I slept until after the sun was up, for the first time in a month. It felt good to wake up in daylight. I made myself a coffee and took it outside. I stood on the veranda in my shorts, sipping from the chipped mug, looking out over the anchorage as I thought about what I might do today.
I didn’t see Vanessa in the shade of her veranda, so her voice startled me.
“Good morning, sleepyhead,” she teased. “Did Skipper decide to leave without you?”
“Yep. He’s taken the carrier boat back to Geraldton and won’t be back till Monday. At the last minute, he decided he only wanted the carrier boat crew and he didn’t need me after all. I don’t have any electrical jobs scheduled yet, because no one but you knows that I’m not in Geraldton. I get the whole weekend off,” I told her, as I stepped onto the path, squinting into the deep shade on her veranda.
She was sitting on a deck chair, wearing a tiny pair of blue shorts and a t-shirt that hugged every curve of her torso perfectly. A steaming mug was on the table beside her, a heavy book in her hands. As I approached, she closed the book and put it down on the table. I turned to read the title: Anderson’s Fairy Tales. A children’s book of short stories. I’d expected her to read something off the adults’ bestseller list, which all seemed to be about magic, myths and monsters. Not a book for children.
Grabbing her mug, she joined me on the path, interrupting my thoughts. “That makes two of us, then. The girls went back to Geraldton last night to do some shopping. They said not to expect them till Monday afternoon, but they promised to bring me back some ice cream.” She lifted her mug and clinked it against mine. “To a whole weekend off with ice cream at the end of it!” Her nose disappeared into the mug as she drained the contents.
I laughed. “I’ll drink to the weekend, but I’ll only drink to ice cream if you’ll share it with me.”
She didn’t even hesitate. “It’s a deal.”
I took a sip of my coffee and we both looked out over the anchorage in silence for a few seconds. The water was almost calm, a phenomenon I’d heard about but never seen.
“So, what are you planning to do with your weekend off?” she asked casually.
I wished I’d planned something thrilling so I could invite her to join me, but since Skipper had told me late last night that I wasn’t going to Geraldton all I’d done was sleep and dream of her. “I haven’t decided yet,” I hedged. “What did you plan to do?”
Her face lit up. “I wanted to go up to the reefs in the Wallabi Group and snorkel some of the dive trails. The girls were talking about some superb fishing spots up there, too.” She looked almost embarrassed. “But I can’t go up there by myself. I’ll need someone to go with me, to help me to handle the boat. Did you want to come?”
I hesitated, dying to spend the day with her but worrying about how I was going to manage that without putting my foot in my mouth or making her regret ever inviting me in the first place.
She mistook my hesitation for unwillingness. “I’ll do most of the work. All you’ll have to do is help me tie up and untie the boat, and watch the controls if I go to the toilet. You don’t have to go in the water, or bait up a line if you don’t want to. I’ll even cook you dinner, whatever we catch.” She clasped her mug to her chest, pausing to take a breath. “Please?”
My eyes had followed the mug and I was having difficulty pulling them away from the front of her t-shirt. I closed my eyes briefly, then lifted my head to focus on her face. She looked worried.
I smiled and was honest. “I’d love to. I haven’t snorkelled here before and I’ve heard it’s really good. I’ll even clean and fillet the fish, if you cook them.”
Her face lit up with a smile. She jumped, bouncing a little, then suddenly hugged me. Before I could respond in kind, she jumped back again. “You are a legend! This will be fun.” She took another step away from me, toward her house. “Let me know when you’re ready and we’ll go.” She turned and went inside the house.
I hurried back to my house, slurping the coffee as fast as I could. I barely felt it burning my tongue and the back of my throat.
I dug out my snorkelling stuff from the bottom of my bag. I grabbed some boardshorts and a couple of towels. I dumped the lot on the dining table, heading for the bathroom, and scanned the shelves for the sunscreen. It was next to an unopened box of condoms, which had been sitting there untouched since I arrived. I hesitated, then snatched both up and took them to the kitchen. You never know, I might get lucky.
I stuffed the mess on the table into my old backpack. I opened the box of condoms and shoved a few in my pocket. I stuck the rest in the backpack. The chances of any of them getting used were less than me winning lotto, but I figured the chances of me getting any action without them were pretty much zero. Sex tickets. You had to be in it to win it.
I went back to the bedroom to find a shirt. I had exactly one clean one. I put it on and bundled the remaining ones into the washing machine. I’d do a load of washing when I got back.
Slinging my backpack over one shoulder, I went outside for the fishing gear on the veranda. I grabbed the first packet of bait I saw in the outside freezer, picked up the tackle box and the rods and headed for Vanessa’s jetty.
I stowed the gear on the deck of her boat, which looked a lot neater and cleaner than Skipper’s.
Siren, it said on the side, in dark blue letters next to the boat number.
I strode down her jetty to her front door, knocking nervously. She opened it almost immediately, smiling.
“I’ll be right out,” she said, turning to snatch up a bottle of water before stepping outside, closing the door behind her. She carried nothing but the bottle.
She must have noticed me looking, because she smiled again, telling me, “All the rest of my gear is on board already.”
She led the way, almost skipping down the jetty. She climbed aboard effortlessly, like any of the other experienced guys, except that she didn’t look like one of the guys in those tiny shorts and snug t-shirt.
She glanced at the mess I’d left on her deck as I climbed onto the boat behind her.
“You can stash your dry stuff in the cabin below.” She pointed at the door to the main cabin. “Anything you don’t mind getting wet can stay out here on deck.”
“What about the bait?” I asked.
She kicked the icebox on deck. “In here.”
She opened the door to the cabin. I dropped the bait in the icebox and followed her in.
Shit, this is a nice boat. Inside the cabin, level with the deck, was a kitchen almost as big as the one back in my camp on Rat. Next to it was a table with plush bench seats around it.
“Put your stuff downstairs, in the sleeping quarters,” she told me, nodding her head toward the stairs. She leaned over to put her water bottle in the fridge.
I tore my eyes from her shorts to watch where I was going. The metal stairs were steep, but the accommodations were surprisingly comfortable. Tiered bunks to sleep twelve, full-length lockers with mirrors and soft carpet on the floor.
“The girls use the bunks at the far end, so dump your gear on any of the bunks closest to the stairs,” Vanessa called down.
I dropped my backpack on the nearest and ran back up the stairs, two at a time.
She smiled impishly. “Help me get the boat out of the anchorage and then you can help yourself to anything you like in the fridge. You can watch the satellite TV, if you like, or come up top with me.”
She said it like there was a choice.
Where else would I be, but up top with you?
Together, we cast off and she manoeuvred the boat into the anchorage channel. She said little, her expression tense and watchful until we were in the open water of Middle Channel, between the Easter Group and the Wallabis.
When the multicoloured water of the Easter Group had shifted to the solid blue of the channel, she breathed a sigh of relief and turned to me, a little hesitantly. “Could you go down to the kitchen and get me a Pepsi from the fridge? Please get a drink for yourself, too.”
“Sure,” I replied, climbing down the ladder to the deck. When I looked in the fridge, I saw diet soft drinks, beer and very little else to drink. Definitely a girl’s fridge. I pulled out her Pepsi and behind it was a carton of iced coffee. I hadn’t had an iced coffee since I landed on the islands. Brilliant. I shoved them into the pockets of my shorts and headed back up the ladder to Vanessa.
Up on the fly bridge, she bumped her can against my milk carton. “To a fun weekend off!” Her eyes shone, she was so transparently happy.
I returned her smile. “To a fun weekend off,” I echoed fervently, hoping she was right.