In Over His Head

Chapter 10

By the time Sharla dragged her sorry butt out of her cabin the next morning, Kevin was already headed for shore with the captain and his chief engineer and she was spared worrying about awkwardness. 

Hopefully a jaunt with the Captain would clear his mind. Aggie seemed like he was a good friend as well as a trusted employee, and perhaps the weight of Kevin's father's presence would lift while they reminisced. At least she hoped so.

She eventually wandered down to the galley and met the head chef Frieda, who made her a nice strong coffee and gathered up a breakfast of toast and jelly with some fresh fruit before Sharla could even stick her nose into the fridge to see what she could scrounge.

"Here, love, this'll do you up," she'd declared with a giant grin, and slid the plate across the steel counter to where Sharla was leaning, nursing the coffee.

"Thank you. I thought you would go to the shore too?" she asked as she popped a cube of cantaloupe into her mouth. Refreshing and cool, it was exactly what she needed.

"No, I leave Aggie to buy his own ingredients when he wants to cook. I clear out completely because I cannot stand being in here when he is flailing away with my pots and pans. It triggers my anxiety," Frieda replied with another giant grin, folding her arms and leaning against the far counter.

How a robust, jolly woman with such a happy personality could be anxious, Sharla had no idea, but given Aggie had just as much of one meant they likely butted heads. "Ahh. Too many cooks in the kitchen," she joked, and winked.

"Exactly. Now, tell me about you, Red. His lordship never brought a woman with him like this. Not that we've seen him of late. His dad's death pulled him right into the circus."

"I am his wine business manager and advisor. I'm a sommelier," Sharla replied. "I started working for him about six months ago."

"You don't say! I wondered why Aggie was so excited about the wine list, and it took us quite a few days to find some of the bottles. That your doing?"

"Afraid so. It wasn't too much trouble, was it? We shipped a few from Barleystook, but I assumed—"

"Don't worry, we got them all. This area of Italy has so many damned superyachts there are services for whatever you bloody well want on a floating vacation home. We use several in Salerno to find whatever the family needs. Eugenie herself often flies in for a few days; most recently had us sail up to Barcelona. She's come twice since her husband passed, I think she doesn't want to stay on the Amalfi Coast anymore. Too many memories. Was a favourite of the late earl."

Sharla listened and ate as Frieda prattled on, talking about the family, life on the ship, some of the ridiculous requests they got from people that came to cruise on the Ariadne. It turned out that the Crawford family often let friends charter the ship when they weren't using it, so the crew were always hosting. Sharla thought it was smart, because that would defray the enormous cost of running the thing. She'd seen the ads for chartering. The money it took was bonkers.

"How long have you been onboard?" Sharla asked as she polished off the last bite of toast. The bread was unbelievably good.

"Oh, ten years or so? Jeffrey and Eugenie—I mean the late earl and his wife, they encouraged loyalty. Good folks," Frieda replied.

"I don't think the Countess likes me," Sharla said, and stood restlessly, the subject irking her. "She's always so nasty when she visits."

"She is? I suppose she treats you true like a staffer then."

"No, she's lovely with Mo and Peter and Rupert. She adores Kevin's London office manager James, calls him Jamie—which he hates—but with me? It's passive aggressive insults about my clothes or my hair, and she has these incredibly bitchy side glances that chill my blood. I hate it when she visits and I get the heck outta dodge. Kevin tells me it's nothing, it's just her way but I don't know."