Page 68 of Adrift in Iceland
‘I’m going down to the engine room to see if it’s something I can sort out myself. Otherwise, we’ll have to get towed back in.’
‘How long before you’ll know?’
‘Give me five minutes.’
He headed below deck. In his experience, there were two or three things that caused the engine to cut out, and he was confident he could fix one or more of them and haveBrimfaxiback on her way. He checked the fuel line first, and it was fine. The spark plugs were still clean from when he’d done the scheduled maintenance a few weeks ago. The next thing he checked were the fuel filters, and there was the problem. Considering he changed them a few weeks ago, there was noway they should be clogged, but they were. That meant there was water getting into the fuel system somehow, or the fuel was contaminated. Either way, they were going to need towing back into port because he didn’t have spare filters on the boat, and even if he did, it wasn’t a five-minute job to change them.
‘It’s not anything I can fix,’ he told Astrid. ‘I’m going to radio the harbour master. Do you want me to explain to the guests?’
‘I can do that. I never thought something like this would happen. We’ll have to bump them onto tomorrow’s tour, and then I suppose we bump every group onto the next day…’
‘We’re still catching up from last Sunday, so maybe we need to run an extra tour on Monday to catch up.’
‘We had extra time off this week because of the weather, and now it’s payback time,’ she said with a rueful smile.
While they waited, the guests went below deck, and Astrid and Eva made drinks for them and entertained the guests as best they could until they could be on their way again.
Leifur waited in the wheelhouse. He’d reported the engine failure and requested a tow back into the harbour, but that was going to take some time. But another whale-watching company was going to send out a couple of its rigid inflatable boats to take the guests back to the quay.
‘They’re here to take the guests,’ he said to Astrid. ‘You and Eva should go too.’
‘I’m not leaving you alone.’
He relented. It was basic health and safety. ‘Okay, thanks. I don’t know how long it’ll take, though.’
‘If you’d rather Eva stayed…’
‘Astrid,’ he said softly.
She turned and left, and he sighed. Was this going to be a repeat of last night because he wasn’t sure he could listen to her going back and forth anymore about a decision she’dalready made?
They gathered on deck and helped the guests transfer into the RIBs, then he and Astrid waved them off.
‘Coffee?’
‘That sounds good,’ he said.
‘I’m sorry about last night,’ she began. ‘I shouldn’t have landed my indecision on you. It wasn’t fair.’
‘It’s okay.’
‘No, it isn’t. I hurt you, and I was asking you to help me feel better about that.’
‘Hey, don’t be hard on yourself. I understand.’
She brought the coffee over and set it on the table, taking the seat across from him.
‘You’re too good,’ she whispered, staring into her coffee.
‘I’m not as good as you think. I was this close,’ he held up his finger and thumb, ‘to begging you to stay.’
‘Really?’
He nodded. ‘I don’t want to lose you, but I also won’t be the person who stands in the way of your dreams.’
She moved around the table and sat on his lap, looping her arms around his neck. ‘Is this okay?’
‘Of course. My feelings haven’t changed. Have yours?’
