by Vivian Wood
Sofia looks over at me, very much the eagle eyed grandmother. “Is Eva okay? What do you need, sweetheart?”
Steering Eva toward the stairs, I calmly direct her down. “It’s okay. We are going to get Eva’s inhaler. Right, Eva?”
The little girl sputters a cough, nodding. I wince internally; she looks so miserable just now.
“I am coming with you,” Sofia says, hurrying after us on her tall heels.
“Good idea,” I say.
Two minutes later I am crouched in front of Eva’s bunk bed taking her pulse. Eva sits on her bed, using her inhaler.
I look at Sofia, who hovers anxiously in the doorway. “It’s all okay,” I reassure her. “Cold air can be an asthma trigger. We caught it very early so it shouldn’t be a big deal. Right, Eva?”
Eva nods very stoically. She is probably only seven or eight but she doesn’t have a single complaint.
“You are such a brave little girl,” Sofia says, echoing my own thoughts.
“You are really the best patient I’ve ever had,” I tell Eva.
That earns me a pained smile. She lies back on her bed. I stand up, motioning to Sofia.
“Here, you can take my place if you want. I think the worst is past.”
Sofia looks at me gratefully. As I scootch by her, she touches my arm. “Thank you, Dr. Leone.”
My cheeks warm. “Of course. It’s my job and my pleasure, all at once. Come grab me if anything changes.”
Making my way back down the hallway, I stop in my room to get a pair of gloves out of my bag. Then I head back upstairs, hoping that the porpoises are still swimming alongside the boat.
I’m a little disappointed to find the Vera family heading back downstairs when I make it up to the main deck. Alejandro smiles when he sees me; I move aside, letting the whole family pass me.
Malkia sighs. “Want to head up to the pilothouse? The upper deck has heat…”
I smile at her, my eyes drifting off toward the ocean. “I suppose the porpoises are gone, then?”
She shrugs. “For now, yes. There will be other animals on other days.”
I nod. “I’m sure.”
Malkia looks at the stairs descending below decks. “Is the little girl okay?”
I start toward the upper deck, climbing the metal staircase. “Yeah. She just has asthma. It got triggered by the cold air.”
I push through the plastic flap that keeps the warm air in on the upper deck. Emerging in the lounge area that sits behind the pilothouse, I enjoy the heat. Malkia follows me and plops down on a plush white seat.
“I do not know how you do it,” she announces.
I glance straight ahead at the pilothouse, looking for Gabe. He sits in the sole chair, the back of his head telling me exactly nothing. There is a door that is pulled shut between this space and the brightly lit cocoon where Gabe is ensconced.
I turn my back on him and find a seat opposite Malkia. “Do what?” I ask, trying to pretend I didn’t get distracted.
Her lips twitch. “The whole being caring to kids thing. I can be nice, but if I am honest, I do not really care for children.” She grins. “Luckily I am gay. I do not feel the pressure to have a biological family that a lot of straight women do.”
I nod. “I love children.”
“God, Gabe is the same way. He and his ex-fiancée Michelle were planning on having a huge family. I am like, but what about sleeping in and being able to socialize with childless people? He did not listen to me, though.”
That gives me pause. The fact that Gabe was engaged doesn’t really surprise me. Dr. Montgomery mentioned as much. The fact that it’s his ex-fiancée makes me curious though. I slide my gaze over to Malkia.
“I wish I already had a husband and five kids. Two of my own, three adopted.”
Malkia smiles. “You want to adopt?”
“Definitely. I come from money. I have the resources. So I think I will.”
She nods. “It has made all the difference in my life; I can tell you that much. My mom and dad are wonderful.” She smiles, looking through the window at Gabe. “My brother is okay, too.”
I blow out a breath. “Well, I’ve got plenty of time, so… I hope that my dream family will be possible. But if I’m not meant to have children of my own, I’ll accept that… eventually.”
She nods again. We lapse into silence for a minute before Gabe opens the pilothouse door. “What are you two talking about?”
He leans in the doorway, keeping an eye on the bridge. Malkia clears her throat.
“How you want to have a million children.” She wrinkles her nose. “And how I do not want to be first on your call list for emergencies when you do.”
Gabe gives her an annoyed glance. “That’s an old plan, Mal. Times change.”
“Well, when you are starting a family, it helps to have a woman who has agreed to your plan.” I smirk. “It sounds like your ex-fiancée didn’t plan on sticking to your agreement.”
Gabe and Malkia both look at me sharply.
“What did you say?” Gabe asks carefully. “I think I must have misheard you…”
Malkia meets my eyes and gives her head a little shake. I can feel my cheeks turning pink.
“Sorry, I thought I could add some levity to the situation…” I stammer.
Gabe glares at me, his blue green gaze piercing right through my skin. “My fiancée died.”
Immediately I’m filled with a deep rush of shame. Dr. Montgomery mentioned something like that… but now it’s being rubbed in my face. I feel like an idiot. “Oh, I am so sorry…”
Malkia stands up, clearing her throat. “I feel like I should check on the clients…”
Gabe is already turning away, pulling the door to the pilothouse closes behind himself. I turn to Malkia with a pleading look.
“I didn’t know!” I explain, pulling a face. “I wouldn’t have said anything if I had…”
Malkia just shakes her head. “There are a lot of things that you do not know, Luna. Do not pretend that you are aware of everything.”
Then she stalks off, heading down to the main deck. Leaning my head back, I close my eyes and sit for a few minutes.
That’ll teach me to try to lighten the mood with my bumbling jokes…
13
Gabe
The next morning, I’m in the pilothouse and I’m still in a bad mood. Luna dredged up the past, brought up Michelle as if she had any right to… to even joke about my loss. From Luna’s reaction to the news of Michelle’s death, she didn’t know.
But that just goes to show that you don’t know what is going on with people. They are inscrutable and opaque. You can never guess how the past has fucked up anyone.
I’m brooding as I guide the yacht up the coast of Vancouver Island. Remembering the exact moment of impact in my relationship with Michelle…
The moment that I found out that she had died.
Not just died… she took her own life.
I was about here actually, cruising toward Alaska. Calling my message service to check in, the bad news was given to me over my voicemail, of all things.
My fists clench.
No one should get news like that over something so impersonal as a message left on their cell phone.
“Hey,” Malkia says, swinging open the door behind me.
I look back at her. “Yeah?”
She looks past me, out the front windows. “Just trying to figure out the timing of when I should prepare everyone to make landfall.”
“Hmm.” I eye the coastline, which I’ve seen on six yacht trips per year for almost twenty years straight. Starting early on with my father at the helm, later making the trip with Malkia at my side. I could sail this trip in my sleep by now. “I’d guess about an hour, maybe a little less.”
She nods, still looking out at my view. “Are you okay?”
My brows hunch. I turn away from her with a silent sigh. “Yeah.”
Malkia crosses her arms and leans against the
door frame. “Luna didn’t know, Gabe.”
I make a face. “She still doesn’t know that Michelle killed herself. And I would like to keep it that way, if at all possible.” A bitter bit of acid in my stomach works its way upward in my gullet. “I would rather keep all staff at arm’s distance, Mal.”
“I know, I know.” She pushes herself off the door frame. “I’m going to go tell the clients to be ready in a half an hour.”
Nodding my head, I listen to the whoosh of the door sliding shut behind me. I exhale and reach over to turn the radio up. Usually I keep the communications radio turned on low, but when I’m steering the boat into a harbor like the one we’re about to enter, I like to be aware of all the comings and goings of sea traffic.
I can see the village of Starling Harbor now, a handful of buildings clustered together. It’s not much to look at but my family has used this harbor as a stopping point for years.
Of course, there are almost no boats in Starling Harbor when I pull the ship up to the dock. There is only a fishing vessel and it looks ill-used.
I turn the engines off and drop the anchor, then head down to the main deck. It’s chillier than usual today and I zip my parka all the way up. The clients wait impatiently there, dressed in their warmest gear. They all carry overnight bags because they are going to stay in the village’s hotel.
That will leave myself and the crew to sleep on the boat. The crew are gathered further away from the gangplank, looking eagerly toward the stubby little brown buildings that make up the village.
Most people are ready to get off the boat after being cooped up for two days. Me, though? If I had my way, I’d never leave.
“Are we ready to explore off ship?” I asks the clients.
Two of the crew members lower the gangplank as the clients cheer. They lead the clients off the ship, with the crew following close behind.
Leaving Carlos behind to keep an eye on the boat, I start down the gangplank. As soon as I step on dry land, I feel a little nauseated.
After my body grows used to the constant shifting of the sea, it’s always a bit of a hassle to regain my land legs.
An older First Nations couple comes down the dock to greet us. “Hello. Hello. Welcome to Starling Harbor,” says the woman.
The man inclines his head but does not speak.
“Everyone, these are our hosts, Smith and Sarah,” Malkia announces. “To answer some of your questions, yes, they are First Nations, yes, they speak English, and yes they live here in the village. Okay?”
Sarah bows her head. “Thank you, Malkia. If you will all just follow me into the village, we will get you all settled.”
She turns and starts back up the gently sloping dock. I follow the group up to the village.
The clients follow Sarah and Smith toward the little inn. The experienced crew members head toward the pub and most of the new members follow them.
Malkia hangs back, watching me closely. Luna bites her lip and stays put too, her gaze sliding between the two of us.
“Where should I go?” Luna asks.
Malkia looks at me. “Gabe?”
I shrug. “There are only two places to go. Most of the crew goes to the pub. I think there is also a shop that sells tea, but it’s been years since I’ve been in there.” I scrunch up my face. “I don’t actually remember which building it is in.”
Malkia gives Luna a look. “So basically, we go to the pub.”
I shrug. “She’s not wrong.”
We set off after the rest of the crew, ducking inside the low front door of the pub. It’s been modeled after an ancient English pub; there is a fireplace, there are a number of heavy wooden tables with stools, and there is a massive dark wood bar on the right. The air smells like spiced meat in here, making my mouth water.
“God, that smells great,” Malkia says, echoing my thoughts.
A young man looks up from where he is pouring drinks behind the bar and nods. Luna looks around at the choice of tables, zeroing in on the only empty table.
“How about there?” she says, nodding.
“I’m going to go to the bar. What’ll you guys have?”
“A French 75,” Luna answers immediately.
Malkia and I both look at her oddly.
“That was a quick answer,” I say.
Her cheeks color. “My brother owns a bar and he doesn’t have time for anyone to fool around. With Luca, you either know what you want or you get a glass full of tequila.” She sticks her tongue out in disgust. “I learned what to ask for really quickly.”
“I’m pretty sure they just have beer and whiskey here,” Malkia says. “And don’t even bother with specifying which kind of whiskey. They have one kind with no label.”
I stretch. “I’m pretty sure someone distills it on site.”
Luna looks thoughtful. “Then I’ll have a beer, please.”
“Same,” Malkia says.
As they make their way to the remaining empty table, I head to the bar. It takes a minute for the silent man behind the bar to finish pouring and serving the drinks he already has, but I don’t mind.
I notice a chalkboard to the far right, indicating that they have two kinds of beer and whiskey. At the bottom of the board, it reads, Trivia Today, 5 pm.
I look at my watch. That’s less than two hours from now. After I get a round of beers, I head back to the table and sit between Malkia and Luna.
Luna takes an experimental sip of her beer, wiping foam from her mouth. “Mmm!” she says, looking up. “That’s really good.”
Mal looks at me. “Please tell me that you ordered us some of whatever smells so good.”
“I did.” I take a sip of my beer, nodding to Luna. “I hope you like venison, because I have a feeling that’s what the scent is.”
She makes a face and shrugs. “I’ll try anything, I guess.”
I take another swig of my beer and shrug right back at her. “Okay. It’s the only thing you’re going to get on land today.”
“I hope that they have that really good hot sauce here. What is it called? Humble?” Malkia asks.
I tilt my head, trying to remember. “Something like that.”
Malkia looks to Luna. “When we were children, our parents owned this company and ran charters just like this. One of the ways that we bonded was over hot sauce.”
“Mal didn’t like anything spicy until she turned twelve,” I say with a slow smile. “Then it was like a switch flipped. She couldn’t get enough.”
Mal shakes her head. “It may have seemed that way, but I assure you that I had to force myself to like the taste of peppers.”
“Anyway, we still like to keep the tradition going,” I finish.
Luna looks between us, smiling. “It sounds like you had a wonderful childhood.”
I shrug. “We were always poor growing up, but we didn’t mind. Right, Mal?”
She nods, sipping her beer. “Quite right. Our parents were always around, always teaching us about the natural world.”
Luna sighs. “That is really sweet. My parents took off for Europe when I was a kid.” A corner of her mouth turns down. “You know what they say. More money, more problems.”
I raise my eyebrows. “I don’t think I would be the same person if I didn’t spend all that time by my dad’s knee, watching him pilot boats.”
Luna looks down, flushing. But in the next second the silent bartender arrives with the steaming bowls of food.
I look down at the amazing-smelling stuff. There is a hunk of French bread on the side and some kind of brown stew. I can see bits of carrot and potato and what I assume to be venison.
Malkia asks for hot sauce and the bartender brings her a new bottle of something spicy. She tastes a little, declares it to be very, very hot, and then douses her food with it.
I taste the stew first. My eyes close for a second. This kind of homemade food is by far my favorite.
I add a little hot sauce on one side of the bowl and then start eating. Lun
a is less enthusiastic about digging into her bowl.
“What’s wrong?” Mal asks her.
Luna gives me a placating smile. “Nothing. Just… you know. I was thinking that before I left Seattle, the last meal I had was a super fancy salad with kale and fresh salmon. Basically the opposite of here, you know?”
I scowl at Luna. “No one is forcing you to eat the stew, Luna.”
Luna gives her head a tiny shake. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant… I don’t know. Your lives are very, very different from my usual routine.”
Malkia cuts in. “And what’s that, Doctor?”
Luna flushes. “Well, first off, I’m not technically a doctor yet. I have to pass a set of exams this fall first.”
That gives me pause. Mal just rolls right past it, though. “And what is your life like? A lot galas and stuff? That’s what rich people do, right?”
Luna rolls her eyes. “Maybe the older generation. I actually just work a lot and study most of the time that I’m not on the job.”
I frown. “And when you say work…”
“I mean working shifts at the ER, mainly.” She smiles. “I actually just gave my notice there, because in the fall I am going to be doing my internship. I won’t have time for another job.”
Mal tears off a piece of her bread. “It sounds like you don’t mind working a lot as long as you are doing what you love. Gabe is like that too. He would work nonstop and never leave the boat if we let him.”
I give Luna a hard smile. “On the surface, it sounds like we are similar. But I think it just reinforces how different the worlds we come from really are.”
Luna shrugs. “I guess if you want to see it that way, sure.”
I push to my feet, eyeing Malkia. “Speaking of that… I’m going to get another beer and then take my food back to the ship.”
“Oh, come on Gabe…” Mal says, scrunching up her face.
But I’m done. “I’ll see you both later.”
After dropping a wad of cash on the bartender, I head out, my brain awash in the differences between Luna and me.
14
Luna
