Saving The Pirate (Book Two)

47. New Land, New Adventure

She looked friendly, kind even. She approached her son lovingly, but then again.

She tried to kill us.

And now she knew I had courted her son.

"Fascinating to find a woman is working on a ship. My son tells me he saved you?" I stared a moment into the same eyes I've stared into a million times before and felt an icy chill run down my back.

Then, I looked at her son, his eyes hard, and his expression harder. I felt like I was taking a test I didn't prepare for until the last second. I gave the smallest smile I could give and carefully took her hand.

"That is accurate. H-hello," I said.

The woman captain glanced at her son before looking back at me, like checking if it was alright to talk to me. "I just wanted to say that it's lovely to meet another working woman. We need more of us, huh?" Yes, we did, I wanted to say, but I could only manage a nervous:

"Yeah."

She nodded, and that was the end of that conversation because then my boss stepped in. "Why don't you make supper? We should eat before we get there." 

I wasn't sure if he wanted me to say anything, so I didn't and nodded and then left, walking behind them to the gallery where I then began to make supper.

***

Now, I think it's fair to say that I had no idea how much food I should've made. I wasn't sure if I was making supper for one crew or two, and I most certainly didn't know if I should care what t]\ make or not. For a while, I just stared at the counter, running recipes through my head, until Tristan popped his head in.

"Hey, Annie, Jack asked if ye want te use the newly caught fish fer dinner."

I turned my head to look at him. "Who?"

"Mr. Handsome. Mr. Call Me By His Name."

"The blonde-haired man?"

"Aye. So what is it?"

"Sure? I guess so. Why not." Tristan seemed pleased by this and came over to me, leaning against the counter.

"Say, what's wrong, Annie? Ye look pale." I touched my face out of instinct and looked at him with a nervous smile.

"Nothing. Nothing's wrong." Tristan rose a brow, and I knew there was no escaping this. I sighed. "Don't you think that this is all a little...scary? Fairytale creatures came to life, and my boss's mother is the captain of them! Am I supposed to just be alright with that?"

"No. I suppose not, but ye know, they seem alright. Jack is alright. He's uptight, but 'e's alright. And Chrissy's mother? Well, I don't know what te say. She seems excited te see him, though. I suppose that's good."

I thinned my lips, thinking about Captain's face. He looked so stressed and nervous like he didn't know what to do. I may have hated him a bit, but I couldn't ignore his face. I just wish I knew what to feel about all of this, what to think, and most importantly, what to do.

"Yeah," I said, and I was back at staring at the counter blankly, but I felt Tristan's blue eyes on me. 

"You know," Tristan said, evenly, "if I know Chrissy, I know he'll come around. He knows what's important to him."

I looked up at him. "But it's done, Twist. What's done is done. He did wrong; he knows he did, you know he did. I can't forgive him for that. How can I? He chose her over me."

"He was drunk."

"That's no excuse, and I can't allow it to be. He should've known better. He's a smart man; he knew what he was doing."