Learning to Love (New Zealand Sailing #1)

Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

Ellie

Color me surprised. My 15 followers on Instagram turned into 1,500. Then into 3,000. Then various shady weight loss businesses started to Collab DM me. This all happened on Saturday afternoon, right after Sam brought me out of obscurity kicking and screaming by announcing he was having a great time outdoors with me, and tagging me in that photo of us together.

Tayla messaged me straight away with a screenshot, and a few pointed question marks. I replied “Yeah…” There's nothing else to tell her, really, it's quite straightforward. We're Instagram official. Luckily my parents don't have Instagram, so I have a few days left, maybe more if I can stretch it, before I have to explain what's going on.

Sam seems unconcerned for his part. Daisy and I have been at his house since lunchtime, his phone keeps buzzing but he continues to ignore it. I made omelettes for a hearty lunch, and we decided on takeaways and an Avengers movie for dinner.

“I don't want to pry, but aren't you going to answer your phone? Could be something important.”

He looks at me like it's a mad suggestion. Picks up his phone, scrolls down, then puts the phone down and sighs. “Corey. And Mum”.

I'm shocked that he could be so blasé about this.

“Flick them a call, could be something serious. It's important, Sam”.

“Sit with me” he asks imploringly. Daisy and I curl on the sofa next to him. He makes the first phone call.

“Hey mate. Nah, all good… I wanted to show her off a bit”. Sam winks at me, and I laugh. “See you on Monday back at the dock”. He ends that call, and gets ready for the one he seems the most uncertain about. His mum.

“Hey mum, it's Sam…..”. He listens intently as his mother chatters away at length. His brow furrows. “She is special… No, she doesn't know.” I hear his mum mention the name Thea, but it doesn't mean anything to me. I thought his ex’s name was Laura. Maybe I was mistaken. “I'll ask her”. He covers the mobile speaker with his hand.

“I know it's a bit left field, but with Christmas around the corner, mum wants to know if you're coming down to theirs with me.” I try hard to read his expression. Does he want me to go with him? Is he just trying to be polite?

“You don't have to say yes”.

I figure I have nothing to lose by accepting. It could offer me another glimpse into the Sam enigma. “Happy to come with you. We'll talk about preparations later.” Hope I’ve put him at ease.

He nods, and puts the phone back to his ear. “We're coming together. Yes, we can stay in my old room, don't want to be any bother. We'll talk later. Don't worry, it's all fine”. As soon as he's ended the call, I can sense him relaxing. I don't know what sort of relationship he has with his parents but it looks like waters run deep.

I rest my head on his shoulder, and we start kissing again in the afternoon sun. Tui birds call outside, disturbing Daisy from her rest.

Sam

I don’t take girls to my parents' home as a rule. There’s always an exception to the rule, and that was Laura, but we were already engaged when I mustered the courage to take her back home to O’Neills Bay. We stayed in an Airbnb, went to my parents’ for lunch, and that was that. My mum and dad seemed to genuinely like her, but after we broke up three years ago mum had some choice words for me.

“You’re wasting your life, Sam. Why can’t you find a nice girl like your brother Tom? One with an actual job? Settle down, and stop frittering around the world. You’re pushing 30. I want grandchildren”. My mum’s words rush through my head. She was being deeply unfair to Laura, who’s an Olympic rowing champion. That’s definitely a job .

Mum also doesn’t think what I do is a job. She’s right on one account, it’s more than a job, it’s a passion. Nobody gets to Olympic level without hard graft, but the secret ingredient is passion.

Laura and I didn’t work out, but mum kept the bee in her bonnet about me abandoning sailing and racing, and settling down in a “real job”. This is why I don’t visit her and dad as often as I should. The last thing I need is to get an earful about how dangerous it is, and how it can all go away in an instant.

She’d been calling today because the daughter of one the other nurses at the children’s hospital in O’Neill’s Bay told her mum, who in turn told my mum there’s a girl on my Instagram, and I never post truly personal stuff. Typical, small town grapevine.

By this time, the rumour will have gone round the supermarket, the boat club, the Crab Shack café, and the local bank branch. I’d be surprised if the carers in the nursing home wouldn’t have gone to my nana, and told her about it. My dad, who’s oblivious to most things, will have been told on some building site or another. My older brother Tom, the golden boy, with an actual desk job and a lovely wife, will have heard about it by now.

Like a dog with a bone, my mum rang straight away to push to meet Ellie. One of the first things she asked me was whether Ellie knows about Thea. I haven’t talked to anyone apart from Corey and Jay about what happened. I guess I’ll have to face it when we get to O’Neill’s Bay.

Ellie and I are watching the latest Avengers movie at home on my sofa. Her dog Daisy is lying next to her, snoring contentedly. A far cry from any glamorous ideas anyone would have about our life together, but I love it. I just hope it won’t make her see me in a different light.

“About Christmas. I know it’s also your birthday, but you kept that one quiet”. Her words bring me back to reality with a thud, the next day. I run my hand through my hair.

“I don’t really celebrate. How did you find out?” I’m starting to feel uneasy.

She laughs. “I Googled you after we met”.

I try to keep a neutral tone, but I’m nervous. “And what did you find out?”

“Nothing to scare me off. Yet”. She thinks she’s hilarious.

“Good”. I kiss her forehead, and pull her closer. She must have read about Laura, and decided it wasn’t a big deal, which it wasn’t.

“Tayla is away at Christmas. I’ll take Daisy to my parents’ place in Matakana for the holidays, then on Christmas morning we can go to yours”. Is she inviting me to meet her parents? I can’t tell.

“If you want me to come meet your parents before you meet mine, that’s fine”. She seems to like that.

“How about we drive Miss Daisy there on Christmas Eve, have dinner with my parents, exchange presents, then on Christmas morning make our way to O’Neill’s Bay?”. This approach makes more sense to me. I’m intrigued to meet her parents, and learn what makes her tick.

“Driving Miss Daisy, eh?” I like her goofy sense of humour. “We could take her to O’Neill’s Bay but it’s a long drive. If your parents are happy to have her for a couple of nights, we can fetch her back on the 27th”.

Only two weeks left until Christmas Eve, but it feels a long way away. Monday we get back on the boat, and continue training right up until the 23rd. We have to push hard to get back all the gains we’d achieved prior to my stupid mistake which caused the boat to capsize. Coach says I should be easier on myself, but the harder I push, the better I am.

Whistles greet me as soon as I turn up at the team base. I wish they would stop doing this. It’s been two months. It was funny in the beginning, now it’s just getting a bit old. I put my things in my locker, and before I get a word in, Florian swaggers by. “You got laid, son”.

I need to put my foot down. I step up on a bench, making sure everyone’s eyes are on me.

“May I have your attention”. Everyone turns, from Clarke the elderly electrician, to Donna the engineering graduate. “I got laid yesterday, and the day before, and I’ll get laid many times more from today on. We’re not here to discuss my love life, we’re here to WIN. We need to work as a team, put aside all this chatter, and rise above, because if we don’t, the other teams will be snapping at our heels, like Jake’s chihuahua. Now get on with it”. I stand down off the bench.

Coach starts clapping, and the others follow suit. “Love it. What he said. Move on everyone, nothing to see here”.

Corey gives me thumbs up. Somehow it feels I regained the team’s respect and the right to privacy in one go.

The days blur into one, drive a boat very fast, eat, sleep, repeat. We manage to get speeds of above 50 knots, and the chase boats barely keep up. I succeed in compartmentalizing my life. Ellie on land. Racing on water. Two halves of one whole.

Ellie and I see each other only a handful of times in the next two weeks, absorbing as much as we can, feeding each other our emotions, fanning the flames. After New Year, we need to make a decision about moving forward from this limbo. I can’t go on missing her every night, and being satisfied with crumbs.