"Hey, hey. It's no big deal." Inga put a hand on her arm. "Lucy ... have you ever done the dishes before?"
Lucy stared at her, feeling like a deer caught in headlights. It was such an ordinary thing that everyone knew how to do. Surely it would give her away.
But whatelsedidn't she know? Maybe you were supposed to put baking soda on them afterwards or something; she knew baking soda was used for some purpose in the kitchen, but she had no idea what. There were too many things she didn't know. She would either give herself away or poison everyone.
"No," she said shamefacedly.
Inga looked a little surprised, but then her cheerful, sunny nature covered it. "Well, let's do it together, then. It was rude of me to go away and leave you to do it on your own. Here, you wash them, you're doing great at that, and I'll rinse and dry."
"Oh, there's drying too?" Lucy asked, now even more embarrassed. She fished the plates out of the drain. "I just thought ... because there were already ... do you dry them and then put them there?"
"No, they go in the cabinets. Eren and Dad use the rack for our coffee cups and whatnot, and if there are just a couple of dishes, there's no real point in going to the trouble of putting them away. But for a proper wash, it's nice to put them away properly too. You have no idea how fast that rack can fill up with a bunch of Nilssons dirtying the dishes." She smiled. "Here, give me that one and I'll get it rinsed. It looks nice and clean."
It was impossible to feel embarrassed and sad with Inga next to her, chatting cheerfully as she whisked the dishes out of Lucy's hands.
"Don't you use gloves?" Lucy asked, seeing that Inga was rinsing them with her bare hands.
"Nah, not usually. I have my hands in the water on the boat all the time anyway." She flexed her fingers. "Not much to keep nice there. But your hands looked really soft—oh, I don't mean that in a bad way!" she added hastily. "It's just that your nails were really nice and it looked like you didn't have calluses, so I thought you were probably the sort of person who would want gloves. I mainly just use the gloves when I have to scrub the toilets."
"You think my nails are nice?" Lucy asked, flattered and baffled. Her pink polish was chipped all around the edges, and she had broken one carrying the groceries on the island. Her manicurist would have taken one look and cried.
"I've never seen anyone with nails that nice! You should show me how you do it. I don't know anything about making my nails look pretty."
"Sure," Lucy said. Her face felt warm again. "I think that sounds fun. Do you mean—right now?"
"No, no, as soon as we finish up here, you can go find Eren," Inga said, grinning. "I can see that you want to."
"I didn't think it was that obvious."
"You keep looking around like you're hoping he'll come in." Inga's teasing smile turned more serious. "Lucy, are you and my brother ..." She wrinkled her nose and screwed up her mouth. Inga had a very expressive face. "I don't know how to ask this."
"We're not sleeping together!" Lucy said, shocked. "I just met him!"
But it wouldn't be bad. Not bad at all. In fact, now that she had said it out loud, her entire body seemed to flush, tingling all the way down to her toes.
"You should see your face," Inga said, giggling. "Sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you. That wasn't what I was asking about. I was wondering if he'd talked to you about ..." Her face screwed up again, and she shook her head. "No, there just is no way to ask."
Lucy was wildly curious now. "About what?"
"He'll tell you if he needs you to know," Inga said cryptically, which resolved nothing. "Here, I'll finish up. Go find him. He should be out at the boat."
Maybe Inga had meant the situation with Dane? Lucy thought as she went to look for her shoes, which she had no memory of taking off. No, Eren had said no one else knew about that. She still felt a happy little jump in her heart that he had trusted her about it.
She found her Louboutins behind the door in the guest bedroom. They were a cute pair of chunky-heeled mules and she loved them, but after running all over the island in them yesterday, her feet protested as soon as she shoved them inside. Practical shoes definitely needed to go on her list of things to buy.
Or ... obtain. Somehow. The precariousness of her situation came crashing down on her once again. Even now, her uncle's men would be searching for her. Someone might have seen her get on Eren's boat.
The absolute last thing she wanted was to get these nice people in trouble for helping her.
I should find Eren and explain to him that I have to leave,she thought firmly.
Her steely resolve lasted exactly as long as it took her to walk outside into a crisp, gorgeous coastal day. It was late enough in the morning for the air to have warmed, but it still held a sharp, refreshing cool undertone. The town sprawled around her, climbing the side of the hill in the sun.
Lucy looked up at it, caught off guard by its beauty. The houses were all different bright colors, and the narrow streets clung to the hillside between them. Flowers brightened every yard and hung in baskets from door posts and eaves. Her first impression was that the town looked like a painting, as if the brilliant green hillside was a canvas that had been splashed with every imaginable color as the artist ran wild with buckets of paint.
She took in the remoteness of the location. Other than the lighthouse, and a rambling stone structure higher up the hill, there was no sign of any other houses or towns as far as she could see.
Eren had said he thought she was safe here. Maybe he was right.