Page 81 of Swept Away

“Nobody ever comes!” Lexi shouts, balling her fists as she draws back to stare out of the window again. “We can’t stay here. It’s too risky.”

She bites her lip and reaches up to re-do her bun. She ties it tightly, the way she does when she wants to feel in control. Her fingers are still trembling.

“You know what we have to do,” she says.

I close my eyes for a moment. If that houseboat’s damaged, if it’s gone under…I pull Lexi close again.

“You have to be OK,” I say roughly.

“Zeke…”

“No, I mean it. Youhaveto be OK. OK?”

She presses her head to my chest. “I’ll try,” she whispers. “I don’t know that either of us can promise more than that.”

I’ve never felt so glad to seeThe Merry Dormouse.

She’s still there under the rig, bobbing on the spot, looking so—I don’t know. Harmless. Helpful. Ready to rescue us, like she didn’t cause this whole nightmare in the first place.

It’s dim inside the boat. Above us, the rig lets out a jarring creak, and I shiver.

“This is it?” Lexi says, pointing to the small pool of water on the kitchen floor.

“I just can’t figure out where it’s coming from.”

Lexi frowns, checking the ceiling, the walls.

“Me neither.” She sighs, rubbing her forehead. “What do we do? Stay or go?”

I know what I’d always pick back home. I know what she’d choose, too. Lexi’s the person who stays, the one you want in your corner, and I’m the drifter.

But no part of me wants to sail away right now.

“The rig’s so big. Even if bits of it keep falling off, surely it’s safer than this?” I say, moving through to the bathroom. “I mean, Lexi, look.”

She swears under her breath. The drain cover has floated off again, and there’s at least two inches of seawater in the base of the shower.

“We watched a platform we’ve walked on falling into the sea,” Lexi says from behind me, reaching for the little cup and bucket I’ve been using to bail out the shower water. “We’ve done days at sea with this drain leaking. And the other leak is small—if we find it, we can plug it.”

I close my eyes and lean a hand against the bathroom wall for a moment.

“Zeke?”

“It’s just weird being back here again.”

“I know. I really thought we would never get back on this bloody boat. But…”

She comes over, nudging under my arm and wrapping herself around me. I let the warm fluff of her giant blond bun bat against my cheek, the way it always does when she holds me like this. The smell of the houseboat is making me feel a million things. They’re not good things. I breathe in Lexi instead.

“We’d have to leave Eugene behind,” I whisper. “He’s up there with all the other seagulls now and I don’t even know which one’s him.”

“Oh my God, Zeke…”

“I know. I know. I’m an idiot.”

She grips me tighter, that bucket still in her hand, pressed to myback. “Shut up, you’re not, you’re just…You get attached. Eugene lived with us here, and you ended up loving him even though he’s a selfish little shit who ate loads of our bread. There’s probably a name for it. It’s probably a syndrome, falling in love with someone just because you’re stuck with them.”

I wonder if we’re really talking about Eugene here.

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