Page 6 of Changing Tides
“My life isn’t only about food and social media.” Her smile was weak, and Joey wondered if that was true.
“I’ve taken a rare weekend off before the busy season and I wanted somewhere to take Denny. Where better than your beautiful island?”
The thick gray cloud gradually obscuring the rest of the island suggested it might not be beautiful for much longer. Joey checked out their clothing. They both wore lightweight jackets. “Where are you staying? Can I drop you back to the village?”
Marianne shuffled Denny onto her hip and looked away for a moment. “I’ll be honest, Joey. I came looking for you. I justwanted to apologize in person for the billing issues.” She looked around. “Isn’t your cottage nearby?”
Joey’s cottage was their stronghold. From the weather, and from the world when things got too much. No one visited except their brothers and their closest friends. And it was so basic, they couldn’t let Marianne see how simply they lived. That thought surprised them. They didn’t usually care about such things, but what Marianne thought of them somehow mattered.
They realized Marianne was still waiting. Eyebrows raised, a slight smile had broken through her tense expression.
“It’s not uh…child-safe. There are hooks and needles for mending the pots and all sorts of knives. Denny wouldn’t stand a chance.” They grinned to lighten the refusal and Marianne’s easy smile let them off the hook.
“Sounds like a house of horrors. Okay, you’ve convinced me. I’m staying at your lovely friends’ hotel. If you run us back, I’ll buy you lunch in return.”
A hundred reasons to say no ran through Joey’s head. They liked to take Sunday off whenever possible, but if they took time out to have lunch today, they’d need to work tomorrow.
“That would be grand, thank you.”
It was worth it to keep an important customer happy, wasn’t it? If they didn’t dig too deep into their motives that sounded perfectly reasonable. The wind picked up, blowing a fine mist of rain toward them. “Let’s get you two into the wheelhouse. It’s not very comfortable, but it’s dry.”
They took hold of Denny and stepped back onto Queen Maedbh. Marianne followed close behind.
“Boat.” Denny spoke for the first time since Joey had found them.
Marianne’s eyes widened, but Joey nodded encouragingly. “That’s right. Do you want to drive?”
Denny giggled. Joey turned and helped Marianne down into the boat. “Be careful, it’s slippery and you don’t want to land on your ass in this.” They indicated the puddles in the bottom of the boat, then scolded themself for their language in front of Denny.
Marianne laughed. “I’ll be careful.”
“Ass,” said Denny.
“Lucky me to have a child who could run and climb when he was barely a year, but is looking likely to get to two with a vocabulary that consists of any curse word that’s uttered within a mile of him.”
Marianne took Denny back from Joey and sat him on the plastic seat in the wheelhouse. “I’ll hold onto him.”
“Just till we get out into the bay, and then he can take the wheel.” Joey released the ropes and gunned the engine to get away from the dock. The wind wasn’t too bad, but they closed the door to the wheelhouse to keep Marianne and her son as warm and dry as possible.
“Now.” Joey shifted a nearby crate onto its end and pushed it in front of them at the wheel.
“Are you sure about this?” Marianne lifted Denny onto the makeshift step, and he grasped the wheel in his tiny hands, giggling with joy.
“Denny boat.”
“He talks more when he’s around you.”
Joey looked up in surprise and Marianne held their gaze. Joey had seen her pale eyes turn to ice when things went wrong on her TV show, but right now they were soft and searching. “Have you ever thought about having kids?”
They blinked and turned back to guide Denny in steering the boat toward the harbor entrance. This wasn’t a conversation they wanted to have with anyone, least of all Marianne. “I rarely think about relationships, and never about starting a family.”
As the sea got choppier, they lifted Denny down and passed him back to Marianne. “Thanks for your help, Denny. I’ll take it from here.”
Marianne was still watching them closely as she settled Denny. “Why not? You’ve got so much to offer.”
They let out a bitter laugh. “I’m a virtual hermit scraping a living on a rock in the Atlantic. I’m beating off the offers.”That’s not funny. It’s pathetic. Marianne stayed silent as they gave their full attention to steering into the harbor. They moored at the little dock right in front of the hotel just as the rain beat down in earnest.
As soon as they’d tied up, Joey pulled up their hood and lifted Denny in one arm, helping Marianne up onto the dock with the other hand. They ran together up the path to the Waterside, laughing as Denny shrieked and tried to bat away the water from his face.
