Smooth Sailing (34 page)

It was fairly early in the day, just about ten thirty when Mandy decided it was time to start drinking. Kaatje called out to Laurie and asked her to make Planter’s Punch for their guests. Laurie went below and mixed up a batch, having learned the recipe from Kaatje on her previous visit. However, she used less rum than was called for and decided she would only add more if one of the girls demanded it. Luckily, none of them seemed to be connoisseurs of Planter’s Punch and they happily quaffed the light-alcohol beverages. To Laurie’s dismay, even using a little rum was dangerous when your guests wanted their glasses refilled every fifteen minutes. She began to understand why parents worried about binge drinking, because these girls had obviously learned how to binge with the best of them.

By the time they got out to the best snorkeling spot around an hour and a half had passed. Kaatje set the anchor herself, having not properly worked out the details with Laurie, and when she signaled to Laurie she said, “I don’t think we can let them go snorkeling. I don’t see how we can keep an eye on all of them since they don’t seem like the sorts to follow directions.”

“I agree, but how do we stop them? It’s part of the deal.”

“The deal’s off. I’m the captain, and I’m responsible for their safety. I’m not afraid to make them mad. I’d rather have a mad customer than a dead one. But let’s see what they want to do.”

Determinedly, she walked up to the trampoline where the girls were sunbathing and said, “Snorkeling doesn’t look great today. The water’s been turbulent and visibility is limited. If you really want to go we’ll need to go in pairs. Laurie and I will each take one of you, and then we’ll take the next two out.”

The girls exchanged unhappy looks, then Mandy said, “We don’t need to snorkel. Can we jump in and swim?”

“Sure. Just stay close enough for Laurie and me to keep an eye on you.”

“Are there sharks around here?” Lisa P. asked.

Stunningly, Kaatje nodded slowly. “Yeah, we have our share. That’s why you need to stay close. I have a bat I can use if I need to. Just yell really loudly if you see a dorsal fin.”

“No thanks,” Mandy declared. “We’ll stay on the boat. Can we hook up an iPod or something?”

“Yeah, sure. I have a stereo system. More drinks?”

“Can we take off our suits?” Mandy asked.

“Absolutely. I’ll be right back.”

When Kaatje walked back to the cabin, Laurie said, “Was that really the best idea? More drinks?”

“I’d rather have them drunk on the deck than drunk in the water. It’s not always easy to come back with the same number of people you left with.”

“Especially with the sharks,” Laurie said quietly. “Where did that come from?”

“I’m just glad they didn’t ask to see the bat.” Kaatje chuckled and climbed up to sit in the pilot’s seat. Even at anchor, she clearly wasn’t off duty, as she gazed across the nearly empty horizon then turned her head to the left and started again.

Laurie got busy and served another round of drinks, studiously avoiding looking at the girls’ now-bare breasts. She tried to coax them into having lunch, but too much rum and too much hot sun had robbed them all of their appetites. Laurie came back to the cockpit and said, “We don’t have to buy dinner for a couple of days. I don’t think they’re going to eat a bite.”

“Cool. I bought some really good lobster salad.” She smacked her lips. “I could have a little right now if someone wanted to get me some.” Pointing to the horizon, she added, “I’m working.”

“I can see that.” Laurie gave her a quick kiss and went to rustle up lunch.

*

They had a pretty nice afternoon, all things considered. The girls slept on the trampoline and worked on their tans and they seemed fairly happy with that setup. Their music was loud and mundane, but it was nice to know they weren’t getting into trouble.

About two hours before they were scheduled to be back in dock, Laurie went up and told them that they were going to pull the anchor up and start to sail again. Everything seemed fine until they were about a half hour away. Laurie hadn’t heard the sound in quite a while, but there was no way to disguise the awful, grating noise of someone vomiting. And as soon as she heard one person do it, another one started. She looked at Kaatje, who just shook her head. “Let them get it out of their system. When they ruin the trampoline, they’ll come back here. Go downstairs and grab a bucket, then fill it up with seawater, because once they start throwing up back here it’ll get really slick.”

Feeling a little green herself, Laurie complied, bringing up the bucket and filling it by standing on the transom. Unfortunately, as Kaatje predicted, the girls did contaminate the trampoline, then came back to the aft, where they were, and continued to be sick. Kaatje took pity on them. She dropped the sails and turned on the motor. That made the ride a little less bouncy, then she spent a few minutes trying to convince them that there was a way to get over their nausea by staring at the horizon or focusing on something stable. That didn’t seem to help much, but eventually they were back at the buoy. After returning the women to the dock Kaatje pulled up in the dingy. She looked up at Laurie and said, “We’d better take the boat over to the pier to wash her.”

“Really?” Laurie deadpanned

Kaatje climbed aboard, her usual snarky smile back in place. “My prediction was correct. I’m glad I got them to pay ahead of time because I didn’t get one cent for a tip.”

“Not a cent?”

“Nope. Usually people leave something for the first mate even if they stiff me, but you obviously didn’t impress our first guests.”

“I’m glad we got through our first day, but if every day is like this, it’s going to have to become a non-alcoholic party boat. I was really close to hanging over the rail when they started to vomit.” She cast a disgusted glance down at her feet. “I’m still close.”

Kaatje started up the motor. Laurie cast them off and they drove around the tip of the island to a public dock. It took a while to clean the boat properly, and having Kaatje playfully hit her with the water from the hose every once in a while was very welcome.

As Laurie carefully dried the brightwork, she asked, “How would you rate today’s sail?”

“In terms of what?”

“I don’t know. Just in general. Like on a scale of one to ten.”

She looked thoughtful for a minute. “Probably a seven.”

That couldn’t be true! They were thrown up on! “A seven? Like if ten was the best?”

“Yeah,” Kaatje said, seemingly seriously. “They didn’t complain about anything, and it’s nice when I don’t have to go snorkeling.”

“But you love snorkeling.”

“Yeah, but only when people appreciate it. I don’t think the girls were nature lovers. I would have had to supervise them like babies.” She grinned. “Do you disagree?”

“No, they would have been several handfuls. But if they were sevens what kind of creature would rate a one?”

Without a flicker of humor, Kaatje said, “I hope you never meet a one, or a two for that matter.”

A cold chill settled around Laurie despite the heat. Those girls could not have been sevens. Kaatje was teasing. She had to be.

A FEW DAYS later Kaatje arranged to have her parents come for a sunset sail. They’d gone to the store to buy wine and snacks, and Laurie busied herself arranging the food while Kaatje cleaned up from their previous guests.

When everything was shipshape, Kaatje called her father and gave him their estimated time of arrival. To Laurie’s surprise, they motored over to the dock rather than going to get them in the dinghy. “It’s kinda cool being able to drive over to pick your parents up,” Laurie commented.

“My father can catch a line and help me touch and go. He’s a good sailor. It’d be nice if I could do this for my paying guests, but I’d be in dry dock every other week handling the repairs.”

The Hoogebooms were right on the dock, looking more casual than the last time Laurie saw them. Theo wore khaki shorts and a short-sleeved Madras plaid shirt, making him look ten years younger. And Antonia looked lovely in a simple print sundress. As they approached, Laurie mused over how much they looked like a couple. There was something about them that made them fit together, and she wondered if she and Kaatje would someday be the same.

Antonia boarded quickly, vaguely ignoring Theo’s instructions and following Kaatje’s quieter ones. Kaatje winked at her mother when she passed by, then held a hand out to her father who jumped aboard like a cat, quick and sure-footed as Kaatje was. With barely a second’s pause they motored away from the dock.

Antonia offered Laurie a hug. “We’re very happy to have you back.”

Theo’s greeting seemed sincere, but more formal. “Very good to see you again. Kaatje’s told us all about your big success.”

Laurie poured wine for all, while Kaatje guided them out of the harbor. “It was more successful than I had any right to expect. But I’m very, very glad that part of my life is over.” She held up her glass and tapped it against Kaatje’s. “To my second act.”

*

They sailed out into open water, skimming along small waves in the steady breeze. It was a picture-perfect night, with a few clouds in the west serving as stunning backdrops to the setting sun.

Antonia said, “Kaatje showed us hundreds of photos from the park, but I admit to being jealous of her. I’d love to see it for myself one day.”

“Show them the DVD,” Kaatje said, urging Laurie towards the galley. “Her staff gave her a wonderful going-away gift. She makes it sound like they were glad to get rid of her, but you can see how much they love her by this.” She looked over at Laurie with a proud smile.

Laurie sat between Theo and Antonia, opened her laptop and inserted the DVD. Even though she’d watched it five or six times already, Kaatje dropped the sails and came over to perch on the railing behind her parents. “It’s really cool,” she said, exchanging a bright smile with Laurie.

The disk started by showing a close-up of the Bee Hive, then it pulled away at a very fast clip to provide an aerial view of the entire park. “They used some canned footage,” Laurie said. “They didn’t hire a helicopter to shoot this just for me.”

“They would have,” Kaatje said, still grinning at her.

As they took the viewer around the park, Laurie’s staff commented on the role she’d played in bringing each attraction to fruition. There were a lot of inside jokes, and a few shots obviously taken from security cameras, one which showed Laurie kicking a stalled car on a ride, then falling onto her butt from the impact.

“Could I convince you I did that just for a joke?” she chuckled.

The disk was fairly short, just ten minutes, but it gave the viewer the very clear message that Laurie was held in high esteem by the people she worked with the closest. At the end of it she felt tears come to her eyes, and she wiped them away, embarrassed to show how it had gotten to her.

“It must feel a little like a death in the family,” Antonia said.

“It would feel like being released from prison for me,” Kaatje said. “But that’s not how Laurie feels about leaving.” She put her arm around her and hugged her tightly.

“No, it didn’t feel like prison until the very end when I wanted to leave to be with Kaatje. You’re right, Antonia, it was like being in a big family.”

“And now you have to ride out those feelings of loss.”

“I don’t think of it like that,” Laurie said. “That part of my life is over. I’m going to be too busy to think about Teddy Bear and his friends. I have to learn to be a sailor, or I’ll never get promoted to first mate.”

“If you were to go back, what would you do next?” Theo asked.

“She’s not going back, Dad,” Kaatje said, somewhat testily.

“But you haven’t resigned, right?” Theo asked.

“No, not technically. I’m on a leave.”

“Couldn’t they offer something you’d consider?”

“That would be a very tall order. The chances are slim. I assume I’ll resign when my leave is over.”

“But what might you do…if you went back?”

What would be a job worth taking? That was a tough one, especially since Luxor would have to figure out a way to get Kaatje legal status. But where there was a will… “I’ve been in project management since I started, and there isn’t much left for me there. I’d probably want to get some experience in park management. If you want to get to executive VP you’ve got to show your versatility.”

“How many executive VPs do they have?”

“Not many. Fifteen or sixteen.”

“Were you aiming for that?”

Laurie laughed. “I was aiming to be CEO.”

Looking a little surprised, Theo said, “Did you have a chance?”

She leaned back, stretching while gazing up at the darkening sky. It was hard to answer that without sounding like a blowhard, but an honest question deserved an honest answer. “I had a good chance. I was the third youngest senior VP, which means I’d have time to get there. If you’re made SVP when you’re forty, you can run out of years. Another thing in my favor is that they try very hard to promote women. The president of my division is a woman, and she’s on the short list of people who could take the next step. But she’s fifteen years older than I am, and she might time out. If I made president of a division by the time I was forty-five, there isn’t a reason in the world I couldn’t keep going. At that point, timing has a lot to do with it. And keeping yourself in the business news as much as possible, of course. The market has to believe in you.” She sat there for a second and let herself consider what it would be like to run a huge, international company like Luxor. It made a thrill chase down her spine, but when she caught Kaatje’s gaze, the pleasure of that thought disappeared. Kaatje would never be happy being the spouse of the CEO. That was an eighteen-hour-a-day job, with tons of international travel, and it didn’t matter that the pay was in the millions. Those six free hours a day didn’t allow for a happy family, and that’s what she wanted from life.