she had vetoed them. The rest just wouldn’t work.
I didn’t mean to be harsh, but I was tired and not even close to being done. “Andre, these won’t work.” I tossed the papers down and started to stand up. Instead Andre’s hand gripped my shoulder, pulling me back down and a little closer to him.
“Now, hold on, Marcella. These ideas are good. If your boss wasn’t so uptight, these would be perfect for the event.”
