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“Yes. Molly, I’m sorry, I’m afraid you’ll have to share,” El-Mudad said, sounding somewhat embarrassed. “There aren’t many guest rooms.”
“They’re big suites, though. I sacrificed quantity for quality.” I felt a bit defensive, having my awesome boat-present found wanting. “I didn’t design the yacht with family vacations in mind at the time.”
Which is why Neil added, “And no one is allowed on the top deck. That is adults-only.”
Amal made a gagging noise. “I won’t ask why.”
“That-a girl,” I said with a decisive nod.
“No running on the deck,” Mariposa called after Olivia, who raced into the open seating area to flop on the sofas.
“No running at all!” Neil added, at the same time I said, “Remember American Tail!”
Molly took Olivia’s hand as the girls wandered inside. Turning to Mariposa, I said, “Thank you for coming with us on such short notice.”
“I’ve done worse things for this job,” she quipped, and I laughed with her until I realized that we were her job. Then, I badly wanted to apologize for everything I’d ever asked her to do.
“We’ll make sure you get plenty of time to enjoy the sun and sea, sans preschooler,” I promised. I gestured to one of the staff members on the deck; their stupid white polos and shorts were going to have to be dealt with before we ever sailed again; they looked like a private school’s golf team. “Can you show Mariposa to her suite?”
“Yes, ma’am,” a slender, tan, blond woman who couldn’t have been older than twenty-five, volunteered cheerfully. The people who staffed superyachts were almost animatronic, but that was what we paid them for. Just once, I wanted to sneak down to their part of the boat and spy on them to see what went down when they weren’t waiting on us. I never would because that would be a massive violation of their privacy off the clock. Still, I imagined it being something like a cross between the third-class party scene in Titanic and the secret sexy dance party at Kellerman’s in Dirty Dancing.
“Let’s go inside, darling,” Neil said, putting an arm around my waist. He reached behind him for El-Mudad’s hand. “Why don’t we go relax by ourselves, let the girls have fun together, Olivia can go for a nap—”
“Nap?” Olivia shouted from inside as we entered the living room.
“You misheard him,” El-Mudad said quickly. “We were talking about the grownups taking a nap.”
“What Afi was going to say was that there is a teensy tiny movie theater on this boat, and you can take your toys in there and watch Frozen on the big, comfy chairs,” I lied. The overstuffed recliners in the media room were a nap sentence for any who dared to sit in them.
“Good idea. I need to put my feet up.” She tossed her hair. “Someone lead the way.”
“We’ll find it,” Mariposa said, shaking her head and smiling fondly.
“The rest of you,” El-Mudad began, pointing at the girls. “Stay on the boat. I don’t want to find out we’ve left you behind on the dock.”
“Can we swim?” Molly asked, clapping her hands.
“In which pool?” Neil asked.
Molly squealed with joy. “Okay, guys, come on, we have to go swimming.”
We left the girls to explore and set off for the forbidden sanctuary of our private deck. I couldn’t wait to get out to sea and lay naked in the sun all day, watching stupid YouTube videos on my phone without getting strange tan lines because I was too afraid of skin cancer to truly sunbathe and therefore would be wearing the most potent SPF commercially available.
“Can we take this to Venice someday?” I asked as I reached the top of the stairs. I drifted to the seating area, already unbuttoning my sleeveless Simkhai blouse.
“Sophie, what if a member of the staff is in our bedroom with the luggage right now?” Neil asked.
“Good point,” I said, my hands pausing. “Anybody in there?”
El-Mudad went to one of the sets of doors that led into the master bedroom and looked inside. “No one. You’re safe to disrobe, Sophie.”
“I’m not just going to disrobe.” I motioned to the hot tub currently enclosed within the glass walls that retracted to open up to the deck. “I’m getting in there and getting rid of these awful foot cramps.”
“No one told you to wear those shoes, darling,” Neil said, adding, “Although, I appreciate that you did.”
He strolled into the bedroom while El-Mudad opened the glass wall to the deck. I covered myself quickly. The windows were all tinted for privacy, but obviously, it wouldn’t work if they were open.
“Oh, Sophie, please,” El-Mudad said with a roll of his eyes. “You’ll be sunbathing topless tomorrow.”
“On the open sea,” I argued. “But also, I’ve usually done some highlighting and contouring on my problem areas.”
“You don’t have problem areas. Other than your self-esteem,” he called after me as I retreated to the privacy of the bedroom.
