Nine Lives - Danielle Steel Page 0,72
since he didn’t have room for them in his backpack, and she knew he wouldn’t bother to bring them if she didn’t. She thought he might need some decent clothes on the boat if they went out, as they were planning to that night.
Her face lit up the moment she saw him, and she smiled as he approached. He looked like a kid returning from camp in torn jeans, filthy sneakers that had holes in them, and a shirt advertising a bar in Scotland. His hair was shaggy and his backpack looked like it had been run over by a truck. She was laughing when he got to her in the airport.
“What’s so funny?”
“You look about ten years old, and I’m happy to see you.” He was about to turn nineteen, but he still seemed like a child to her. He slung an arm over his mother’s shoulders, and they walked out of the airport together, after he introduced himself to the two deckhands, who weren’t much older than he was. One of them was Scottish, and Aden told him on the way back to Monaco all about what he’d done in Edinburgh.
“Can we pick up some food on the way?” he asked his mother. “I’m starving. I didn’t get lunch.”
“We’ll get you something on the boat,” she promised, and he nodded. He’d seen a picture of the Lady Luck on the internet, but all he had seen was a big sailboat under sail, he had no concept of the comforts available, the size of the crew, the impeccable service, or the beauty of the boat. He looked thunderstruck when they reached the dock and he saw the graceful lines and the length of the boat. She was well over two hundred feet, and an impressive sight.
“Wow, Mom,” he said in a whisper, “I didn’t think it was this big.” Paul had the entire crew lined up to greet him, in their white uniforms with navy collars and the insignia of the boat, an elegant double “L,” embroidered on their collars, and gold epaulets. A well-known Italian designer had made them. There were twenty-four crew members on board. They were an impressive group as they greeted Aden when he came across the passerelle onto the boat. Paul was standing in front of them, smiling. Aden was awestruck as they shook hands and chatted for a few minutes, and then Paul excused himself, said he had to make a call, and he’d be back in a minute.
Aden glanced around and sat down with his mother in the dining area on deck, as they waited for Paul to come back. Aden was grinning and impressed by the activity around him.
“This is incredible. And he’s really a cool guy. I knew he would be.” As he said it to his mother, something whizzed just over his head, and Aden ducked as a water balloon exploded and splattered against the mast ten feet away from them. Aden looked up and Paul was grinning from the wheelhouse deck as Aden burst into laughter and stood up, waving at Paul.
“I’ll get you for that later,” he shouted as another one just missed him, and he scampered up the stairs to where Paul was standing. Paul pointed to a basin full of them, and the two of them threw water balloons at the crew members, who ran away, and lobbed a few onto the dock, narrowly missing visitors to a motor yacht next to them. Then the two of them ducked into the wheelhouse laughing like two naughty kids.
“I got some great guns too,” Paul told him, and the two of them went back downstairs to Maggie a few minutes later. There was a plate of sandwiches waiting for Aden on the table, a large pitcher of lemonade, and a plate of homemade cookies that smelled delicious. “We’ll go out later, and you can try out the Super Soakers then,” Paul promised him, and Aden couldn’t stop grinning. He could tell it was going to be a wonderful trip. He spotted the pirate flag a few minutes later as he ate the sandwiches.
One of the stewardesses showed Aden to his cabin after that, and he couldn’t believe that either. He looked around the saloon and explored the boat for a few minutes, then half an hour later, they motored out of port and headed toward Saint Jean-Cap-Ferrat to go swimming for the rest of the afternoon. Inevitably, Paul brought out the water guns, and they