‘Jenny, I’ll pay your debts,’ he said.
She didn’t move. She didn’t say anything.
She didn’t know what to say.
‘This isn’t charity,’ he said quickly as she felt her colour rise. ‘It’s a proposition.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘It’s a very sketchy proposition,’ he told her. ‘I’ve not had time to work out the details so we may have to smooth it off round the edges. But, essentially, I’ll pay your boss out if you promise to come and work with me for a year. You’ll be two deckies instead of one-crew when I need it and cook for the rest of the time. Sometimes you’ll be run off your feet but mostly not. I’ll also add a living allowance,’ he said and he mentioned a sum that made her feel winded.
‘You’ll be living on the boat so that should be sufficient,’ he told her, seemingly ignoring her amazement. ‘Then, at the end of the year, I’ll organise you a flight home, from wherever Marquita ends up. So how about it, Jenny?’ And there was that smile again, flashing out to warm parts of her she hadn’t known had been cold. ‘Will you stay here as Charlie’s unpaid slave, or will you come with me, cook your cakes on my boat and see the world? What do you say? Marquita’s waiting, Jenny. Come sail away.’
‘It’s three years’ debt,’ she gasped finally. Was he mad?
‘Not to me. It’s one year’s salary for a competent cook and sailor, and it’s what I’m offering.’
‘Your owner could never give the authority to pay those kind of wages.’
He hesitated for a moment-for just a moment-but then he smiled. ‘My owner doesn’t interfere with how I run my boat,’ he told her. ‘My owner knows if I…if he pays peanuts, he gets monkeys. I want good and loyal crew and with you I believe I’d be getting it.’
‘You don’t even know me. And you’re out of your mind. Do you know how many deckies you could get with that money?’
‘I don’t want deckies. I want you.’ And then, as she kept right on staring, he amended what had been a really forceful statement. ‘If you can cook the muffins I had this morning you’ll make my life-and everyone else who comes onto the boat-a lot more pleasant.’