Page 17 of The Wedding Proposal
‘I will switch them on?’ Carmelo gazed greedily at the computers as Elle opened the windows in an effort to let some of the heat out of the room.
‘In a while. Other things to do first.’ Elle began to unplug leads from the backs of monitors.
Carmelo gasped. ‘We will not know how to put the wires again!’
Elle grinned. ‘Don’t worry. I know. I don’t like leads that look like spaghetti.’
Carmelo laughed, eyes shining.
Working steadily, they soon had the monitors lined up at the side of the room as if they were queuing for something, then a row of computer towers, each with a keyboard on top, and a nest of computer mice. They wiped down the tables and rearranged them in an island, back-to-back and side-to-side.
‘They don’t fit,’ observed Carmelo, sliding his fingers down one of the gaps created by differing heights and shapes.
‘The gaps will come in useful.’ Elle surveyed her collection of monitors and began lifting — heaving in the case of the older, heavy models — them into place, one on each table. She wrung out a cloth and put Carmelo in charge of wiping the monitor cases, allocating each table a keyboard and a CPU. Then they began on the wires, swiftly plugging in and screwing into place, dropping cables between tables, looping surplus and securing it with ties.
She looked at her watch. And yelped. ‘I have to go.’
Carmelo looked disappointed. ‘Tomorrow—’
‘School.’ She fixed him with a beady eye. Then, as he nodded in resignation, she asked, ‘What time will you finish?’
He looked suddenly hopeful. ‘Twelve o’clock.’
‘I’ll wait for you here and you can show me how much you can do on a computer.’
‘Yes, I will like to!’ His thin, big-eyed face glowed.
‘After you’ve been to school,’ she emphasised.
He sighed. ‘OK. I will do it.’
‘But now I’ve got to rush. See you tomorrow, Carmelo.’ Elle grabbed her things, ran downstairs and gabbled a quick update to Joseph as she returned the computer room keys so that he could lock up, later; then she rushed out across the courtyard and back towards the yacht marina.
Inevitably, because she was in a hurry, she missed a turn and came out too far along the waterfront, breathless and sweating, but she followed the creek back to the Shady Lady, taking her life in her hands when a car suddenly swerved off the seafront road to cross Manoel Bridge.
The boat was as she had left it. She wondered where Lucas was, and then reminded herself that there was no reason for her to know.
It felt almost familiar, now, to shove the gangplank into place and unlock the door to the saloon. She flicked the isolator switches and activated the air con to counteract the sweltering heat that had built up aboard before jumping down the steps and into her cabin. A knee-length summer dress might be suitable for the Nicholas Centre but she was pretty sure it would be a pain when cleaning a yacht, so she wriggled quickly out of the dress and into denim shorts and a sleeveless top. She found her oldest flip-flops, purple with cheerful blue beads, and then whisked back through the cabin, switched everything off, locked up, and hurried along the hot concrete of the quayside to where Seadancer was moored.
This time, Elle went straight up the gangplank, shouting her hellos. Loz appeared from the forward deck. ‘Just in time for a glass of wine.’
Elle giggled. ‘I’m supposed to be working.’
Loz looked struck, before her face broke into a beaming smile. ‘Oh yes. We’ll get lunch together, then. Why are you out of breath? You didn’t rush, did you?’
‘I was only just going to make it—’
‘Make what? Slow down, Elle. You’re in Malta. It’s hot. The boat would still have been here in five minutes. Don’t worry.’
Don’t worry wasn’t a philosophy that Elle had ever lived by, especially since Ricky. But it sounded attractive. She resolved to try to apply it.
The Seadancer’s galley was considerably larger than the Shady Lady’s. Elle got Loz to sit down at the dinette and began to wash and slice salad things, cutting cooked chicken breasts into neat fans and buttering crusty bread — ‘Hobz,’ said Loz — and arranging it on two plates.
Loz looked aghast. ‘What about you?’
‘I’ll have a sandwich while I clear up.’ Elle needed the money from Loz and Davie and didn’t want them to think she was only playing at working for them. Being domestic help was new to her but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be the best domestic help possible.
‘I’ll eat here, then,’ said Loz, immediately. She disappeared up on deck and Elle heard her calling to Davie. ‘I’m eating in the galley so that I can chat to Elle. Do you want to join us or stay there? Oh good, bring the wine, darling.’
