Plain Sailing

Unexpected romance blossoms in this uplifting short story by Eirin Thompson.

However hard she tried, Jenna couldn’t stop watching for Jamie’s boat in the harbour . . .

JENNA pulled her apron off and washed her hands. “I’m just going for a stroll, Rick. Back in twenty minutes.” She poured coffee into her travel beaker and stepped outside, pulling the door of the Harbour Café closed behind her.

Ever since she’d been a little girl, the café had been a special place.

It had meant the salt and vinegar smell of hot fish and chips, fizzy cola with a straw, ice-cream scooped into a little silver dish and served with a yellow wafer.

Her parents didn’t bring her often, but when they did they gave her money for the old juke box in the corner, making the experience extra-special.

Even then, Jenna had watched the cook drop baskets of food into the bubbling fryers, shake and tip the cooked food from the wire baskets into trays and lift the golden chips skilfully in a shiny scoop.

She wanted to do that, like she wanted to wear the waitress’s tabard and fish a notebook from her pocket to write down orders.

“When you’re older, you could ask if they have any work,” her mum suggested.

It seemed to take for ever but finally Jenna was able to approach Mr Mack, the owner, and ask if he had anything for her.

“As is happens, one of the young ones is heading off to university,” Mr Mack told her. “Come and see me in six weeks.”

When the time came, Jenna tied her hair back in a neat pony-tail, scrubbed her face and nails and put on her smartest jeans.

“Very good,” Mr Mack greeted her. “We’ll start you off waitressing – you can’t go wrong there, and we’ll soon show you the way we do things.”

Jenna was a success – her years as a customer meant she already knew the order in which the waiting staff did everything.

First, take the order.

Then lay the cutlery, napkins and condiments.

Next came any cold drinks, followed by any hot ones. Finally, the food.

“Good job, Jenna,” Mr Mack repeated. By closing time, he was satisfied that he’d found his new member of staff.

Jenna’s friends at school thought she was mad when she told them she wouldn’t be going to university, but would be taking full-time hours at the café instead.

“Mrs Mack is going to train me up in the office side of things, so I’ll learn all aspects of the business,” she explained.

“When the Macks retire in three years, they’ll give me first refusal on buying the place.”

It wasn’t every girl’s dream, but it was Jenna’s. If everything went to plan, the Harbour Café would be hers.

And Jenna had now been the proud owner of the Harbour Café for two years.

Although she liked to think she’d kept the soul of the place the same, she had made a few changes.

They now opened early in the morning, offering cooked breakfasts.

She’d also added baking to attract the coffee crowd and a few meat-free lines to cater for vegetarians.

She and her right-handman, Rick, were the only full-timers, but they had extra staff who came in at the busiest times of day and on Saturdays and during the holidays.

“I love it,” Jenna told anyone who asked. And it was true.

She also loved that special time she took for herself after the lunchtime rush, closing the café door and crossing the road to the harbour, strolling with her coffee and seeing whose boats had tied up.

“Afternoon, Thomas!” she called to the harbour master.

“I’ll be in for my fried egg sandwich!” he called back. “Give me ten minutes!” Boats meant customers. Visiting sailors, hungry after their voyage and too tired for rattling about in their tiny kitchens, came straight to the Harbour Café for fish and chips.

The boats also often meant seeing old friends who’d been sailing to that same harbour for years.

Some Jenna had known since childhood, and now brought children of their own, visible on deck in their bright waterproofs and life-jackets.

There was one boat

Jenna looked out for

especially, however, much the way someone looks out for a special letter in the post, though never really expecting it to arrive.

She’d almost given up hope of seeing the wooden Falmouth Pilot, with curling yellow letters spelling Monica for all to see.

Jamie’s boat. Where was Jamie now?

Sailing Monica on the open seas, far away? Taking shelter in some other harbour?

“Double egg and chips,” the young sailor had said, stripping off his jacket and hanging it on the back of his chair. “And a couple of rashers of bacon.

“Oh, and a sausage or two. Got any tomatoes?”

“He’ll never finish it,” Rick had said as he piled the plate high.

But the young man had wolfed down the lot. Jenna couldn’t help smiling.

“Have I done something funny?” the man asked.

“Not at all. I’m delighted to have a customer with such a healthy appetite,” Jenna replied.

“Then come and talk to me for five minutes,” he proposed. “You don’t have any other customers, and I’ve just done a twelve-hour sail completely on my own. I’m Jamie.”

Jenna glanced at Rick, who kept his head down as he wiped the surfaces behind the counter.

Oh, why not sit down and talk to the guy?

Jamie was on holiday for two weeks, alone, it turned out, as his best friend’s leave had been cancelled.

“What was I to do?”

Jamie asked Jenna. “I’d really been looking forward to taking Monica out for a proper trip.”

“Monica?”

“My boat. Well, my dad’s boat. He built her, and taught me to sail in her.”

“You must be so proud of your father’s skill. My dad’s lovely, but the most challenging thing he’s ever built is a LEGO stable for my Sindy horse.”

“I could show her to you. She’s tied in the harbour.”

Jamie’s enthusiasm was infectious. Even though she’d seen hundreds of boats over the years, Jenna desperately wanted a closer look at Monica.

“All right. I’m usually all cleared up by six-thirty.”

“I’ll come and fetch you. Sorry – you haven’t told me your name.”

“Jenna.”

“See you later, Jenna.”

Alongside all the larger fibreglass boats, the little wooden Falmouth Pilot stood out.

“She’s special, isn’t she?” Jamie asked, as Jenna admired her from dry land. “Want a closer look?”

The pair climbed down the ladder fixed to the harbour wall and stepped across the nearest yacht to reach Monica.

Everywhere was shiny with varnish. Luckily, Jenna wore soft shoes for work.

Jamie opened the tiny doors from which three steps descended to the cabins. The kitchen and seating area was small, but comfortably set up.

“My mum made all the cushions and curtains,” Jamie said proudly.

“My brother and I used to sleep in the other cabin, when we were kids, and this table folded down into a bed for Mum and Dad.

“Now it’s just me, I have the luxury of separate sleeping and living areas.”

“It’s beautiful,” Jenna said. “Your dad has made quite a job of it.”

“We could have a glass of wine, take it on deck,” Jamie suggested. “If you’re not in too much of a hurry.”

Jenna didn’t have to think for long. Jamie was full of chat – she thought he’d be good company.

“All right – you’re on.”

Jamie’s plan had been to stay only for a night or two in each location, moving steadily round the coast.

When it came time to move on, however, he hesitated.

“I’d like to see more of you,” he told Jenna. “The sailing round here is really good, and I’d like to take a look at your castle.

“Think you could put up with me for a few more days?”

Jenna smiled and said she thought she could tolerate him a little longer.

As they strolled past the bandstand on their third evening together, Jamie silently took her hand.

Jenna let him, and he began to speak.

“I’d like to kiss you, Jenna. But I don’t know if I should.

“I know I love being with you. I hope you like me, too, but in a few days I’ll be leaving, and in a week I’ll be hundreds of miles away. I never set out to have a holiday romance, but . . .”

“Thank you for being straight with me,” Jenna replied, slipping her hand free.

“I do like you, but if we’re never going to see each other again after Friday, what’s the point in starting something?”

Jamie nodded and bit distractedly at his thumb. “Do you want me to go?” “Not really,” Jenna answered. “I’d still like us to enjoy the next day or two as friends.”

Jamie’s face brightened. “Great!”

In the end, Jamie had never kissed her, and she’d made it clear that she wouldn’t be waving him off when he sailed away.

Despite this, she had slipped out of the café, and stood alone by the harbour wall as the little wooden boat became too small in the distance to see clearly.

Jenna had thought Jamie would come back.

Every time the café door opened, she glanced up, hoping for that young sailor with the huge appetite.

But Jamie did not return. Jenna tried to concentrate on work. She talked to Rick about adding to the menu and priced a fancy coffee machine.

But every day, she took her break on the bench overlooking the harbour, unable to resist checking for a shiny wooden boat.

Today, with summer giving way to autumn, there was a chill in the air, and she pulled her jacket around her and cupped her hands to her coffee mug.

“Mind if I join you?” a voice asked.

And there he was, right beside her.

“How . . .?” Jenna began. “I came by train. I couldn’t leave things the way they were, Jenna.

“I tried to forget about you, but I couldn’t.”

The little wooden Falmouth Pilot boat stood out

“I didn’t forget about you, either.”

“I know how much you love the Harbour Café. I couldn’t ask you to give it up and come nearer to me.

“But I’m not tied down. I can choose where I live, and I choose here. For now, anyway. Just to give us a chance – if you’re willing.”

Jenna looked into Jamie’s face, her eyes shining.

“Once, you asked if you could kiss me,” she said. “I think it’s time to say yes.”

Jamie was used to being out in all weathers, which was just as well.

It had been Rick’s idea to take him on as a driver for the café, delivering food all over town on a moped.

Once word got out, orders flooded in from workplaces and homes.

The customers simply rang the café to place their order, and soon Jamie was bringing it to their door.

Jamie’s parents had visited to see Jamie and to meet Jenna and her family.

They’d fallen in love with the quaint harbour town and promised to sail Monica there when the weather improved.

Jenna got to build her business, find love and welcome a whole new family into her own. Things couldn’t have worked out better.

The End.