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CHAPTER11
Declan
“How did he take the news?” Venus asked when I entered the hotel room suite again.
I shrugged. “He told me not to worry about it. That his wife didn’t enjoy sailing and the kids have him so busy with school sports, that it was just going to sit in the dock anyway.”
“Even with that, he could’ve sold it. I’d be more than happy to pay for the boat,” she offered.
Taking the seat beside her on the couch I replied, “That’s not necessary.”
“Why not? You only borrowed it because of me. I should be the one to compensate him,” she explained.
“I told him that when his kids grow up, his next boat is on me,” I said. Of course, that won’t change the fact his wife hates being on the water. That’s all for him to figure out. I couldn’t imagine not sailing. It was as though the boat was a part of me. Nothing could change that. I looked at Venus and knew that she had wanted to go sailing, but had our ordeal changed that? “How are you doing?”
“I’m okay. The hot shower did wonders to get the stink off me. I swear I had to wash my hair three times to get it to stop smelling like fish,” she sighed.
I leaned over and inhaled the fresh scent. “Much better.”
She wrinkled her nose and said, “There’s plenty of hot water left.”
Lifting my t-shirt to my nose I said, “Is that a hint that I smell?”
Venus said, “If you’d like me to be less subtle, I can be. But to answer your question, yes. You smell like a fisherman, not a sailor.”
I had wanted to take one as soon as we checked into the suite, but even though it had two bedrooms, it had only one bathroom. “I am a gentleman, and I believe in ladies first.”
“Much appreciated. But this lady is now clean. And she’d also appreciate the gentleman being the same. You promised me ice cream, and I don’t want it to smell like fish.”
She hadn’t really answered my question about sailing. I could broach the subject later. There was no rush. I knew she’d asked me to take her sailing, but just because that didn’t work out, it wasn’t like there was a rush to part ways. Then again, we hadn’t really talked about what we were doing. I booked this hotel from the fishing boat because I knew we needed some place to stay.
I got up from the couch and said, “I’m going to take a quick shower, and then we can head out.”
“Don’t rush on my part. Feel free to wash as long as it takes to remove the smell,” she teased. “Besides, it will give me time to call my daughter. She’ll be thrilled to hear that we are back on land.”
One of us is. I wish we weren’t.
I leaned over and placed a kiss on her cheek. “I’ll see you when the hot water runs out.”
Not that I planned on staying in the shower all that long, but as I soaped up for the second time, there was a knock on the bathroom door.
It opened slightly and Venus said, “There is a man at the door. He doesn’t speak English, and I have no idea what he’s trying to say.”
I hadn’t ordered anything and I sure in hell didn’t like a stranger in the suite with Venus. We were still in a foreign country. There were dangers that neither of us were familiar with.
“Come in here and close the door,” I ordered. Quickly rinsing the soap off, I reached for a towel and wrapped it around my waist. Getting out of the shower I said, “You stay in here and I’ll go see what he wants.”
I didn’t give her any chance to argue, and I opened the door and went to meet him. I could feel Venus peering at me through the crack of the doorway. Turning I shot her a look, and then I heard the door click closed. Not that I expected the man to attack me, but if he did, she didn’t need to witness what was going to go down.
“Can I help you?” I asked in English, not knowing what language he spoke. When he started to talk, I realized this wasn’t working. I grabbed my cell phone and pressed a button for him to speak, then hit translate. I used it often in my line of work because I traveled all over the world.
“The captain said you left a bag on his boat. He sent me to deliver it to you and to invite you both to join him for dinner.”
I thought about it and with all the commotion, I had miscounted how much luggage Venus had. It was nice of him to make sure it was returned. Pressing the button, I spoke into the phone and said, “Please tell the captain that we appreciate his offer for dinner, yet my wife is very tired from the events of today. And also thank him for returning my wife’s luggage.”
It translated for him, and he nodded. Then spoke again with a huge smile. I translated it into English, and he had said, “You have a beautiful wife. I too am married. A happy wife is a happy life.”
I nodded and handed him twenty US dollars for his time. He left and then the bathroom door opened, and Venus stepped out.
