A movement caught his eye and he looked along the marina. Over in the distance, Devia was sitting having a drink in the café by the entrance. She had a clear view of him. He waved to acknowledge her presence and she waved back. They rarely talked any more. Not since he had told her to leave him alone and to get out of his house. Seeing her with Crystal’s red dress pressed up against her that day had almost killed him. When he had first walked in, he had thought it was Crystal.
‘She’s a funny one, that one.’ He thought to himself. ‘Always around, always alone. Didn’t she have a life? A guy she could spend time with?’ She was always there. Alone. Waiting. Watching. He momentarily felt sorry for her and for whomever she was waiting for. Whoever he was, he would have a nutcase on his hands, if he weren’t careful. She had tried to take over his life both before and after Crystal’s passing. He shuddered at the thought.
A group had arrived and started to walk down the docks, happy and laughing as they chatted and he guessed it was his party. He stood up from his kneeling position and smiled as they approached.
“The Anders family?” He said with a smile as he held out his hand to welcome them aboard.
“Yes. That’s us.” They all grinned. He helped the wife and daughter on board and waited for the man to join them. The daughter’s presents had all been hidden in a closet so she wouldn’t see them when he showed the entire family all the cabins on board. He loved showing people around the boat, because they were always appreciative of the design, the décor, and the luxurious surroundings. The pictures in the holiday brochure never did the boat justice and so people were always bowled over and delighted by what they saw when they got there. He gave them the safety briefing and told them what to do in an emergency, even if he were incapacitated. He was supposed to do this from the time that he had taken Devia out. It had become part of the general briefing since then. He joked with the family that it would take an elephant tranquili z er to incapacitate him, not realising how close to the truth he really was.
They made themselves comfortable as he got the boat underway. When they were out of the harbour and into open ocean , he let the father take the helm. He showed him how to steer the boat, how to navigate, and what to look for on the horizon. He stood by his side as he watched the man’s joy at feeling the boat cut through the waves. The man stood tall and delighted as his wife took pictures of him. His body language saying that he was very proud, a sailor no less. Julian delighted in his pleasure, delighted in the family and their unity. He felt the stab of pain in his heart again and looked out to the horizon to stop his eyes tearing up in front of them.
“Are you ok?” A woman’s voice said, by his side.
He turned to her, his green eyes bright and wet with tears. He smiled and crinkled up his eyes as he did so. It was the daughter standing next to him. Such a beautiful, delicate young thing, her blonde hair trailing in the breeze behind her, wisps blowing in to her clear blue eyes. She lifted her hand up to hold the tendrils of hair out of her eyes as he spoke.
“No Miss, just something in my eye.”
“Hmmm, it looked like more than that to me.” She said, concern in her eyes.
He was touched she had noticed and also a little embarrassed too. He smiled brightly at her, although his private pain remained.
“Hell no. Oh Look!” He said, pointing to the horizon, “A pod of dolphins.”
She squealed with joy, which took him totally by surprise and he laughed with her. Julian went back to the helm and gave the father a set of his binoculars before relieving him of his sailing duties so he could join his wife, and daughter, who was now jumping up and down squealing like a five year old and pointing. It was hard not to be caught up in their excitement and family’s obvious bond.
“How about we get a little closer. Would you like that? I can’t take you to them, but I can get us a little closer.” They all nodded, the daughter clapped her hands and was still squealing with happiness.
He turned the boat into the direction of the pod and within a few minutes they were about fifty feet from them. He slowed the boat to idle, to let his party hear them better. They could hear their whistles and clicks as they played together.
A few frisky and curious male dolphins from the pod broke formation and came to leap out of the water alongside the boat. They were putting on a very good show. Julian smiled. He couldn’t have arranged it better if he had paid them. The Anders’s must have taken hundreds of photographs. The males of the pods were so happy, leaping and twisting in the air, coming down with big splashes. He stopped the boat engine entirely, until only the sound of the lapping waves on the hull was heard. The boat was just gently drifting with the waves. A few dolphins came up to the side to see if he had any fish, but he didn’t. He never fed them, and always encouraged others not to do so too, tempting as it might be. These were wild creatures. It would do no good to train them to rely on humans. But they sure knew how to beg.
“What do they want?”
“Food, mainly, but they are very curious too.”
“Can we feed them?”
“Oh no. We don’t do that. As it is, we shouldn’t be this close, but as they came to us. It’s ok. Over there,” he said pointing to some dorsal fins in the waves, “are the females, notice how they are keeping their distance?” She nodded.
“That is most likely because they may have young with them.”
“Nice,” she said, squinting into the distance. He passed his binoculars to her and she took them for a clearer view. “Oh there are!” She suddenly exclaimed. “What a great birthday this is Mum and Dad! Just the best!” she shouted. He smiled at her again. The pod started to move away and when they were a safe distance, Julian started up the engine again, and they were again underway.
He took them to a local island and helped them ashore. As they went exploring he set up the sun umbrella and chairs for them. He brought out the picnic basket as well as the cooler box with the drinks, and placed it under the shade of the umbrella. He suddenly felt a shadow fall over him, as though a cloud had entered his space. He stood up and looked around. He felt uneasy , so he checked along the beach, sensing someone was watching . He was unsure why or how anyone could be watching and couldn’t see anything or another living soul. He shook off the feeling and carried on with his tasks. It was about an hour later when the family returned to where he was waiting. He had been sitting with his back against the rock, watching the sea, and his boat.
When they came back, he leapt into action and started serving them drinks, and food. They tucked in and thoroughly enjoyed their time together on the beach. He took pictures of them and they dragged him into a few of the photos too. Pictures were taken of the Mum and Dad, the Mum and daughter, and then some of the two men. Almost as an afterthought, a few photos were taken of the daughter and him. Then they attempted to take a picture with all of them, using the camera self-timer. Just as the picture was about to be taken, the camera fell sideways. They all ran forward to catch the camera, making it the best picture of all, their faces all showing fright and arms out to catch it. They all agreed it was the funniest one too. All in all, he started feeling like he was on holiday with some Japanese tourists, but he took it in stride.
Back on board, the parents gave the daughter her birthday presents. When they sang Happy Birthday he joined in, but kept quiet at the name part. He realised he didn’t know her name, only the family’s last name. As they sang the rest of the birthday song, he learned her name was Sophie. She looked just like he imagined a Sophie would look. Sophisticated, young, fresh, the girl next-door, and so sweet, that she would be sweeter than maple syrup. She was so loveable. It was hard not to like her. He smiled at her as they all sang. For a split second, he felt like he was part of their family and it jolted him back to reality. He suddenly stopped singing and turned away to busy himself with something.
Back at the marina, they all hugged him goodbye and thanked him for a fabulous day. They asked if they could book him again.
He said, of course, he would be delighted to sail them wherever they wanted to go. The parents asked if he would consider a week sailing trip the next time and he laughed as he said ,
“ b ook me for as long as you want, and I am all yours.” He noticed that Sophie looked at him sideways, with a smile, as he said this, and his heart suddenly jumped and skipped a beat, which confused him.
He waved them off as they left and went back in the boat, but before he did so, he looked at the seat where Devia would normally sit. She wasn’t there. He thought it strange, and briefly wondered where she was, but then forgot about it and carried on with his work.
That night, he dreamt Crystal crept into bed with him again. He loved her visits; they comforted him. In his dreams, they made passionate love and he slept on.
Chapter Eleven - Sophie
Sophie was laughing as she walked along the street. One of her university buddies had said something that made her go into hysterics . She didn’t quite understand why it was funny, but for some reason it made her laugh until her sides and cheeks hurt. One of those timely remarks that under normal circumstances you wouldn’t ordinarily think was humorous . But here and now, it was hysterical. She was laughing so hard that she didn’t look where she was going and she bumped straight into a guy coming out of the coffee shop. He caught her right after she walked straight into his broad chest.
“Hey there! Mind the coffee, it’s hot.” He said his arm coming up to catch her shoulder. She laughed as she looked up at him apologetically.
“Oh my God! I’m so sorry!” She said before she realised it was Julian. “It’s you! How great to see you again.”
“Oh!” When he realised who it was, “hello Sophie.” Julian was genuinely pleased to see her.
“What are you doing here?” She asked. He raised his eyebrows as she spoke.
“Errm, coffee shop. Coffee.” He waved his coffee cup in front of her face. She laughed again, feeling silly.
“Duh, of course.” She rolled her eyes. “No, I meant here.” She signaled to the surrounding area.
“I live here.”
“You do?”
“Yes, for a long time now. This is my local coffee shop.”
‘Wow, great! Mine too! I go to university near here. I’m getting my PhD. I’ve never seen you here before.” She suddenly said.
“I could say the same. It’s quite possible, maybe we were here at the same time, before you knew me, and we just never noticed. We will never know, will we?” He smiled at her, his eyes twinkling mischievously. One of her friends coughed to speed up their conversation. They were obviously getting bored with them. Sophie looked at her friends and glowered.
“You go in guys. I will be right there. I’ll have a cappuch’,” she said, abbreviating cappuccino to sound cool in front of Julian. They rolled their eyes and walked away leaving her to it. If she wanted to hang out with one of her dad’s friends, who were they to interfere?
“So do you want to join us?” She said, hoping he would say no and at the same time, hoping he would say yes. She could feel her cheeks blushing at her question, and he saw it, but didn’t say anything. To her, he was just the ‘bee’s knees’. She had developed a crush on him the moment he had taken her hand to help her on board his yacht. She had felt a frisson of sexual need, or sexual excitement, but being in front of her parents, she had felt weirded out by it. So she ignored it and had pretended everything was normal. In her mind, she had kissed him a thousand times and seen herself going on his yacht by herself, dressed to seduce, the ultimate love goddess. He would kneel at her feet and worship her in every way. He would-
“Sophie?”
“Yes?” She was dragged back from her reverie involving him.
“I said, sorry I can’t. I have to get back to the Marina.”
“Oh.” She said sounding more disappointed than she meant to. He looked sideways at her.
“Look, why don’t you swing by the marina sometime? If I am going out on the boat, you can join me. Only if you like.”
“Oh wow. I would love to, but I couldn’t afford that!”
“No, No. It would be on the house.” He smiled.
“Oh frigging hell YES! Can I come with you now?” He ran his fingers through his hair, wondering what possessed him to invite her. Now that she had accepted he was dumbfounded.
“Well, yeah I guess.” Before he could change his mind she brushed passed him, rushed over to her friends to grab her coffee.
“Oh my GOD!” She whispered to them excitedly, “I’m going with him! Over to spend time on his yacht!
“With your dad’s friend?” One asked.
“This is the guy I spent my birthday with!”
“Be careful you idiot! He could be a crazy axe murderer,” they whispered back as they looked at him suspiciously.
Standing there, smiling, his tight shirt showing his taut chest and shoulders and fine physique, nothing looked further from the truth. He smiled across at them as they glowered back.
“Pfft! No, I know him. Don’t be silly. I gotta go. See you later.” She picked up her cappuccino then leaned forward and added, “And, for the record, he’s not a friend of my dad’s either.” She picked up her coffee and had it transferred from the mug into a take away cup. They left together a few minutes later. Her friends looked at him a little differently. They watched her enviously as she slipped her arm in his and walked out of the shop, and out of sight.
Sophie was so surprised to have run into Julian at the coffee shop and could not have been more excited. She was walking along the street with him. To her, the birds were chirping louder and sweeter, the trees looked greener, the sky was bluer, her arm was in his, and she was on cloud nine. All her dreams were coming true.
When they arrived at the marina, she jumped out of his car and almost ran down the docks to his boat. She couldn’t wait to get back on board. She remembered that she was trying to be sophisticated and suddenly walked slower, hoping he hadn’t noticed her enthusiasm.
Julian did notice. For him her enthusiasm was intoxicating, but he said nothing and gave no indication of having seen her almost jog. He knew she was trying to impress him. He didn’t know why, nor did he really care. He was just glad for the company. Glad of someone who didn’t look at him with pity. Someone, who didn’t know what had happened in his life. Someone, who didn’t know of his inner pain and sorrow. To him Sophie was a breath of fresh air. She was intoxicating in a fresh and new way. She reminded him of Crystal, when they had first met. Crystal was his first love, and always would be. He felt the familiar stab of pain, but when he looked at Sophie, it went away. He decided, in that moment, that he wanted Sophie there, all the time. She would help his heart heal and he knew it.
Walking past the marina, he felt a shiver as he passed the chair where Devia normally sat. He couldn’t explain why, but something didn’t feel right. When they got to the boat, he looked up again, and there she was. She was glowering. A black thunderous look on her face. She looked angry at something.
At that moment, Sophie grabbed his arm to ask about a local heron that was ‘acking’ in the corner. He explained to her, what he was doing, that the ‘ack’ sound was him calling for his mate. He told her a funny story about the heron that the locals called him Herbert, and as they continued to walk he noticed Devia was gone.
Devia wasn’t in his life, never had been really, and was nothing to do with him. He forgot all about her.
Chapter Twelve – Devia
Devia was hopping mad. If she could have had steam coming from her ears she would have made that happen. She had seen Sophie doing all her gaga eyes over her man, Julian, and she didn’t like it one bit. After everything she had done to get Julian in to her life and this stupid little girl was going to ruin all her plans. She was so angry that if she had had a sniper rifle she would have shot her right there and then, a bullet right between the eyes. The thought was the only thing that gave her a smile that day. She rushed around the back to where s
he had a small power boat moored. He always sailed to the same places. If she could get there first, she could moor her boat on the other side of the small island , go to her hidey-hole and watch him through the binoculars as she had done on many occasions since he had returned to work. Little did he know that she had him under practically twenty four hour surveillance. By using his passwords to his bank accounts she could access his account and see what he was spending and where, and reading his emails she knew his every move. In addition, she could read all his messages on his social networks and without him even suspecting, she deleted every email from every woman that wrote to him, and every post she didn’t like. To carry out this twenty four hour effort she also needed money to survive and this is where his bank account also came in handy, using his passwords again she had set up a monthly direct debit, direct to her bank account which sent her enough money to cover all her bills and then some. If she ever needed more, she just went in and sent herself some more. Every night she snuck into his house using the key she kept and she dressed as his dead wife and she fucked him in his sleep. She knew exactly where he was, every minute of every day. He was hers. He wasn’t going to get his cock in anyone else, only her. She wasn’t going to have this stupid trollop undo everything.
She threw her things in her boat and sped off in the direction of the island. By the time they arrived, she would be well ensconced, hidden and ready to watch their every move. She already hated this little skank. How dare she go sailing with him?
They arrived about an hour after her. She had moored on the other side of the small island, an island that she now knew like the back of her hand from her spying missions. She saw them sail into the small natural harbour. He was slowing the yacht down and bringing her about to tie her to the mooring ball. Devia was watching his every move. From a distance, she saw the little trollop smiling adoringly at him. He suddenly looked up, right in Devia’s direction and she ducked her head instinctively, although she knew he couldn’t see her. She suddenly thought that he may have seen the light reflecting from the binoculars and so she put them down for a moment and lay down flat against the ground to blend into the surroundings.
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