Lost at Sea

by A. E. Radley

  Guaranteeing herself some extra time with the woman had been essential. Mara’s advice continued to ring in her ears, reminding her to enjoy life and have fun whenever the opportunity arose.

  Serena was the very essence of someone who appeared to enjoy life. She’d encouraged Caroline to eat chocolate cake before dragging her around the hills of La Spezia in search of the best vantage point.

  Caroline had often been referred to as stuffy and unimaginative—not things she appreciated being called, but descriptors that she could agree were woefully accurate. Serena seemed to pull her out of that, suggesting things that Caroline wouldn’t have thought of.

  Simple things, fun things. Like attempting to count the fishing boats in the marina, a seemingly pointless or even impossible task. But with Serena attempting to cover her eyes as she counted and loudly calling out random numbers to put her off, she’d descended into fits of giggles in a way she couldn’t recall ever doing before.

  A smile tugged at her lips. It was a silly, ridiculous way to spend an afternoon, and it seemed like that was exactly what she needed.

  The Perfect Amount

  Annie picked up the high heels and looked at the strappy buckle. She frowned and held it up to the light.

  “Damn,” she mumbled.

  She called Elvin.

  In the few days she’d been on board, she’d changed from being an independent woman to calling her stateroom attendant at the drop of a hat. Elvin was fast becoming her best friend. He was sweet, funny, always smiling, and eager to help. And Annie needed help.

  “Yes, Miss Serena?”

  “Elvin, do you know how I could get a pair of shoes fixed on the ship? One of the buckles is broken.”

  “I will come and have a look, one moment.”

  She hung up the phone and put the broken shoe on the desk for when he arrived. She looked at her reflection and grimaced. Her hair was all over the place. The wind and the sea air had caused it to curl more than usual, and she didn’t have time for the ninety-minute long production of washing and styling it.

  Hopefully, she would do as is.

  Elvin knocked on the door, and Annie opened it with a pout. “My shoe’s broken.” She held it out for him to look at.

  “We can fix this. You want it for tonight?” he asked.

  She hadn’t thought it was possible to fix so quickly and had been planning to use one of Serena’s instead. But the shoe was perfect for her outfit, and it fit her properly, unlike Serena’s too-tight heels.

  “Um, if that would be possible?”

  “Sure.” Elvin grinned. “I’ll be back soon.”

  She didn’t get a chance to say anything else; he was already hurrying off. She chuckled and closed the door, wondering what on earth she had done in the dark days before Elvin.

  She returned to the mirror, smoothing out her dress. It was floor-length and tight. Very tight. It left nothing to the imagination. Annie bit her lip. It was classy but definitely a little risqué.

  She’d noticed Caroline’s lingering looks and hoped that she’d appreciate the dress.

  The familiar sinking feeling started in her stomach. It was guilt, pure and simple. She hated lying to Caroline but couldn’t pull herself away from the incredible woman. In fact, she’d given up trying.

  She’d made a deal with herself: she could spend time with Caroline as long as she didn’t speak about Serena. That way the lies were kept to a minimum. As long as they stuck to light and breezy topics, with no specifics, she wouldn’t be lying too much. They were just enjoying each other’s company and having fun.

  It didn’t sit well with her, but it was the best she could do. Coming out and telling Caroline everything was just too risky. Caroline would be duty-bound to chuck Annie off Fortuna and essentially send her to her death.

  Diego no doubt had private investigators searching for her. Any sniff of her appearing on a news report somewhere, and they’d descend on her like a pack of hyenas.

  She walked into the bathroom and fussed with her hair. Serena obviously didn’t have the same hair type as Annie and had none of the smoothing products that Annie relied on. She decided she’d have to embrace the wild look and apply a darker, heavier make-up palette to accompany her new style.

  There was a knock on the door. She walked through the bathroom and reached her hand out to open the door. “Come in, Elvin,” she said.

  She walked back into the bathroom, needing to finishing applying her lipstick or she’d be late. “I hate to be a bother, but could you have a look at the balcony door again? It keeps sticking, maybe I’m breaking it. But if you fix it again then I promise to do my very best not to break it ever again.”

  She heard Elvin walk across the stateroom floor and then the sounds of the handle of the balcony door being raised and lowered. She really didn’t know why she struggled with the sliding door. It wasn’t complicated, but it was heavy, and it did close with a sort of air-tight seal.

  She finished applying her lipstick and entered the stateroom to again apologise to Elvin for being such a pain. How he put up with her was a mystery; his tip was growing every day.

  Except Elvin wasn’t in the room. Caroline was. And she was attempting to fix the balcony door.

  “Oh, it was you!” Annie exclaimed. “I didn’t mean for you to do that.”

  “It’s not a problem,” Caroline said. She turned around to say something else but stopped dead in her tracks. Her mouth fell open as she looked at Annie for the first time since entering the room.

  Annie didn’t say anything. She just stood there and allowed Caroline’s eyes to rake over her.

  “Hi,” she said, offering a little wave.

  That shook Caroline out of her stupor. She coughed, looked away, and then straightened the sleeves of her jacket.

  “The door lock was on,” she mumbled. “I unlocked it. It should be fine now.”

  There was a knock on the door, and Annie turned around to open it. “Hey, Elvin,” she greeted him.

  He handed her the shoe, which looked as good as new, beaming with pride as he did.

  “That’s fantastic! How did you do that?” She realised her accent was slipping but no one seemed to notice. It was probably a good thing as she was finding it impossible to remember.

  “I have a friend in maintenance,” Elvin said.

  “Better not let the captain hear that you’re having maintenance professionals fix my shoes,” Annie said with a nod to the woman standing behind her.

  Elvin’s eyes widened in shock. “Oh, I… sorry… I didn’t know—”

  “It’s fine,” Annie reassured him. “Thank you so much for your help.”

  Elvin took the opportunity to rush away. Annie picked up the other shoe and sat on the sofa, putting them on and buckling them up. Caroline stood and waited patiently.

  Annie stood up. “Will I do?”

  Despite Caroline’s deliberate appraisal of her, she still felt that she didn’t deserve to be in the woman’s presence. How she had managed another invite to dine with her, without the help of someone like Graham Shelby, was beyond her.

  Caroline’s eyes widened. “Will you do? You look magnificent.”

  “Not too much?” Annie asked.

  “The perfect amount,” Caroline reassured. She gestured towards the door. “Shall we?”

  Fuck the Door

  Caroline allowed Serena to lead the way down the hall towards the elevator lobby. The corridor was spacious, but the housekeeping trolleys and other passengers meant that single file was advised.

  Not that Caroline minded. It meant that she could follow Serena and enjoy the looks the other passengers gave her. Caroline felt divinely invisible for once; eyes were definitely focused on the beauty walking ahead of her rather than on the captain of the vessel.

  They entered the elevator lobby, and Caroline pushed the call button.

  “Thank you for fixing my door,” Serena said.

  “All part of the service,” Caroline replied.
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  “My sofa squeaks,” Serena observed, staring up at the floor numbers of one of the six elevator shafts.

  Caroline hesitated. She didn’t know if Serena was flirting or not. Or what the correct response would be. She was saved from having to answer when a young boy sped past the elevators. Both women watched him run through the lobby and then looked at each other.

  Children were everywhere on the ship, but there was something about the boy that sparked Caroline’s curiosity. A moment later, he returned. His eyes were wide, and he looked at the elevators with something akin to panic.

  The bell rang, signalling the elevator’s arrival. Caroline and Serena stepped into the car. The boy followed them. Caroline guessed he was no older than eight.

  Caroline selected the floor number, and the boy studied the buttons, not picking one.

  “You okay, buddy?” Serena asked.

  The boy tore his eyes away from the panel and looked up at her. He nodded and then quickly stabbed a button, seemingly at random.

  “You sure?” Serena asked again.

  “I… think so,” he said.

  He didn’t look okay. He looked lost. Caroline was about to say something when Serena took a step closer to him. “I’m Serena.”

  “I’m Billy.”

  “Nice to meet you, Billy. Did your parents get lost?” Serena asked.

  “I think I got lost,” Billy admitted.

  Serena flashed him a dazzling smile. “You’re not lost, you’re here with me. We know exactly where you are.”

  Relief was palpable on Billy’s face.

  Serena gestured to Caroline. “She’s the captain, she doesn’t get lost. It’s totally your parents who are lost. Should we see if we can find them?”

  Billy nodded fast, happily seizing on the kind rescue. Caroline unclipped her radio from her belt and used the call sign to reach a member of the youth team and have them meet her at the restaurant. They’d be able to see where Billy’s room was and make sure he was safely handed over to his parents.

  The elevator doors opened, and the three of them got out, Billy’s hand snaking into Serena’s. They waited outside the restaurant for the youth team worker to get to them.

  “Have you been in the pool yet?” Serena asked.

  “Yeah.” Billy smiled.

  “It’s cool, isn’t it? And the arcade, I’ve not been in the arcade yet, have you?”

  Billy nodded.

  “Do they have basketball in the arcade? I love basketball.”

  “Yeah, I got a high score yesterday. But it was in the morning. In the afternoon someone had beaten me,” Billy said.

  Caroline watched the pair interact; Serena was a natural with the boy, not talking down to him, not talking over him. Caroline had been on courses about how to deal with lost, scared, or even hurt children, and Serena was as competent as any of the teachers.

  The youth team supervisor quickly turned up, and Billy went off to look for his lost parents with her.

  “You were wonderful with him,” Caroline said.

  “I love kids,” Serena admitted.

  Caroline wanted to ask more. She wanted to fish for the answer to whether Serena would ever consider having children of her own, to talk about her own research into the world of adoption. Sadly, being outside of the restaurant and being the captain, they were soon swamped by people.

  “We better go in and sit down,” she whispered to Serena.

  They entered the dining room, and Caroline could feel all eyes were on her. It wasn’t unusual at all; in fact, she’d grown quite used to it. But for the first time she felt like she was sharing some of the limelight, like the load was being carried by two people instead of just one. Caroline didn’t realise how wonderful that would feel until she experienced it.

  Waiters pulled out their chairs, and they took their seats at the captain’s table. The Shelbys weren’t there; instead they were introduced to two new diners whom Caroline hadn’t met before.

  Once introductions were made, Serena leaned in closer. “Where’s Graham?”

  “Strangest thing,” Caroline said, “he got an invitation to tour the bridge. Apparently, they are having a cocktail party and some nibbles up there.”

  Serena grinned. “Oh, really? That just happened to be scheduled for now?”

  Caroline tried to look innocent, but knew she was failing judging from the look Serena offered her. She’d known that Serena would be uncomfortable with Graham’s presence and had organised an offer he couldn’t refuse.

  Graham got to experience something so few got to, and Caroline was able to treat Serena to a meal where Graham wasn’t reading her Wikipedia page word for word over the soup.

  “Thank you,” Serena whispered, gently placing her hand over Caroline’s.

  “I can’t believe it’s midnight,” Serena said.

  “Nor can I,” Caroline replied. Somehow the evening had gotten away from them. Dinner in the main dining room followed by dancing at the nightclub. Drinks, non-alcoholic for Caroline, at one of the many bars, and then a moonlit stroll through the park.

  Neither seemed to want to say goodnight, so they had gone from place to place, seeking out more ways to extend the wonderful evening.

  Sadly, Caroline couldn’t put it off any longer. She had a very long day the next day, and as much as she never wanted the night to end, it had ended.

  In order to have a few more minutes with Serena, Caroline had offered to walk her back to her stateroom. It made sense, considering they were located on the same floor. But that wasn’t the only reason.

  Caroline had enjoyed every second of the evening, more than any other she had spent on Fortuna. For the first time in five years, she’d excitedly shown off some of the ship’s facilities and enjoyed them in a way she’d never allowed herself to before.

  Experiencing the nightclub had been a new feeling for her. She’d been inside, but usually during the day when the space was empty or used for other things. But when Serena had said she wanted to go dancing, Caroline had immediately agreed.

  She’d felt out of place and almost suggested leaving, but Serena had taken her hands and pulled her onto the dance floor and led her around the space in a casual half-dance, half-walk.

  Caroline had suggested a walk along the pool deck to watch the ocean, but Serena had requested something inside, stating that the wind would be too strong on the top deck. It sounded like a lie, and Caroline recalled the terrified look in Serena’s eyes two nights ago. She wondered if Serena had some kind of fear of the water.

  “I need help with my balcony door,” Serena said as they approached her stateroom.

  “I fixed it earlier,” Caroline explained.

  “Did you? I didn’t see. Could you show me?” Serena asked, swiping her pass card.

  “Of course.”

  Serena opened the door, and Caroline stepped inside and turned the lights on. She walked over to the doors, now hidden behind the closed curtains thanks to the second round of housekeeping.

  “It’s a simple error to make,” she said. “There’s a safety lock, in case there are children in the cabin.”

  “Caroline?”

  She turned. Serena was beside her and looked a little exasperated.

  “Yes?”

  “Fuck the door, Caroline.” Serena wrapped a hand around the back of her neck, threading her fingers through Caroline’s hair. She took a step closer, pressing their bodies flush against one another.

  Caroline knew a kiss was imminent.

  “May I kiss you?” Serena asked huskily.

  Caroline couldn’t trust her voice so instead offered a quick nod. It was all the reassurance Serena needed. Soft lips were upon hers in a second, insistent and demanding. It had been so long since Caroline had been kissed that she had to remind herself to participate and not just stand there in a stupor.

  She placed her hands just above Serena’s hips, gripping firmly and pulling her the extra centimetre closer. Serena’s arm wrapped around Caroline�
�s back, clawing at her shoulders through the thick uniform jacket.

  Serena pulled her lips away from Caroline’s and started to make her way down Caroline’s throat. She tugged on the jacket lapels. “I need this off.”

  Caroline’s mind went blank. She wasn’t a prude, but she certainly hadn’t expected things to intensify so quickly. While some people, crew members included, thought nothing of sleeping their way around the Mediterranean, Caroline had never done anything like that.

  Any doubts were pushed to one side as Serena slid the jacket down Caroline’s arms and then turned.

  “Help me with the zip?” She gestured to the back of her dress.

  Caroline’s fingers quickly found the tiny piece of metal, eager to dispense with the tight dress that had been taunting her all night.

  “Eagle One?” Caroline’s radio crackled to life.

  “You are kidding me,” she whispered in frustration.

  Serena looked over her shoulder. “I’m guessing that you’re Eagle One?”

  Caroline nodded. “I’m so sorry.”

  Serena shook her head, indicating that she understood. Her lipstick was smudged, her eyes wide with unmistakable passion.

  Caroline removed her radio, resisting the desire to rip the batteries out and take Serena back into her arms.

  “Go ahead,” she said, trying to not sound like she was out of breath but failing.

  “Seventy-sixty in SCC,” the duty officer said.

  Caroline rubbed at her forehead with her free hand. She’d known that the duty officer wouldn’t contact her unless it was important. And it was.

  “I’ll be right there,” she replied into the radio. She gave Serena an apologetic look.

  “None of that,” Serena said. She took hold of Caroline’s shirt collar and pulled her close for another kiss before releasing her and straightening up her tie. “Go deal with the fifty-fifty.”

  “Seventy-sixty,” Caroline corrected.

  “That, too.” Serena walked away, sitting on the edge of the sofa and undoing the straps on her shoes. “I had a wonderful evening.”