by A. E. Radley
But that wasn’t fair. Caroline needed time and space. Annie knew that, and she’d respect that. Caroline had reached out; now Annie needed to keep things casual between them.
She hit the send button and waited. After a few minutes she realised the kitchen was sweltering and moved into the bedroom. She lay on the bed, still staring at the screen and hitting the refresh button.
After ten minutes, she opened a game application she’d been playing and started to collect magic and potions. A few minutes into the game, she received a notification of another email from Caroline. She swiped it open immediately.
Annie,
I don’t believe for a second you make your bed every day. I bet you are one of those people who leave it unmade.
I’m sorry you hate your apartment in Alicante. Any local book clubs?
I’ll advise Elvin that you miss him. But I have to wonder if you miss anyone else?
Best,
Caroline
Annie giggled with joy. Was that flirting? She didn’t know, but she thought it was. She loved that she was communicating with Caroline again but hated that she couldn’t see her face. Caroline’s light blush and nervous gaze were always a giveaway.
She bit her lip, debating whether to flirt back or to keep things light. She started to compose a reply.
Caroline,
I always make my bed, it makes it more luxurious to slide into it of an evening.
No book clubs, there is a bowling club which my neighbour wants me to go to.
And, as a matter of fact, I do miss someone else. I was fortunate enough to dine with the captain a couple of nights on my cruise. So, of course, I’m missing Graham Shelby.
Annie
She read, reread, and then read once more before hitting send. She wondered if she’d get a reply soon or if Caroline would be called away and she’d have to wait. She went back into her inbox and read the two messages Caroline had sent her.
She read them over and over, trying to picture where Caroline was when she wrote them, what she was wearing, what she was thinking.
She waited and waited, and when forty minutes had passed, she decided that Caroline had other matters to attend to. She locked her phone, hoping she’d get a reply later.
The Start of Something
Caroline pulled her tie off and tossed it onto her desk. Then she snatched it up, folded it neatly, and put it in the box in her desk drawer. She’d lost enough ties in her career to know that an effort made now meant less stress later.
She turned on her computer and watched a few new emails trickle in. There was nothing too urgent, so she could finally return to the one Annie had sent her two days ago. She felt guilty about the long delay but hoped that Annie would understand.
She opened the email and reread the teasing note. She decided not to touch on the comment about sliding into bed; that was too dangerous. And she didn’t have much to say about book clubs or bowling.
She chewed at the inside of her cheek, wondering what to say. She’d never been good at these kinds of things. Talking face to face was difficult enough, but with this form of communication she had hours or even days to consider what to say. Which made it harder. The potential to overthink things was amazing.
Annie had a signature at the bottom of her email which included a link to her Twitter account. Caroline clicked the link and browsed through Annie’s profile. Annie had posted about her new apartment, her lack of air conditioning in the hottest room, and several new books she was reading.
Other users were replying to Annie, and Caroline read the comments with interest. One woman in particular seemed to be all over Annie’s profile, posting comments and animated gifs of people hugging. Caroline looked at her profile. She was young, blonde, and irritating as hell. The rainbow icon beside her name, Mindy, suggested she was also gay.
Two could play at that game. Caroline quickly created her own Twitter account. She did the bare minimum and started to look around the platform. It didn’t make much sense, but it seemed to be important to Annie.
She opened the email from Annie and hit reply.
Annie,
Would you like me to pass your email address onto Graham? Seeing as you miss him so much?
By the way, I started a Twitter account. It appears to mainly be pictures of cats. I’m not complaining.
Best,
Caroline
It wasn’t her best work, but it would do. If she agonised any more about what to write, she’d leave it another two days. She hit send, closed the email, closed Twitter, and tried to get on with some work.
It was only five minutes later when another email came in from Annie. Caroline didn’t know if young people just replied quickly because they were always online, or if this was a sign that Annie was particularly keen.
She hoped it was the latter.
Caroline,
I’ll survive without Graham. If I’m honest, I have someone else on my mind. Someone I hurt and want to make it up to, if that’s even possible.
Twitter is a lot of cats. Follow me so I can send you the best cats.
Annie
Caroline opened Twitter again, quickly found Annie’s profile, and clicked the follow button. She returned to Annie’s email to reply but swiftly realised she didn’t know what to say. She knew Annie was sorry, and she knew she missed Annie terribly. She had forgiven her, but she still didn’t know if that meant there was a future for them.
Was there a point in continuing things when there was so much standing in their way? Annie had a new apartment in Alicante, which was a five-hour drive from Barcelona. She’d checked. And then there was Caroline’s job, the fact that she’d be in the Caribbean in a few months. Not to mention the age thing, which still bothered her.
She closed down the email. She was tired; she’d try to reply the next day. Maybe she’d be able to think of something to say by then.
Reaching Out
Annie waited nervously. She’d done it, she’d asked to see Caroline again. Emails were fine, but she wanted to actually speak to Caroline face to face. She looked back at the email she had received three days ago, the one which had lifted her mood after a terrible day.
Annie,
I think it might be possible to make it up to someone you hurt, if you’re serious about such things.
I followed you on Twitter.
Best,
Caroline
After spending the day giving statements to investigators regarding everything she knew about Diego and his various businesses, it had been the best salve for her soul.
Caroline was admitting that things could be fixed. Or at least that she could be forgiven. Annie had been too tired to reply, knowing that anything she typed while so exhausted would no doubt be impulsive and over the top.
She’d left it until that morning to reply.
Caroline,
I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life. I don’t want to rush you, but I’d love to see you again. Any thoughts? I’m enjoying emailing you, but an email every 2-4 days is hardly enough. I’m crazy about you, I want to see you. Please?
Your Twitter account is a disgrace, you follow eight people.
Annie
She didn’t know when she’d get a reply. Caroline was busy. Sometimes she heard back within a few minutes, sometimes within a few days. Maybe this would be the message she wouldn’t get a reply to at all.
She got up and made some coffee, peeking at her phone every few moments as she did. Then she opened her post and did some filing. Then she took the laundry out of the machine. It was as she was about to start preparing lunch that she heard the notification.
She swiped so fast, she nearly knocked the phone out of her hand.
Annie,
I’m in Barcelona every Sunday. It’s changeover day so I can’t devote much time to a meeting, but I can certainly clear an hour or so for you?
I took your advice and unfollowed CNN News. I have BBC, so why do I need two news accounts
? Seven seems much more manageable.
Best,
Caroline
Annie shouted with joy and danced around her ridiculously warm kitchen. Then she stopped and quickly checked the train times between the two cities for that Sunday.
She had a date with Caroline West.
A Change of Schedule
“That’s terrible,” Caroline finally managed to say, once the shock had dissipated. “He’s always seemed so healthy.”
Mara nodded. “Heart attacks are unpredictable. Anyway, I thought I’d give you a heads-up as this will obviously mean that head office will ask you if you want to extend your contract.”
Caroline sipped her tea and stared straight out of the window of her stateroom, out at the sea. She couldn’t believe that David, her co-master, had been taken ill. It was all so sudden. She’d been preparing to end her contract in two weeks and spend some time in Napoli; now she wasn’t sure what she’d do.
On top of that, she was still on cloud nine from having seen Annie that morning. They’d only been able to share less than an hour together before Caroline was called away. She’d felt guilty, considering the amount of time Annie must have spent travelling to get to Barcelona, but Annie hadn’t seemed concerned. In fact, she’d seemed very happy to see Caroline.
The warring emotions of joy at seeing Annie and sadness at hearing about David were quite overwhelming for her.
“Is everything all right?” Mara asked, obviously detecting Caroline’s unsettled mood.
“Yes, I…” Caroline hadn’t planned to tell anyone, but this was her best friend, and she could probably do with the advice. “I saw Annie this morning.”
“I know,” Mara said casually.
“You… know?” Caroline blinked.
“Yes, I follow her on Twitter. She was on the train to Barcelona, so I assumed she was coming here. How did it go?”
“You don’t follow me on Twitter,” Caroline complained.
“You follow seven people, and I see you every day. What could I possibly learn from your Twitter account?” Mara sipped her own tea. “How did it go?”
Caroline put her mug down on the table and huffed. Mara seemed to know everything before she did. “Surely you saw that on Twitter?” she asked.
“So mature.” Mara chuckled. “Just tell me, what happened?”
Caroline smiled. “It was… good. Awkward at first, but within a few minutes we cleared the air. Everything went back to normal. Unfortunately, I couldn’t give her that much time. It’s changeover day, so everything was crazy as usual. But… I enjoyed seeing her.”
“Tell her,” Mara instructed.
Caroline could feel the blush on her cheeks. “I’m not sure—”
“You obviously like her. You really liked her before, you seem to have worked through everything and forgiven her for the whole Serena business, now you need to go for it.”
“Go for it?” Caroline blinked. She wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that. It sounded frightening and like things could go wrong. Like she could get hurt. Again.
“Get your phone out and tell her you had a nice day, or that you want to see her again,” Mara said. “Go on, I’ll wait.”
“I can’t ask her to come here again. It’s a five-hour train journey,” Caroline argued.
“Tell her you enjoyed seeing her again and let her make the decision on whether or not she wants to travel. Don’t not give her the opportunity.”
Caroline thought about it for a moment.
“Come on, do it now,” Mara urged.
Caroline sighed. There was no way Mara would let it go. She got her phone out of her pocket, connected to the ship’s Wi-Fi, and composed a short message.
Annie,
Thank you for coming to see me today, I’m sorry I couldn’t spare more time.
I find myself missing you already.
Caroline
She hit send before Mara could demand to approve it and probably make changes. She knew it was short and sweet, but she didn’t know what else to say. The idea of putting herself out there to be shot down was too painful.
“Done,” she said.
“Good,” Mara replied. “Will you take the extra contract now that David will be out of action?”
Caroline shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’d been looking forward to spending time in Napoli.”
“If you stay on board, you’ll be more likely to see Annie again,” Mara commented. She made eye contact with Caroline.
Her phone beeped, and she looked at the screen. Annie had replied already. She opened the message.
Caroline,
Forty-eight minutes was better than zero minutes. Can I come and see you again next Sunday? I know I promised to give you space and not to push. If you feel I’m pushing then just say. I’m happy to just email.
Annie
“You’re smiling,” Mara said.
“She wants to come up again next Sunday,” Caroline explained. She sighed and lowered the phone. “I don’t… I… How is this supposed to work, Mara? We email forever? Catch half an hour here and there? It can’t work.”
“Talk to her. Tell her how you feel, see how she feels. If it’s supposed to work, then you’ll both find a way.”
“That’s not an answer, that’s inspirational mumbo jumbo.”
“Fine, then tell her how you feel and arrange to see her more frequently. Ask her to come aboard Fortuna for a sailing. We’re all allowed to bring our friends and family on board,” Mara reminded her. “Thomas’ girlfriend has been on board for five weeks. She lives in the whirlpool. I’m amazed she doesn’t look like a wrinkled hundred-year-old.”
“She’d have to say here.” Caroline gestured to her stateroom.
“I know, scandalous, isn’t it?” Mara winked.
“I can’t invite her to effectively live with me for a week!” Caroline said. “It’s too much too soon.”
Stepping up from maybe an hour a week to a full week with someone as her guest was a big leap. Caroline didn’t know how she felt about that. And had no idea how Annie would feel about it.
“Rumour has it that if you don’t renew your contract they will ask Per Johannsson,” Mara said, suddenly changing the subject.
“Per?” Caroline’s eyes widened. “That bumbling idiot?”
“Bumbling idiots often find themselves available at a moment’s notice.”
“They can’t seriously be considering putting him in charge of Fortuna?” Caroline couldn’t believe it. Per was old and careless. He was without a doubt the most useless captain in the company.
“They need a backup plan in case you can’t renew your contract. It will be a long stint on board for you, though, if you do renew.”
“I’ll renew,” Caroline promised. “I’m not leaving Fortuna in Per’s hands. It will be at the bottom of the Tyrrhenian Sea within a week.”
“Well, that’s that. You can arrange to see Annie in Barcelona whenever she has time to visit. That won’t be too much too soon. Just an hour or so, once a week, if she can.”
“And then what?” Caroline asked.
“Whatever you both decide. Caroline, remember, you don’t need all of the answers now. Don’t push away happiness because you can’t see a path ahead. Maybe Annie will surprise you by supplying the answers.”
“She’s certainly surprised me so far,” Caroline agreed. “I don’t know what she sees in me.”
Mara chuckled. “The uniform?”
“Must be.”
“You’re quite a catch,” Mara said.
Caroline laughed. “I’m really not.”
“You are. Successful, competent, funny. The uniform. I’m running out of things. Clearly, Annie sees something. And you like her.”
“I do,” Caroline agreed.
“Have you forgiven her?”
“I don’t want to,” Caroline admitted, “but I think I have. No, I know I have.”
Mara raised her mug. “To new beginnings.”
Caroline pick
ed up her mug and leaned forward to tap it against Mara’s.
“To new beginnings.”
A Gamble
Annie sat on the wall and waited, hoping that her plan had worked. Hoping that the rest of her plan would work. Hoping that she hadn’t gone too far.
It was a pretty big decision, especially as she’d made it without consulting anyone. Well, just one person. She just had to cross her fingers that it had been the right choice.
A familiar Vespa pulled off the main road and made its way down the small, cobbled path towards the castle.
Well, I’m about to find out if this was a stupid idea, Annie thought to herself.
The bike slowed. The driver stared at her, confusion obvious even through the visor.
Annie hopped down from the wall and tried to cover her nerves with a big smile.
Caroline stopped the bike, snapped up the visor. “Annie?”
“Hey.” Annie waved. “Surprise!”
Caroline got off the bike and pulled off the helmet. She looked adorably confused. “Have I been set up?”
“Yes, I asked Mara to make sure you visited today,” Annie admitted. She’d been in a conversation back and forth with Mara for the last three weeks, explaining her impulsive plan. Mara had been generally supportive and helped to get Caroline off of Fortuna and over to Megaride at the right time.
