A Fine Cast of Characters - J. Dane Tyler [24]
Kelly smiled, then looked down. “I’m … I’m sorry I didn’t help you. Before, I mean. What you did was … that was really amazing.”
“Pff, please,” Sam gave a dismissive wave, then smiled at Kelly again. “Look, we’re all afraid of something. I’m scared of … well, I’m scared of being stranded out here with Edward, to be honest. All my life I’ve had to do stuff for myself. I didn’t mean anything—you know, toward you—when I said that stuff about being a man before. I don’t want to be a man, but that fucking pussy Edward makes me sick. I … I didn’t mean to …”
“You didn’t hurt my feelings or anything. I just wish … well, I guess I wish I had your …”
“My balls?”
“I was going to say courage,” Kelly grinned.
Sam laughed. “It’s out of necessity. Besides, when the chips were down and people were panicking—including me—you and the Captain stepped up and got everyone’s shit together. You just need to be a little more secure. Tell you what. We’ll stick together on this ship and you’ll see. You’re gonna be fine. Stay by me until you feel confident and before long, I’ll be following you. Watch.”
Sam gave Kelly a comforting hug. Kelly embraced her back, with more emotion than she would have guessed. When they separated, Kelly’s eyes stung with welling tears. Sam wiped at them with a gentle finger, then pulled her hand down with a surprised frown. “Ah, damn. Broke a nail rowing. Fucking Edward.” She clucked her tongue and smiled at Kelly again. “We’ll get through this together, okay?”
Kelly nodded. “Okay.”
“I’m probably gonna need a shoulder to lean on, too, and—”
“Ladies? Willy’s on deck, and he’s ready for you to climb aboard.” Flanagan stood between Edward and the rope ladder to ensure there was no breach of protocol this time.
“I’ll go first so you don’t have to deal with Stinky Willy and his wandering eyes up there,” Sam said, and patted Kelly on the knee as she rose. “I’m up first,” she said, and Flanagan nodded.
“Careful on the ladder, Ms. Whitaker. The rungs’re wet, okay?”
“Gotcha, thanks, Captain,” she said, and smiled. Her face set with determination and she took the first rung over her head, and stepped onto the ladder. Flanagan tugged on it to make it taut for her, pushing against the side of the raft with his feet to press it against the bulkhead of the ship, and the rubberized canvas squeaked and squealed. Sam scampered up the rungs like a spider traipsing its web, and Kelly admired her athleticism again until she vanished in the fog.
A slap drifted down, and a grunt and “ow” carried down. “Watch the hands, Jurg-off,” Sam snapped. Kelly smiled despite herself. The girl was a spitfire, and she couldn’t understand why someone like her would entangle herself with anyone like Edward. She shook her head to clear it, and Flanagan watched her.
“You okay, Kelly?”
She gave a nod and it was far more definitive than she felt. “I’m ready.”
Flanagan gestured up the twisting ladder, rocking side to side. She took a deep breath and grasped the first rung above her head, just as Sam did, and a sudden swamp of sweat coated her palms and chilled her.
Flanagan saw the pause. “I’m right here if anything happens. I can be right beside you ‘fore you can say ‘Flanagan’s Shenanigans’.” He winked at her. “Don’t be scared.”
She tried to smile but nothing happened. She swallowed but choked on the dry lump in her throat. She stared straight ahead of her at the planks in the ship’s siding and one after the other, she pulled rungs beneath her. The lapping of the waves on the sides of the vessel began to recede, and her head swam. Don’t pass out, she chided herself, do NOT pass out!
“C’mon, Kelly, you’re doing fine, hon,” Sam’s voice knifed through the mist and bolstered Kelly from the deck. “You’re doing great. Just keep doing that. I’m right here waiting for you.”
Kelly tried to focus on the bulkhead in front of her, beaded with condensation from the fog, and listen to the sound of Sam’s voice.
“That’s it, Kelly, just keep coming up, one at a time like that. I can almost reach you