Her weight and equilibrium having been compromised by the chemo, had made her an easy target, and she hated that. A few months ago, she would not only have easily saved herself, but would have shoved the prick in the chest and told him to watch his ass.
All she had done this time was throw herself away from the well, landing hard on the deck.
And now…
She knew she had to be extra careful. She was already a weak link, often challenged both mentally and physically duringthe day. And she hadn’t informed him—or any of these crew members for that matter—of what she was going through.
Hell no.Any shortcomings they glimpsed, anything they could exploit as an “infirmity”, would gain her nothing but derision. It was already bad enough being the only woman aboard, without adding the label of cancer patient to the mix.
The only positive?
Something about that purposeful bump to her body—and the last second save she’d managed by slamming her hip into the edge of the fish box and falling flat to keep from plunging into the frigid storage area below—had brought those two younger men to her side.
They hadn’t said a word, but their presence for the rest of the trip, dogging her footsteps, had been a constant.
They’d actually stuck close to her for the rest of the week.
It made her heart feel better that there weresomegood people in the world.
Tonight, she’d be baking an enormous batch of brownies. Just for them.
Even with her protectors nearby, however, the slurs she’d endured, and the loud complaints she’d sustained from the blow-hard captain had been escalating. The higher-than-normal throwback rate of undersized bluefin tuna he was catching was the cause, with him spitting at her that it was all bullshit.
Lace knew better. Even though those numbers were up, she was doing her job correctly. The captain had simply laid his longlines in an area inexplicably rife with adolescents, and any bluefin under seventy-three inches had to be thrown back.
Otis knew it, but blamed Lace for things that were beyond anyone’s control.
She’d have to include his piss-poor attitude in her reports to the home office, but she wasn’t about to ask for a reassignment.Nope.She’d stick this one out. Her rotation on the WW, as thecrew liked to call it, would only last until late fall. Surely, she could endure the hostile environment until then.
Still…
Yesterday, in particular, had been completely disheartening.
Winching in their pelagic longlines had, for the first time, sent them a complete curveball.
Seaturtles.
Although not a “schooling” species like a lot of undersea creatures, the shelled wonders tended to group together during mating or feeding seasons. But sincematingamongst their species was rare in the colder waters off the Maine coast, there must have been something that the leatherbacks had found appetizing near the longlines to have them amass in such numbers. Over a dozen of them had, unfortunately taken the mackerel bait from the circle hooks the boat had set, and had been subsequently hauled onboard.
Of the inadvertent-yield of fourteen that were winched aboard amongst the tuna, four turtles had already been deceased, and immediately thrown overboard.
The rest hadn’t been in exactly great shape.
Lace had warned the fishermen to be cautious unhooking the live ones before tossing them back into the sea, but the men, led by Captain Bligh, had been belligerent and careless, most likely just to spite her.
Lace doubted whether half the remaining turtles repatriated to the depths had survived the night.
Normally, that kind of thing burned her gut. But she’d add it to her report, and let the higher-ups deal with it.
Still, she’d almost had an emotional breakdown.
Maybe it was the poisons that were still working their way through her system. Or maybe she felt a kindredship with the compromised leatherbacks; being much closer, herself, to understanding how precious and fleeting life could be. Eitherway, she’d had to fight hard to hold back her tears at the possibility that the turtles might not have made it.
By the time Lace had gotten back to her house, well after dark, she’d been utterly despondent, and totally wiped out. She hadn’t even had the energy to make food. Which was probably why, today, she was feeling so wan and defeated. Well, at leastmore wan and defeated than was her norm these days.
Add to that, the disappointment that Vincent obviously wasn’t coming, and…
Nausea rose hard, and this time she couldn’t push it back.