Chapter 21

Andi and Paul headed up the steps to the flybridge, carrying four coffee cups, a bowl of creamer and sugar packets, and a thermal pot of coffee. Paul knocked on the bulkhead before popping his head up the stairs. “You guys decent?”

“No, but we are dressed,” answered Stan.

“Good enough,” said Paul as he and Andi came up on deck. Stan was leaning over the nav station, entering data into his log. The couch was still folded down to a bed and Sunny was lounging under the covers, reading a book. They set up the coffee on the table out on the patio above the mezzanine and the four sat down to discuss their journey.

Stan laid out a chart and showed the circuitous route that Justice Atherton suggested to throw off any followers from the mainland or the Bahamas. “We’re right here. This was our final correction and we will soon be heading into the channel leading to Nisi Arcadia. Docking in about an hour.”

“Wow, how much fuel did we burn last night?” Andi’s Dream was running at over 20 knots most of the evening.

“Almost a thousand gallons, 995 gallons, precisely. We have more than enough to get back, so there’s no problem there,” replied Stan. “We circled and wandered a bit to throw off a follower.”

“We were followed?”

“Yeah, they finally dropped off at oh two hundred.”

“Damn,” Paul gasped.

“After we meet with Miss Nicoletta, we’ll know more about our visit here, you’re both invited to sit in on the meeting,” said Andi, “but there’s something else,” Andi paused unsure of herself because she mentioned it to Paul, but in no great depth. “We really like Yi. I mean, we like her a lot. She’s a hard worker, a world class chef and we just love her to bits. And the way she and the twins get along ... we would like to hire her on permanently, not just here on the yacht, but back home as well. I’ve made what I consider an excellent offer to be our live-in governess and chef, and hopefully someday, nanny.”

Stan paused for a beat or two, then said, “She’s a grown woman. She doesn’t need our permission to work anywhere.”

“I say good!” said Sunny, with a fist on the table. “Then we know where she’s at and we can get ahold of her!” She crossed her arms and nodded as if to seal the deal. “Then when the season is slow and we go visit Doctor Paul and Pastor John, we get to spend some time with her. We might get to see her two or three times a year.”

“Yeah,” said Stan, “The four of us together on this boat is the first time the four of us were together in almost two years. She’s always out on one gig or another.”

“I guess it’s up to her now,” said Paul. “One last bit of business, though. Stan, would you consider being the permanent captain of Andi’s Dream?”

Stan inhaled to say something, but Sunny said, “Commission or annual salary?”

“Annual salary.”

Stan inhaled to say something, but Sunny said, “Employee or independent contractor?”

Paul and Andi conferred for a long time, then Andi finally asked, “Will this boat be able to tie up at the dock in Jupiter?”

Stan inhaled to say something, but he looked at Sunny before he spoke. She gave him a “Why are you looking at me?” shrug and then said “It should, but only at dock’s end. We can check when we get back there, but a six-foot draft isn’t unusual in Jupiter.”

“Then, employee, by all means. You would be the second employee of a new company that we haven’t named yet. Our Jupiter house will become an Air BnB and port of call for our fleet.”

“Fleet?”

“Yeah, three is a small fleet, but we can grow. Andi’s Dream, Amalthea, and Gazinta.” Amalthea is Paul’s and John’s single mast sailboat, and Gazinta is Stan’s Calcutta 390 twin outboard “big game hunter” currently in drydock for hull work.

“You want to buy Gazinta?”

“Buy, lease, borrow, whatever. We get it in the water, put a captain at the helm, and we make money. We get a lawyer and his buddies out of Manhattan down here for the week they stay at the house. We make money. They go out fishing on Gazinta which picks them up right at the house, we make money. They want to impress the trophy wife, or the boss and Andi’s Dream has a few days open on the schedule. They lease Andi’s Dream for a day or two. We make money. I like money. Let’s go make some money.”

“Who’s the other employee?” asked Stan.

“Macy. I want her to be the face of this new business. If she signs on, she’s going to start out as the spokesperson and sell the product, then we’ll let her do whatever she thinks needs doing. You watch, she’ll end up running this company if we let her.

Andi had a small notepad and tore off the top page, which was pinochle scores, and she wrote on it. She then slid up onto Paul’s lap. “Daddy, I’ve written down a few ideas if you want to look at them.”

“Ok, I love number one,” he said and kissed her. “And done...” he marked number one off the list.

“What about number two?” she said.

“I love number two,” he said and kissed her again, completing item number two. Then he said, “Think we should save number 3 for later?”

“I don’t know, I sometimes like an audience...”

“Moving on to number four,” said Paul, “Andi has quite a few contacts in the Denver area of doctors that like to go deep sea fishing.”

“I think we can steal them away from their boats in California,” smiled Andi.

Down in her cabin, Yi turned Andi’s offer over and over in her head. Andi even said that she could do a little catering on the side as long as the twins were not ignored. Yi didn’t think the twins would ever be ignored; they wouldn’t allow it. On the minus side; Buffalo. Cold and snowy and muddy and slushy. She couldn’t give up the sea, the sea was in her blood!

On the plus side, they own an eight-million-dollar yacht that needs a cook and a governess any time they wanted to go out. And Doctor Paul’s house has a kitchen better appointed than many quality restaurants. And these executive chefs on a yacht gigs were becoming few and far between. She usually ends up cutting bait, making sandwiches, and handing out beer on 20-foot boats that aren’t worth as much as her knife set.

But the sea!

She sighed and leaned back, her hand accidentally closed on Mr. Happy, her personal therapist. Twenty minutes with Mr. Happy and all her problems go away. She looked at the replica of some nameless male porn star’s erect cock and testicles, complete with suction cup base. “Best investment I’ve ever made,” she said aloud, and put her mouth over the head of Mr. Happy. He really stretched her jaw wide open. She leaned her head back like Dr. Andi did and eased Mr. Happy in. She barely got a half of what Andi could throat. But Yi thought of what Andi had said about it. Not so much about the resemblance to Doctor Paul’s equipment, but Andi said that she liked the flavor. After last night’s solo celebration, the only flavor Mr. Happy would have is Yi-jin’s Pussy flavor.

The boat horn sounded, announcing that Andi’s Dream was entering the channel. Although Yi didn’t know where she was, she knew they were docking soon. She pulled on her white uniform and even put on her uniform hat (a rarity) as she headed up to deck to tie up this grand yacht and tell Andi her decision.

Lucy and Gus emerged from their cabin glowing like a pair of honeymooners, and so did John and Macy. They gathered around the table on the Mezzanine and Andi sat with them as Paul and Yi served breakfast. Yi was terrified of what ‘cackle berries’ and SOS was going to turn out to be. It was two eggs sunny side up on a bed of corned beef hash with biscuits and sausage gravy on the side. Yi was horrified to find out that it was CANNED corn beef hash, but Paul seasoned the canned hash to taste almost exactly like St. Patrick’s Day leftovers (which is what it’s supposed to taste like). He even showed her how to get a sunny side up egg perfect every time. His eggs were not overcooked and not undercooked. Yi liked his trick of putting a lid on the frying pan and adding a little water for steam to cook the whites of the eggs yet leave the yolk creamy.

As they purred through the early morning calm seas, Paul and Yi served breakfast. Lucy looked at the breakfast and said, “I never have sunny side up eggs.”

“You weren’t given a choice,” said Paul. “Mangiare!” (eat!)

“I guess he told you!” whispered Gus, which earned him a playful elbow.

Paul stood at the end of the table and said, “Yesterday evening we were made aware of a media circus over our rescue operation. Some stations blamed us for the accident. Instead of heading to Jupiter, we are now heading to Nisi Arcadia, where we’re going to lay up for a couple of days until we can calm this media firestorm. Is there any problem with that?”

“I actually think it’s a good idea,” said Gus. “Let those vultures find their carrion somewhere else. Where is Nisi Arcadia?”