Page 12 of Swept Up In You
“I know it’s silly, but he’s actually named after Barry Manilow.”
Taylor barked out a laugh. “Okay, I wasnotexpecting that.”
Sam couldn’t help but laugh with her. “Okay, wait, here me out. Whenever his songMandyplayed on the radio, I always thought he was singingManny. It became a family in-joke the day dad doubled over laughing at me when he realised I was saying ‘Manny’ while we were singing along together.” She smiled at the memory. “He’s never let me forget it.”
“Wow, that’s so cool. I love that.”
Sam’s smile grew. “Anyway, so here we are.” She gestured to the cabin around them. “My ultimate goal, now that it’s almost back up to scratch, is to set it up as a cruising yacht. Then, I want to travel around Australia, for as long as it takes me.” She shrugged. “It’s small enough to handle myself with all the right things in place, and… I feel like I just need to do something like this in my life,” she finished, a flicker of something flashing across her face before she pasted on a quick smile.
“Well, that’s an amazing goal to be working towards.” Taylor encouraged, giving her a smile to try and lighten things up. “Plus, I’m kinda jealous. Reminds me of when I was travelling in my van. There’s really nothing like being on the open road. Or the open ocean, in your case.” She chuckled. “I think everyone needs to try long term travel at least once in their lives. It changes you.”
“Yeah. Change is necessary, I think. Sometimes I feel like I’ve been doing the same thing for so long… I dunno…” Another shrug.
“You feel stuck?”
“You could say that.” Sam paused. “Dad wants to retire, and wants me to run Garner Marine.”
“Ah.” Taylor nodded. “And given your previous statement about wanting to travel around, let me guess—you don’t want to.”
“No.” She gave a pained expression. “I mean, when I was a kid it’s all I ever wanted. Then we lost my mum when I was six?—”
“Oh wow, that must’ve been hard.”
“Yeah. I remember being sad, but I think Dad was pretty depressed for a while. I’d always say I’ll run the shopforever and ever,because I just wanted to help him and make it easier, you know? Then I grew up. And sometimes, I think maybe it was easy—just working at the shop and helping Dad.”
She picked up a dirty mug off the table and took it over to the galley sink. Taylor waited.
“Then I bought Manny,” she continued, “and I started to get these wild ideas talking to all our customers and the amazing adventures they’d been on with their boats. I started to realise, maybe I didn’t want to run the shop like I thought I did. But it’s been just me and him for so long.” Sam sighed. “So that’s where I’m at.” With a final shrug, she leaned against the sink.
“That’s a tough one,” Taylor empathised. “So I’m guessing you haven’t spoken to your Dad about this?”
“Nope,” she replied, popping the ‘p’. “Why is this so difficult? Also, I’m sorry. You came here to fix the bird’s nest that is my boat electronics, not my brain.”
“Hey, any difficult conversation is always better than the alternative. Silence gets you nowhere. We humans are very good at making up worst-case scenarios in our heads, but usually, the real outcome is more positive—at the very least because the potential conversation is no longer playing on a loop in your head.”
“That’s really good advice that I probably need to take. And yes, before you say anything, I know it’s an excuse, but I just feel like there’s never a good time.”
“Because there isn’t.”
“Don’t beat around the bush or nothing,” Sam replied with a small smirk.
“Hey, I like to tell it how it is. But in all seriousness, have the conversation sooner rather than later. As my best friend likes to remind me, ‘it’s the second arrow that hurts the most.’ If you haven’t heard the phrase, look it up. That’s my one piece of advice today.”
Sam took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“You’re right. I’ll do it. I have to.” She gave a firm nod of her head, mind made up.
“Now, I know I’m here to look at these wires, but I feel like I need to ask if you need a hug after that? Is that weird?” Taylor scrunched up her nose and held out her arms.
Sam laughed. “Not weird. And sure, I think I need it.”
Taylor stepped into her space, wrapping her arms around Sam as she breathed in a mix of coconut and light citrus—comforting and homely. She almost forgot where she was before she stepped back to give her space, she was her client after all, and it was a longer hug than she anticipated, neither of them letting go straightaway.
Sam looked up at her, her arms falling back to their sides. “Thanks, I needed that.”
“Anytime. I know I barely know you, but I’m sure you’ll figure things out.” She reached up, giving Sam’s shoulder a gentle squeeze and a reassuring smile before she moved around her to the panel of hanging wires. “Now let’s look at what we’re dealing with.”
Taylor scrolled through the long list of things to do on Sam’s boat.Manny. She smiled, recounting the story. She needed to grab a few extra pieces, but otherwise, everything seemed easy enough, as long as Sam was happy with the quote she’d just sent through to her. Speaking of happy… Taylor was feeling pretty good right now.
