Casting Off (41 page)

I tried to explain to the driver where I wanted to go.

‘Not big one, not with eagle. Blue one,’ I said, using my hands to mark out big and small, as if that would help.

‘Yes, perry chetty,’ he said.

Crap
. We were going to the wrong place.
So much for my being confident in knowing what I am doing now.

‘I think he might be taking me to the big jetty, with the Eagle statue,’ I texted Guy, hoping he hadn’t set off in the dinghy already to the wrong place.

‘OK. I’ll head there,’ came the reply.

But then we were pulling off the road and round the side of a restaurant I recognised and I realised the driver had understood me after all.

‘I’m at the blue jetty,’ I texted. My cool, calm confidence had eroded a bit but I thanked the driver, ‘Terima kasih,’ and set off along the path I remembered down
to the waterfront.

A gaggle of pale-faced Chinese holidaymakers were making their way excitedly off a boat, chatting about the day’s fun, still wearing their bright orange life preservers. I stood aside to
let them pass and followed the snaking concrete path out to the bobbing blue plastic pontoons where the dinghies were moored.

The sun was beginning to set and the water was sparkling in the low light as the onshore breeze that had built up through the heat of the day rippled across the reflective surface, breaking it
into a million diamonds of yellow-white light. I lifted my hand to my eyes to shield them from the glare and looked out into the bay, where a flotilla of yachts bobbed gently on their anchors,
turned to silhouettes by the descending sun. Already the sky had started to turn lilac. As I watched, a black dot separated itself from one of the boats and began to zigzag its way towards me like
a bee skimming low across the sea. It got closer and closer until I recognised the outline of
Incognito
’s dinghy, and Guy driving it. There was an age, in which I’m not sure I
breathed, before he pulled up in front of me.

‘Hi,’ he said, knocking the engine into neutral, and I saw that big, white welcoming smile.

‘Hi,’ I said, and stepped into the dinghy, reached back, took hold of the line tying me to the shore and cast off.

(NOT) THE END.

RATHER A BEGINNING.

Published by Adlard Coles Nautical

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This electronic edition published in 2014 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Copyright © Emma Bamford 2014

Illustrations © Louise Sheeran

First published by Adlard Coles Nautical in 2014

ePub ISBN 978-1-4729-0662-5

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