Chapter 4: Getting a New Perspective

The conversation with Ardele last night had rattled me. I lay in my bed thinking about what she had said. I was upset about the implication that she might be interested in some young guy, maybe even one of our crew. And then the bi-sexual thing. What's up with that? Was she just pulling my chain or did she really mean it. I still had my rule of no fraternization, but I had to admit Ardele was really testing my resolve. It took sometime before I finally fell asleep.

I crawled out of bed and stretched, checking the clock on the wall. It wasn't seven yet, but that would amount to sleeping in if my customers were keen fishermen. I wandered out to the galley and plugged in the coffee machine. I set about making my usual breakfast: fruit, juice and cereal. There was no sign of Ardele yet.

I looked out the stern to the east and saw we were in for another sunny, calm day. The tide chart said it was a half-tide at five-thirty am and low near noon. Not ideal, but it would do. I looked in the mirror, examining myself. Still lean and fairly fit. I would have liked to claim I was six foot tall, but in truth I fell a half-inch short of that. Thick, dark brown hair was a feature I inherited from my father. Brown eyes, a clear, all-weather suntanned complexion, a slightly larger than average nose and ugly, knobby knees. Yeah, that was me all right. A shave and a shower and I'd be looking as good as I was ever going to.

As I stood at the door to the afterdeck, I saw Ardele walking back toward the gangway to our dock. Obviously she had been up well before me. I watched her occasionally wipe sweat from her brow and even from a distance I could see the flush of exertion on her face.

"Mornin'," I said as she stepped aboard. "You've been working hard by the look of it."

"Hi. Yeah, got to keep in shape. No gym nearby," she said, breathing fairly heavily still.

"Doesn't look like you need to do much."

"Thanks, but it can go away quick enough if I don't keep up the workouts."

"That would be a shame."

I saw her look up at me as she was untying her fancy runners, but she said nothing.

She stepped past me into the cabin and headed for the refrigerator and her morning juice fix. She walked back to the door and onto the afterdeck, carrying the glass in her hand as she sat in one of the deck chairs. She looked sexy when she was sweaty with her hair plastered to her head. Few women could claim that, but Del was one of them.

I fetched a hand towel from the nearby head and passed it to her.

"Thanks," she smiled.

She was wearing a t-shirt that was soaked in the front, revealing a sport bra beneath. Her shorts were nylon and nicely framed her lovely long legs. I'd noticed sometime ago that she didn't use nail polish and very little makeup. It just didn't seem very necessary to me ... and apparently to her as well. She was quite at peace with her appearance and didn't exhibit a shred of vanity. It was hard to tell if she had any idea just how appealing she looked.

While Del went for a shower, my curiosity got the better of me and I walked over toward the Sound Settlement to see what I could see. Del's comments about the women aboard this boat had intrigued me and I wondered just what they were all about.

I found two of them on their rather large afterdeck and said good morning.

"Hi, you must be Pat," a rather voluptuous bottle blonde said with a distinct American accent.

That surprised me and I managed a nod and a yes in confirmation.

"Del says you restored your boat yourself. You did a hell of a job."

"Thanks, but I had help."

"How's your summer looking for charters," the other dark-haired woman asked. She was a good deal slimmer and taller than her friend.

"Fine. We'll be busy for the next two months. Our first group arrives this afternoon."

"Yeah ... so we heard," the blonde said. "Too bad. We were going to invite you and Del over for dinner. Get to know you since we're going to be here for the summer ourselves."

"That's a nice thought. Maybe when we've got a couple of open days."

"Great!" the blonde said, sizing me up I thought. "My name's Tanya and this is Corrine."

"Nice to meet you, ladies. Pat Hamelin, as you probably already know," I chuckled. It seemed that Del had pretty much given these women any information they wanted.

"Don't be a stranger, Pat," Corrine smiled. "I'm sure we're going to be seeing a lot of each other in the next few weeks." Their smiles reminded me of a shark ... or then again, maybe a hungry cougar.

"No doubt," I said, waving and turning back up the dock. Del's description of the women seemed to be accurate. They were on a hunting expedition.

I walked back to the boat and was met by Ardele. Maybe I should say a scowling Ardele.

"I see you met a couple of the club members." It sounded like an accusation.

"Yeah ... I let my curiosity get the best of me," I admitted.

"Thinking of getting to know them better?" There was no humour in her voice.

"I'm not quite that desperate yet. Maybe later this summer," I said, trying to dismiss it lightly.

"I'd be surprised if you were ever desperate," she mumbled, turning away.

I watched her walk away toward her bunk, pulling the sheets off and stuffing them into the almost full laundry bag. She would haul them up to the marina washing machines and make sure all the bunks and beds were made with clean sheets and pillow cases. They wouldn't get done again for five days. Her good mood seemed to have vanished and I decided not to bother her. In fact, I thought it might be a good idea for me to disappear for a while.

"I'm going for a walk, Del. Lock up while you're at the laundry, please."

"Okay." It was a toneless acknowledgement.

I picked up my MP3 player, plugged in the ear buds and walked up the gangway. A walk in the morning sunshine wouldn't do me any harm. Damn women! They are so bloody hard to understand sometimes. Worse, I have no idea what I did or said that switched her off. It couldn't be my little visit with the cougars, surely. I thought she knew me better than that.

I learned a long time ago that a brisk walk helped put things into perspective. When I had been stressed, I found I was able to work out that stress as I moved along. I hadn't needed to exercise away any stress lately. The truth was, Ardele Quinton had taken a lot of stress out of my day-to-day existence. I had to admit I was dependent upon her to keep my world stable. She did things without asking because she knew they needed to be done.

I began to question if I was taking advantage of her without telling her just how valuable she was. Maybe that was what was at the root of her mood change. No, that wasn't it. It was my visit to the Sound Settlement that set her off. I claimed it was curiosity, but I wonder if she thought it was something else. Did she really think I was over there checking out the women? Women!

I stayed away for a little over an hour before I was back at the boat. Ardele was nowhere to be found. My stomach was rumbling, so I made myself a sandwich and opened a beer, sitting on the afterdeck in the sunshine. I was uncomfortable. I didn't want Del to be unhappy. I certainly didn't want to be the cause of it. I also didn't like the idea that I didn't know where she had gone. There was no note on the galley counter that we would usually leave if one or the other of us stepped away.

I could hear music and I worked out that it was coming from the women's boat. I could see a couple more women moving around on the boat. I wondered if Ardele had gone over there. I didn't see her, but she might be in the cabin. I tried not to think about it, but it was hard to shake the feeling that I had upset her.

Lost in my thoughts, I jumped when I felt the boat move slightly. I looked around the rear bulkhead and saw Ardele had jumped on the forward deck and was adjusting the warp. I sighed in relief that she was back, realizing now how tense I had been. I was going to have to be a good actor not to reveal just how upset and worried I had been.

"Hi ... you go for a walk?" I asked as casually as I could manage.

"Yeah," she said in the tone of voice I had been more accustomed to. "I finished the laundry and hitched a ride into town. I walked around, had a quick lunch and came back. We should be seeing our guys pretty soon."

Everything was back to normal, or so it seemed.

"I didn't mean to upset you this morning," I said, hoping I wasn't reopening a touchy subject.

"I know," she said, not adding anything.

"When I do something like that, please tell me. I'm kind of clueless. I can use all the help I can get."

"Yeah ... I noticed." I couldn't see her face, so I couldn't tell just how she was reacting to my apology.

I decided to drop it and not make things worse. I was tense all over again. I tried to avoid her, but somehow we were usually in the same space. The boat was getting smaller on me. I had half a mind to get off and go up to the parking lot and wait for the guys to arrive. Anything to break the tension.

I jumped in surprise when I felt two arms encircle me and pull me against a warm female body.

"Relax, Pat," she whispered softly. "You're wound up tighter than a clock spring. You didn't need to apologize to me. I had an attack of the "stupids" when I saw you over talking to those women. You don't need them. They aren't right for you."

I felt myself begin to breathe again. The tenseness wasn't gone, but it had lessened. Ardele continued to hold me, her chin on my shoulder. I could feel her warm breath on my cheek. I turned to face her, looking into her eyes, trying to see what I wanted to see. I tipped my head forward and kissed her lightly on the lips.

There was no hint of surprise from Del. In fact, I saw a faint smile, so I returned for something a little more lasting.

"You're breaking your rule," she whispered when we broke the kiss.

"Rules are made to be broken," I grumbled.

"Glad to hear it. I thought I was going to have to drug you to get a response from you."

Her hand had worked its way down to my crotch and was massaging my growing erection.

"How much time do we have?" she asked between more intense mouth-to-mouth contact.

"How much do you need?"

"Quite a lot. I've got a lot of catching up to do."

"Why don't we start small and work our way along as time permits."

"Small is the wrong word, Pat. Right this moment I'm thinking big, hard and fast."

I pulled her into the aft cabin and shut the door. We were naked in less than a minute and my head was between her legs the moment she flopped onto the bed.

"Oh fuck, Pat. I don't need this. Put it in me now. Jesus, have mercy on me," she begged.

I moved up over her, knowing time was of the essence. There was little resistance as I pushed steadily into her, helped along by her pulling at my hips. It was only seconds later that I was pumping steadily and vigorously, watching her eyes as they grew bigger and her face took on a look of surprise.