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“Where are my manners? Come on in.” Will held the door open and motioned for them to enter.
“Keep it steady,” she directed. “One step up over the threshold.”
Connor was walking backwards. He bit down on his lip and shot a quick glance over his shoulder as he walked backwards.
“S’all good, Connor, keep going,” the other man, Levi, said. “I’ll let you know when you have to turn.” Will lived in a duplex, with his mum on one side and his smaller unit on the other. Her house had a long hallway at its entrance, with the living areas at the back next to the patio. His was designed the same, except for the two fewer bedrooms. The backyards were joined, a large undercover patio area with an outdoor kitchen, firepit, and gardens with a small lawn area leading down to the waterfront finishing the area off. It made for the perfect spot for drinks.
“Katy,” his mum exclaimed in a flurry of loose linen and hugs for the woman he’d only just met. “We’re setting up outside. Come, come,” his mum directed before pausing and asking, “The cake doesn’t need to be refrigerated, does it?”
“No, don’t put it in the fridge. It’s fine as is until you cut it, then just an airtight container will do. You can freeze as much of it as you like.” She explained the steps his mum would no doubt follow and watched as Connor and Levi manoeuvred the board into place, gently removing their hands without jostling it any more than necessary.
Katy let out a breath, and her shoulders relaxed. When Levi ran a hand through her dark hair, smoothing it down, Will saw a flash of adoration pass between them, and Will was, for the first time since his marriage had ended, jealous of another couple.
Connor had stepped away, looking out at the wide waterway behind the house. “This is a beautiful spot. Beautiful house too, Mrs Preston.”
Will snorted out a laugh as his mum gave Connor the lecture that Mrs Preston was her ex-mother-in-law, and she’d never liked the old biddy. The only time she’d seen her happy was when his parents had separated. Now his nan had Pam to contend with, but the joke was on all of them. His nan had received the shock of her life when she’d met Pam—tattooed and pierced, she was half his father’s age and a hell of a lot of fun. She made his mum look like an angel, but wouldn’t you know it, his nan and Pam had become fast friends, getting along like a house on fire.
“Should we have a look?” Katy asked. “It wasn’t the easiest thing to get to balance being so top-heavy. I’m really hoping you like what I came up with, Cheryl.” She carefully lifted the lid on the box and stepped back. Will’s eyes widened, and he let out a low whistle.
“My God, that’s incredible,” he murmured as he walked around the cake. On a board about the size of an A3 piece of paper, the cake was shaped into a cruise ship, long smooth lines of the bow and stern with tiny windows painted on, decks filled with miniature deck chairs and swimming pools, water slides, a movie screen, and the Dream Liner logo on its stacks. Aqua-coloured water that looked deceptively translucent surrounded the ship, smooth except for a low rolling swell and the ripples from the wake.
“She’s pretty amazing, isn’t she,” Levi commented, sending one of those adoring smiles to Katy while casually leaning into Connor as he rested his forearm on Levi’s shoulder. Will’s gaze bounced between them, and he realized that when Katy meant partners, she didn’t mean business partners. The two men looked at him as if checking his reaction before they looked down to his tee. The black shirt had a simple message emblazoned down its left side. “Love” was written in rainbow colours. Levi nodded to it. “Your shirt’s cool.”
Will smiled back. “I like it. It’s a nice way of saying ‘fuck you, I still exist’ to all the haters.”
Connor coughed out a laugh and ran his hand down Levi’s back, settling it on his waist. That small move was full of intimacy. Will smiled and ducked his head away until Connor asked him, “So, what’s the significance of the ship?”
“Did I not tell you?” Katy exclaimed excitedly.
“I work on cruise ships. Just got a promotion.” He grinned, still giddy when he thought about the letter proudly framed on his dad’s wall of models of classic sailing ships. While his mum passed around a few beers to them, he smiled gratefully at her and murmured his thanks.
“To what?” Connor asked.
“Captain.” He grinned, and Levi choked on his mouthful. “That’s never gonna get old saying that.”
“Congratulations, man. That’s brilliant.” Levi coughed into his elbow and held out his other hand to shake. “You’re really young to be captain, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, a little, but I’ve been working towards it since I was a teenager. Went to a specialist high school and then two degrees at uni, and I’ve been on cruise ships working my way up the ladder ever since.”
Will motioned for them to sit, and they kicked back on the loungers by the water’s edge.
“We should do that,” Connor murmured. “Go on a cruise together. Maybe a big group of us.”
“You should.”
five
Will
Present Day
Still half asleep, Will squinted in the unforgiving light of the bathroom attached to his stateroom. He was not a morning person at the best of times. But having woken up after a few sleepless nights and thirty-two hours of shifts in two days, Will was not his chipper self. His body clock had also been knocked for six. It was the middle of the night, yet he was waking up ready for another long shift.
The last night of a cruise was always wild. Everyone was out partying until dawn, but this time a guest had overdone it. Will had been about to knock off when the call came through from Ezio Dimitriades, the on-board doctor.Unconscious male, early twenties, suspected drug overdose.As much as they screened passengers coming on board, they could never guarantee they were completely drug-free. So, fearing for what the young man had taken, Will made the call and pulled the ship out of its chartered course. He detoured along a shipping channel, travelling due west until they were close enough to rendezvous with the Coast Guard chopper and medivac the patient off Will’s ship.
Will smiled.My ship.Even after five years of captaining the MV Dreamcatcher, he still got a kick calling her his.
After they’d docked in Sydney Harbour, they smoothly disembarked a thousand passengers, refuelled, restocked everything a cruise ship needed for a seven-day trip, looked after waste disposal and urgent maintenance works, had a staff changeover for those finishing their three, five, or seven months at sea and boarded another thousand guests. Will was responsible for ensuring everything ran flawlessly, but he didn’t do it alone.
