Smooth Sailing (35 page)

*

After taking Theo and Antonia back to the dock, they moored, and Kaatje started to clean up. Laurie wanted to help, but a wave of fatigue hit her and she sat down, hoping it would pass quickly. She was still waking up every hour or two, and not getting a full-night’s rest. Her body believed it was ten in the morning, and no matter how much she wanted to sleep at night, her internal clock was sure it was daytime and that she’d pulled an all-nighter.

“Tired?” Kaatje asked, giving her a look.

“Very.” Feeling like she could fall asleep in seconds, she stretched out on the banquette. “But when I get into bed, I lay there for hours. The only time I’m sure I could sleep is the middle of the day, when we have guests.”

Kaatje walked over and sat next to her and started to play with her hair. “Can I help?”

“No, you’ve been very thoughtful. I have to just let it run its course. My body doesn’t understand why it’s not running around like mad, and why we’re up at night and asleep during the day.”

“Regrets?” she asked very, very quietly.

That not only woke Laurie, it propelled her into a sitting position. “No! I’ve never been happier in my life.” She held onto Kaatje, burrowing into her body. “Don’t ever think anything like that.”

Kaatje gently stroked her back, murmuring into her ear. “Sorry. It hit me when you had such a ready…and complex answer for my father. It made me wonder if maybe…”

“Kaatje,pay no attention to that. That’s how corporate people entertain themselves.” She pulled back and said, “Have you ever seen male dogs walk down the street?”

“Uhm…yeah.”

“Notice how they try to mark higher and higher to let other dogs think they’re big?”

Kaatje smiled. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

“That’s what corporate people do. We boast about how big we are and try to show everyone else how high we can pee. It’s just a game. It means nothing.”

“Are you sure? If you really need to stay in the corporate world we might be able to figure something out.”

“I’m absolutely sure. It wouldn’t be good for us, and us is all that counts now.”

Kaatje put her hands on Laurie’s shoulders and gazed into her eyes for a long time. “This is a very, very big change for you, Moppie. It would be a smaller change for me to move to Florida or LA than it is for you to be here. Make sure you’re comfortable with this before we get too invested.”

“I’m happy here. Being on this boat with you is a life most people couldn’t even dream of. It’s like being on vacation every day of the year. Who wouldn’t want that?” She tickled under her chin with a finger, and joined in when Kaatje broke into a fit of the giggles. For scant seconds and with a great deal of sympathy, she thought of Aaron and Andrea and Hiroshi and Toshi and Michiko just getting to work in Osaka.
Poor fools. They’d kill to be able to trade with me.

*

The next two weeks gave Laurie nothing but positive feedback on her decision to be first mate of
The Flying Dutchwoman
. Their days were perfection, with clear skies, moderate wind, and happy customers. It was as if Luxor had engineered the experience, and that perfection was assured.

It took the two full weeks, but Laurie was finally on Kaatje’s schedule. After work they relaxed on the boat, or went back out on the ocean for a little snorkeling. Now that Laurie was well rested and alert, Kaatje began teaching her to scuba dive, and she was ready to buy her own gear.

It was a warm afternoon, warmer than it had been in weeks, and after Kaatje took their guests back to the dock, she gazed up at Laurie from the dinghy. “You look like you want to jump in,” Laurie said.

Kaatje lobbed the painter up at her. “I do. And I’m going to.”

“Hey, why don’t we go to the beach? We haven’t been since I’ve been back.”

“Sure. Do you have your suit on?”

Laurie pulled her shirt up, showing her bright red suit. “Hang on. I’ll grab your book and a couple of towels.”

“I’m hanging.”

Soon they were on Kaatje’s bike, driving across the island to her favorite beach. Most of the tourists had gone back to their hotels, and they were almost alone on the wide cove of calm, aquamarine water on the French side. Kaatje laid their towels out and plopped down, smiling up at Laurie. “I’m happy.”

“I thought you wanted to go into the water.”

“I did. But I’m perfectly content now. You go in for me.”

Laurie ruffled her hair, then playfully pulled on an earlobe. “You’re constantly inconstant.”

“That’s what keeps you interested.”

Bending over, Laurie kissed her head. “Among other things.” Waving, she ran for the water and submerged herself as soon as it was deep enough. Then she lay on her back and kicked until her legs were tired. The water was still shallow, but the color changed dramatically just ten yards further out, turning a dark indigo. She’d learned that meant deep water, so she stayed where she was, watching for fish.

She squealed in delight when a tilefish skimmed right across her foot. The water was now shallow enough to walk, and she slogged through it looking for more, when she spotted a pair of starfish. They looked completely inert, letting the current move them where it would. It struck her that she was doing basically the same thing, and she suddenly needed to share that with Kaatje.

Because she had been working on her fitness by swimming for at least a half hour every day, she was able to return quickly. Nonetheless, she was winded when she tramped out of the surf and stood, dripping, over Kaatje. “Guess what I am?”

“A big drip?”

“Funny girl.” She sat next to her, and spent a moment just gazing at her. Kaatje was pretty in every light, but she was never lovelier than when she was outdoors with the late afternoon sun burnishing her face. Her dark hair shone brilliantly in the light, and her eyes held flecks of gold and many shades of blue, making tiny mosaics of them.

“So what are you?”

Now that she had to state her musings, they sounded funny. But she spit it out anyway. “I’m like a starfish.”

Kaatje leaned back and narrowed her eyes. “A starfish, huh? I think I need a little more explanation.”

Laurie reached over, took, and squeezed her hand. “I was looking at a pair of starfish and thought about how they just float along. That’s how I feel. Like I don’t have a schedule, or a boss, or a to-do list. I just let you and the ocean guide me.” She knew she was grinning like a kid, but she didn’t have to act like an adult with Kaatje.

Kaatje put a hand on her cheek and looked at her tenderly. “Does that make you happy?”

“Don’t I look happy?”

Kaatje grinned and nodded. “Yeah. You look very happy.”

“I’ve honestly never been happier in my life. If you’d told me a year ago that the biggest accomplishment of the year would be that I’d fall in love and move to the Caribbean, I would have told you you were mad. But I’ve fallen in love with a woman, and an island, and an ocean.”

“Don’t forget the
Dutchwoman
,” Kaatje teased.

“And a boat. But the woman’s at the top of the list.”

“You’re at the top of my list too.” Kaatje slipped an arm around Laurie’s shoulders and pulled her close. Her lips were warm and dry and felt fantastic when they touched Laurie’s.

“Let’s go home and make love,” Laurie breathed.

“You read my mind.”

THE PERFECT WEATHER was finally exhausted. Laurie woke, gazed out the window, and lay back down. A few minutes later Kaatje lifted her head, looked outside, then started to get up.

“It’s not even dawn,” Laurie yawned.

“It’s eight thirty.”

“No.” Then with less certitude, “Really?”

“Yeah. It’s really gray. It’ll probably start to rain soon.”

Laurie got up and went to the galley, staring out at the gray, gloomy day. “What do we do when it rains?”

“Get wet.”

Laurie turned and saw Kaatje’s smirk. “I know we’ll get wet. But what do we
do
?”

“Whatever we want. Read, go shopping, go hang out at my mom’s.”

“What can we do on the boat?”

Kaatje walked over to her and wrapped her arms around Laurie’s waist. “We can make love.”

“All day?”

“I could manage.” She leaned over and nibbled on Laurie’s neck. “Are you tired of me already?”

“No, of course not, but what if it rains for
two
days?”

“What happened to being like a starfish? Letting the wind and the weather carry you?”

She tried not to show the anxiety she felt. “I’m good with that. But…I don’t know where they’re gonna carry me.”

Kaatje playfully patted her bare butt. “That’s the fun of being carried.”

Being carried. Suddenly the thought of being carried along without direction wasn’t very appealing. A starfish didn’t look like it had a brain, and if it did it wasn’t a big one. Sailing was wonderful, and having guests was unpredictable and often more fun than she’d imagined. But sitting on a boat while it rained was going to take some getting used to. How did you get used to doing nothing? More important, why would you want to?

*

They spent a long time making breakfast, something they didn’t normally have time for. Laurie was beginning to like Kaatje’s favorite Dutch breakfast dishes, and to pay her back she cleaned the galley.

By the time they’d finished, it was raining. It wasn’t a downpour by any means, but it was August, peak of the hurricane season, and they were relying on last minute reservations to fill out their week. Kaatje was reading, and she had some of her favorite CDs in the stereo. Laurie poked around in Kaatje’s small library, finding nothing that caught her interest. Eventually, she got out her laptop and found a project that pulled her back into her favorite level of concentration—deep.

*

Around six o’clock, Kaatje walked up behind Laurie and tickled her neck. Then she leaned over and put her lips against Laurie’s ear. “Want some dinner?”

Flinching, Laurie turned and stared at her in surprise. “It’s dinner time?”

“Pretty close. We should go into town, since we didn’t go outside today.”

“Okay. That’d be fun. Just let me finish one last thing.”

Kaatje stayed standing behind her. “What are you doing?’

Laurie finished the note and started to shut her laptop down. “Writing thank-you notes. Seemed like a good day for it.”

“Thank-you notes?”

“Yeah.” She stood and picked up her laptop to return it to its secure spot in their cabin. “I sent out a mass e-mail after the park opened, but it wasn’t personalized. A personal note is the least I can do for all of the people who helped.”

“How many do you have to write?”

Laurie’s eyes shifted skyward. “I wrote around sixty today. I probably have another twenty to do.”

“Damn, that’s a remarkable number. Are you writing to every person who cooked a hot dog?”

“No. Just the ones I know by name.” She patted Kaatje indulgently. “Wouldn’t be very personal if I didn’t know them. I’m trying to mention something they did to help us succeed.” She slapped the side of her head with her hand. “It’s really taxing my memory.”

“I couldn’t have been more wrong. I assumed you were goofing off all day. Playing a video game or something.”

Laurie laughed. “I’ve never played a video game. I’ve never had time.”

“Now you do. We’ll find some teenager to teach you how to while away the hours, accomplishing nothing.”

“Not a good idea. I’d be obsessed with the game and work like a lunatic to master it. That wouldn’t be a bit of fun.”

Kaatje turned quickly and planted her hands against the wall, trapping Laurie between them. She pressed their bodies together, then kissed her. “We’ve got to find something for you to do—besides make love. Thank God you haven’t tried to be competitive with that.”

Laurie put her hands on Kaatje’s waist, then let them ride up a few inches to tickle her. Kaatje dropped her hands to protect herself, and started to back down the narrow hallway. “I’m keeping track of how many orgasms we each have,” Laurie called out. “I’m winning!”

*

The next morning had them making and enjoying another leisurely breakfast. Laurie started to look about for something to do when Kaatje’s phone rang. Laurie heard her engage in a long conversation about sailing. To her surprise, Kaatje told the caller that she couldn’t accommodate him that day, but that she’d be glad to take him the next. When she hung up, Laurie was staring at her. “Why’d you refuse a client?”

Kaatje shrugged her shoulders in a gesture that either meant, “I’m not sure,” or “I don’t want to tell you.” Either definition was irritating on the best of days, but when she was antsy, the gesture was particularly irksome.

“Kaatje,” she said, trying with all of her might not to betray her anger, “Come on. Tell me why you refused.”

Kaatje stuck her arms in the air and yawned loudly. Then she moved her shoulders around for a moment or two. “I could tell they’d be pains in the butt.”