Smooth Sailing

by Susan X Meagher

  “I couldn’t have been more wrong. I assumed you were goofing off all day. Playing a video game or something.”

  Laurie laughed. “I’ve never played a video game. I’ve never had time.”

  “Now you do. We’ll find some teenager to teach you how to while away the hours, accomplishing nothing.”

  “Not a good idea. I’d be obsessed with the game and work like a lunatic to master it. That wouldn’t be a bit of fun.”

  Kaatje turned quickly and planted her hands against the wall, trapping Laurie between them. She pressed their bodies together, then kissed her. “We’ve got to find something for you to do—besides make love. Thank God you haven’t tried to be competitive with that.”

  Laurie put her hands on Kaatje’s waist, then let them ride up a few inches to tickle her. Kaatje dropped her hands to protect herself, and started to back down the narrow hallway. “I’m keeping track of how many orgasms we each have,” Laurie called out. “I’m winning!”

  *

  The next morning had them making and enjoying another leisurely breakfast. Laurie started to look about for something to do when Kaatje’s phone rang. Laurie heard her engage in a long conversation about sailing. To her surprise, Kaatje told the caller that she couldn’t accommodate him that day, but that she’d be glad to take him the next. When she hung up, Laurie was staring at her. “Why’d you refuse a client?”

  Kaatje shrugged her shoulders in a gesture that either meant, “I’m not sure,” or “I don’t want to tell you.” Either definition was irritating on the best of days, but when she was antsy, the gesture was particularly irksome.

  “Kaatje,” she said, trying with all of her might not to betray her anger, “Come on. Tell me why you refused.”

  Kaatje stuck her arms in the air and yawned loudly. Then she moved her shoulders around for a moment or two. “I could tell they’d be pains in the butt.”

  “How does that enter into the equation? You can’t only work with people you like.”

  That sly smirk was back in force. “Yes, I can. I’ve done pretty well avoiding difficult people, and I’m not going to change my style…now.”

  She meant “for you.” It was clear as day she was drawing a line in the sand and declaring that she was still the captain. Fine. It was Kaatje’s boat and her business. She paid for everything and took all of the risk. It wasn’t fair to expect her to share the decisions when she bore the hazards. But there was still a strong temptation to grab something heavy and bean her with it. “I don’t mean to second guess you. I’m just trying to understand.”

  Kaatje leaned back in the chair and nodded. “Okay. Here’s how I think. This guy had four and a half hours. He wanted a four-hour sail. That alone is dangerous, but I could live with that. I told him it was raining, and he said he promised his wife they’d go sailing and this was their last day. Another red flag.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he’s doing it for her, not because he wants to. He’s waited until the last minute, and he’s dragging the poor woman out in the rain. Sounds like a jerk.”

  “Well, he’s trying to honor a promise.”

  Kaatje rolled her eyes and continued, “He had a dismissive attitude. Like he knew more about sailing in the rain than I did.”

  “Are you saying he insulted you?” Kaatje wouldn’t have taken the Queen of The Netherlands sailing if she’d wounded her pride.

  “No, I wasn’t insulted. But when people act like that, they’re usually hard to please. I didn’t want to spend the day sailing in a chilly rain and then have him try to weasel out of paying.”

  Laurie didn’t have a response. It was ridiculous to refuse a client because of a guess about his attitude. Maybe the guy was a jerk, but it seemed equally likely that he was really trying to make his wife happy. Maybe the wife insisted that she wanted to go in the rain. But it was clear Kaatje wasn’t going to change her mind, as she was now lying down, fully immersed in her book.

  *

  Kaatje tried her best to focus, but she couldn’t get more than a sentence read before she lost her concentration. It didn’t help that Laurie was banging around, looking for something to do, but that wasn’t the problem. Maybe she was being unreasonable. It was nice to cherry pick customers, but things had been slow. Six hundred bucks wasn’t going to make them sink or swim, but it added up. Maybe Laurie had a point about not judging clients before you met them.

  Still, there was something galling about having to let any pushy guy on The Flying Dutchwoman. Laurie still seemed to think of her as a business, but she was also home. And no one wanted an unpleasant person in her home for the better part of the day.

  Laurie pulled out her laptop and started powering it up. She looked bored and cranky, and Kaatje couldn’t stand seeing her that way when she could easily fix it. She got up and went over to her, and began caressing the back of her neck. “Want to go to the movies?”

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  “Want me to admit I was wrong in telling that guy he couldn’t sail today?”

  Laurie turned and looked at her suspiciously for a few seconds. “I don’t want you to do things just because I think you should. I only want you to… be a little more open-minded about your clients. It’s very easy to misjudge someone based on a two-minute phone call.”

  “You’re probably right. I’ll call him back and see if he’s still interested.”

  She hit the “recent calls” button and dialed the number while Laurie slid a hand up her shorts and tickled along the edge of her panties. Being flexible might be a good idea for many reasons.

  *

  Five hours later Kaatje stood nose to nose with Frank, while his wife, Margaret sat at the table in the cockpit, with Laurie trying to offer some sympathy. Margaret was crying, and from the looks of things, she had plenty to cry about. Kaatje and Frank were both drenched, rain running down the hoods of their slickers, and pelting their bare legs. “I’m not paying because I didn’t get to sail!” he bellowed.

  “I can’t guarantee wind, and I told you clearly that the wind tends to die in this kind of rain.”

  “A good sailor would have known where to go to find what wind was available.”

  “We went to where the wind might have been, if there had been any. But there wasn’t a whiff.”

  “If that was such a good place why weren’t there any other boats out there?”

  “Because it’s raining,” she shouted, cranking her voice up to a level Laurie had never heard. “There’s not another boat out today. I only took you because you were so insistent.”

  “That’s stupid! You can’t let the customer make that decision. You’re the one who’s supposed to know the conditions, not me.”

  “Get off my boat,” Kaatje said, her voice low and rough. She stood there for a moment, with Laurie silently pleading for her to not send Frank over the lifelines. Then her head moved quickly to the left and she whistled, using a couple of fingers in her mouth, something Laurie didn’t know she could do. A dinghy turned and headed for The Flying Dutchman. When it got alongside, Kaatje said, “Jimmy, will you take these people to shore?”

  “Sure. What’s wrong with your dinghy?”

  “Nothing.” She turned and went into the cabin, shutting the sliding door behind her.

  *

  Laurie was afraid to go into the cabin, but it couldn’t be avoided. She’d gotten involved in something she thought she knew, but obviously did not. Sliding the door open, she spied Kaatje lying on the cushion by the table, reading a book. She looked perfectly calm, and when the door opened, she looked at Laurie and gave her a half smile. “I’m not kidding when I say this, so listen closely.”

  Laurie walked over to her, ready to be chewed out.

  “He was a three on a scale of ten.” Then she chuckled and went back to reading, not mentioning the topic again.

  *

  By the fourth consecutive day of rain, Laurie was ready to go into town and help the woman who often sat in
a plastic chair on the side of the road, selling a few bananas she’d obviously picked from the plants in her yard. Anything to stay busy. She’d cleaned the galley until it shone, the bathrooms were sparkling and their cabin had been organized as neatly as a hospital operating room. And it was still only ten thirty. Kaatje looked up from her reading, “I can’t afford to buy a bigger boat for you to clean.”

  “I didn’t ask for one.” Laurie sat on the edge of the banquette and lavished some attention on Kaatje’s hair.

  “I keep thinking I should get up and help you, but then I reason that’ll make you finish faster, and that’s the last thing you want.”

  Pulling on a strand of hair, Laurie said, “It seems like you might be making fun of me.”

  “Not at all. I’m honestly worried that you’re this bored after a couple of days of rain. You’re gonna have to find a hobby.”

  “How about making me in charge of the hull? I talked to the owner of Viking Wing the other day and he said he cleans his hull every week.”

  Kaatje twisted her head until she could see Laurie’s eyes. “What do you know about cleaning hulls?”

  “Nothing. But if there’s a book about it I could learn it.”

  “How would you stay underwater to get to the bottom? Can you hold your breath long enough to make any progress?”

  “I’m not sure,” she said, tentatively. “Is it hard?”

  “Do you know how to avoid touching a live wire?”

  She gulped. “That’d be in the book. I’m sure that’d be in the book.”

  Kaatje pushed herself into a sitting position, grasped Laurie by the shoulders and pulled her close. She spoke into her ear. “Are you unhappy, Moppie?”

  “Hey, I meant to tell you that I looked the word up and it means ‘mop’!”

  “It’s a common pet name. An endearment. But maybe I was thinking of you swabbing the decks…which I’m sure will be next.”

  Laurie put her arm around Kaatje’s shoulders and hugged her tightly. “I’m not unhappy. How could I be? I’m in love with a fantastic woman, I know what my sexual orientation is, I live in a tropical paradise, and I don’t have to work fifteen hours a day. You’d be insane to be unhappy.”

  Quietly, with a playful spirit, Kaatje said, “Maybe you’re insane.”

  “No, I’m not. I just need to be busier. I need something to do. Something that’s mine.” She sat up straighter. “How about accounting? I’m really good at that.”

  Looking away, Kaatje made a few noises and scratched her head.

  “How do you do your accounting now?”

  “I throw everything into a big envelope and give it to my accountant once a year.” She grinned, eyes twinkling. “That’s the best way, right?”

  “How do you do projections?”

  “Projections are…?”

  “One of the tools you should use to plan. You have to be able to anticipate your income to make sure you have the money to pay your expenses. Not to mention unexpected repairs or replacement costs. How do you do that?”

  “Uhm…I see how much money I have left at the end of the season after I’ve contracted for my boat repairs. Then I put some of that in savings and spend the rest in The Netherlands.” She shrugged, looking completely unconcerned. “It’s worked fine.”

  “But that’s…pure happenstance! I could set you up with a system that would allow you to budget for major expenses and keep track of everything routine. Wouldn’t you feel better having more financial information?”

  “To be honest…no. I try to be thrifty all year ’round. I might not know where every dollar is, but I know I’m always going to look for a bargain. That’s all I can do.”

  “But what if you don’t have enough money to do critical repairs?”

  “Then I’d sell the boat and work for someone else. I don’t like to worry about things like that. They’re out of my control.”

  “No they’re not,” Laurie insisted. “Not if you carefully budget for everything.”

  Kaatje slapped her leg and got up. “I know you’re trying to help, but I want to handle my money my way for now. Let’s talk about it in a few months. Maybe I’ll be more reasonable.” She walked over to where she’d stowed her laptop and carried it back. “Here’s something we can do. I want to start sending out e-mails to everyone who has sailed with me, reminding them of what a good time they had.” She grinned adorably. “Can you help me put something together?”

  “Sure. Let’s find some pictures of the boat and some of your spectacular sunsets. We’ll embed those to make it pretty.”

  “Hey, you do know what you’re doing.”

  “I sure do. You can go read if you want to.” She batted her eyes playfully. “I don’t work well with others.”

  *

  The weather cleared the next day and they had an excellent week of sailing. A full boat, good passengers and light breezes. The weather was fantastic and Kaatje said she’d never had a week as nice. That’s why it puzzled Laurie all the more that she was still at loose ends. She was busy, interacting with the clients, taking a turn at the wheel, serving lunch, cleaning up, and going snorkeling. She was ridiculously fond of Kaatje, finding herself charmed by everything from her smile to the way she hugged her pillow when she slept. There wasn’t a valid reason not to be blissful, but blissful she was not.

  They’d invited the Hoogebooms for another sunset sail, and as they got ready Kaatje said, “I’ve never had my parents out more than once in a year. You’re a good influence on me.”

  “Why’ve you not had them more often? They seem to really appreciate it.”

  “Yeah,” she said pensively. “I guess I assumed my dad would pick on me about something or other. But he doesn’t do that when you’re here. They both treat me more like an adult.”

  “I’m glad. You are an adult.” She went to her and slipped her arms around Kaatje’s waist. “A beautiful adult.” They started to kiss but Kaatje’s phone went off, signaling their guests were at the dock.

  Kaatje grabbed a handful of Laurie’s butt and pinched it. “We’ll be naked adults the second they leave.”

  The Hoogebooms were precisely on time and they sailed off into the sunset just as planned. Kaatje had a half glass of wine, but everyone else drank more freely.

  Antonia asked, “How is it going being away from your big corporate family, Laurie?”

  Kaatje answered for her. “It’s hard for her. She’s used to being ridiculously busy and being on the boat is starting to drive her a little nuts.”

  Feigning outrage, Laurie said, “It’s not making me nuts. It’s just an adjustment.”

  “Of course it is. I’ve worked with people who’ve had to move here for business, and leaving their country is probably similar to what you’ve done,” Antonia said.

  “I haven’t even thought about leaving my home,” Laurie admitted. “I wasn’t very connected to LA, and Cincinnati hasn’t been home for a very long time.”

  “It sounds as though your company was a substitute for your home.”

  “I don’t think that’s true. Being at Luxor was like being on a football team that wins the Super Bowl. Hundreds of people work together, everyone from ticket sellers to people who do publicity. And when you win, it feels like the whole group has accomplished something. But when the season’s over you move on. You have to start all over again to accomplish the next goal.”

  “I don’t follow American football, but when people are on a team that has worked together well, I know they often stay close their whole lives. You must miss them.”

  Mentally cursing herself for allowing tears to come to her eyes, Laurie nodded. “I…I miss the camaraderie. I had a lot of friends, and some people I spent every day with for years. But more than that, I miss having something I have to get done. I’ve always been self-motivated, and there just isn’t enough here for me to be responsible for.”

  “I had to grab her by the shorts to stop her from scraping the hull during a storm,” Kaat
je said dryly.

  “That’s an unpleasant job, and possibly dangerous, especially if you have to check the sacrificial anodes. Besides, you use ablative paint, don’t you, Kaatje?”

  “I won’t let her do it alone, Dad. Don’t worry about it.”

  Laurie exchanged looks with Antonia. “I guess it’s best. I have no idea what they’re talking about.”

  “If you’re not going to start cleaning hulls, what will you do to stay busy?” Antonia asked.

  “I don’t have a clue. I suppose I’ll just try to acclimate. I keep reminding myself that only a fool would look for things to do when she’s surrounded by such perfection.”

  “You’re my fool,” Kaatje said, her look conveying her love.

  Antonia said quietly, “Give it time, but don’t ignore your feelings. This is a massive adjustment, Laurie. It will take a long while to feel like you belong here. It’s a new way of life, a new country, a new partner. That’s a huge amount of change.”

  “Then she has to get used to Amsterdam, where we should head pretty soon,” Kaatje said. “The tourists are drying up faster than ever this year. I’ve heard of five or six guys who’re going to pack up and move to another island.”

  “You have enough savings to weather the slowdown, don’t you?” Theo asked. “I know you can’t take on any more debt.”

  Kaatje answered, surprisingly, in Dutch. Laurie had no idea what she said, but Theo responded sharply. They went back and forth a few times until Antonia moved over near Kaatje and stroked her back while father and daughter glared at each other. Kaatje had very few faults, but getting angry when someone told her what to do would always be one of them.

  *

  After they got into bed that night, Kaatje rolled onto her side and lay there, not showing any sign of being awake. But Laurie knew she was still upset and didn’t want to talk about it. She considered letting it slide, but eventually couldn’t resist. “Are you mad at me and your dad or just your dad?”