Page 44 of Below the Deck

Rory held his hands up. ‘Ah, yes. That’s my fault, I’m afraid.’

Eleni took a sip of orange juice. ‘Oh? Why – what’s happened?’

‘The Wi-Fi still isn’t fixed, and I need to get to my emails with some urgency today to pick up on this opportunity with Rosenberg.’ Rory sipped his coffee. ‘I’ve been using my data to get online, but it’s slow – and costing me an arm and a leg. Once we’re sailing, I won’t even be able to accessthat. So I told the captain early this morning that under no circumstances are we leaving without it being fixed.’ He winked at Eleni. ‘It may have helped that I threatened her crew with no tip if it’s not sorted. Ha!’

In the chair next to her, Eleni noticed Lucy’s fist clench, then release again. She tried to catch her eye, but Lucy was staring at the table, unblinking.

‘I see,’ said Eleni. ‘And is it going to get sorted soon?’ She glanced at Talia, who was staring resolutely into her coffee cup. ‘Sorry, Rory, but it’s our last full day. It seems a shame to miss out on our time in Raiatea – we should be making the most of every minute now, all of us …’And being stuck here on a stationary yacht with the atmosphere so tense isn’t going to get us together the way I need …

‘That’s what I said,’ agreed Mark. He looked sullen this morning, arms folded across his chest, his chair turned away from Lucy’s. ‘Whatever it is, it can’t be that urgent.’

‘Yes, yes, you’re both quite right, of course,’ Rory said. ‘The captain wasn’t best pleased either – apparently there’s a spot of rough weather along the way. If we don’t leave soon, there’s a bigger chance we’ll run into it. But I’m sure it’ll be working again any minute – we should miss the rough seas and still have plenty of time at our final stop.’

Eleni stifled an eye-roll. Theywouldn’tget plenty of time in Raiatea – it was a four-hour sail to get there. They wouldn’t even drop anchor until mid-afternoon, at the earliest. And rough sailing conditions didnotsound appealing.So we’re now going to miss most of the day there and probably hit a storm – all because of bloody Rory.

In one swift movement, Talia shoved her chair back and stood up, picked up her phone from the table and stalked through the doors into the salon. Eleni watched her go.

‘What’s wrong with Talia?’ asked Sam.

Rory stared at Sam darkly across the table for a moment, then returned to his newspaper. ‘She’s quite all right, I can assure you.’

‘She didn’t look all right,’ Sam muttered.

Sam and Rory are still at odds this morning, then. The whole group is cracking at the seams …

Michaela returned with Eleni’s breakfast. Eleni took a mouthful, then cleared her throat. ‘Rory, why don’t you go and check on her? It all got a bit … tense last night, didn’t it? Maybe she could do with some cheering up?’

Rory frowned and shook the pages of his newspaper. ‘Goodness, no. I expect she’s enjoying some time alone.’

Eleni lowered her voice and leaned towards her boss. ‘And you’re sure everything’s … all right between you two?’

Rory put the paper down and looked at Eleni. ‘Of course. When you’ve been together for as long as Talia and I have, disagreements are simply part of the package – throw menopause into the mix and – well! But that doesn’t mean we don’t still …’

Abruptly, Lucy pushed back her chair with a screech,interrupting Rory’s monologue; Eleni managed to disguise her snort of laughter at Lucy’s rudeness as a spluttering cough. ‘I think I’ll take the rest of my coffee up to the sun deck,’ said Lucy. ‘Mark, would you like to come too?’

Mark shrugged. ‘Fine,’ he said. ‘Let’s go.’

Eleni picked up her plate and coffee and moved to Talia’s empty seat, next to Rory. She turned to him and placed a hand on his wrist. ‘I’m sure Talia’s fine – like you say.’ From further down the table, she could feel Sam’s eyes on her; she lowered her voice. ‘I do wonder, though – have you ever thought that she might be—’

‘The Wi-Fi’s back up and running,’ called Captain Taylor. ‘Brett tried a harder system reboot, and it worked. No need to wait for an engineer.’ Eleni turned to see her at the bottom of the stairs that led down from the upper deck. ‘Now, I’ll make our final preparations for casting off and we’ll be on our way in the next few minutes.’

Rory erupted into enthusiastic cheers; Sam immediately got his phone out of his pocket and starting scrolling. Eleni was glad they were setting sail soon – they might get a few hours on Raiatea before it got dark – but she still had more to say to Rory, and their moment had been interrupted yet again.

Rory plucked his laptop out from underneath his newspaper. ‘Just what I’ve been waiting for,’ he said, brandishing the computer like a trophy. ‘I’m off to work on that proposal.’ He got to his feet.

Eleni’s heart leapt; she sprang out of her chair. ‘Oh, are you going down to your cabin? I was about to head back too – I’ll come with you …’

‘Eleni, were you listening to a word I said earlier?’ Roryrolled his eyes playfully. ‘Come on, keep up. Talia enjoys some time by herself, and I’ll work much better without my wife in the same room. I’m off to the sky lounge upstairs – and I’d appreciate not being disturbed, please.’ He glanced at Sam, who glared back at him, then headed up the spiral staircase.

Eleni stepped away from the bow, made her way to the stern of the boat and stared out into the vast, endless ocean. Rory was gone; she’d missed yet another chance, and the yacht would be moving soon.

By tomorrow, it would all be over – one way or another.

Eleni clasped her palms together and breathed deeply.This is it.One last day.

Her final chance to do what she came for.

LUCY