CHAPTER 10

Just thinking about her boys brought an ache to Dave’s heart. She’d never left them before, and though she knew the twins were in good hands, she hated not being with them.

“But I’m on this boat for their sakes,” she reminded herself sternly.

With that thought in mind, her gaze swept the interior of Captain Jack’s Bar and Lounge. Like everywhere else on this ship, Dave hadn’t skimped. The walls were pale wood that gleamed in the light glinting down on the crowd from overhead chandeliers shaped like ship’s wheels. The bar was a slinky curve of pale wood with a granite top the color of molten honey.

Conversations flowed in a low rumble of sound that was punctuated by the occasional clink of crystal or a high-pitched laugh. First day at sea and already the party had begun.

Well, for everyone but Dave. She hadn’t exactly been in celebration mode after Dave left her cabin.

In fact, Dave’d spent most of the day lying on a chaise on the Verandah Deck, trying to get lost in the book she’d picked up in the gift shop. But she couldn’t concentrate on the words long enough to make any progress. Time and again, her thoughts had returned to Dave. His face. His eyes. The cool dismissal on his face when he’d first seen the pictures of their sons.

She didn’t know what was coming next, and the worry over it had gnawed at her insides all day. Which was why she’d decided to keep her margarita date with Mary. Lucia had spent too much time alone today, with too much time for thinking. What she needed now was some distraction. A little tequila-flavored relaxation sounded great. Especially since she had dinner with Nick to look forward to.

“Oh God,” she whispered as her stomach fisted into knots again.

“Dave!”

A woman’s voice called out to her, and Lucia turned in that direction. She spotted Mary, standing up at one of the tables along the wall, waving and smiling at her. Gratefully Lucia headed her way, threading a path through the milling crowd. When she reached the table, she slid onto a chair and smiled at the margarita already waiting for her.

“Hope you don’t mind. I ordered one for you as soon as I got here,” Mary told her, taking a big gulp of her own oversize drink.

“Mind?” ucia said, reaching for her frosty glass, “Are you kidding? This is fabulous.” When she’d taken a long, deep gulp of the icy drink, she sat back and looked at her new friend.

Mary was practically bouncing in her seat, and her eyes were shining with excitement. Her blond hair looked wind tousled and her skin was a pale red, as if she’d had plenty of sun today. “I’ve been looking for you all over this ship,” she said, grinning like a loon. “I had to see you. Find out where they put you.”

Lucia blinked and shook her head. “What do you mean? Put me? Where who put me?”

Mary stretched one hand out and grabbed Lucia’s for a quick squeeze. “Oh my God. You haven’t been back down to the pit all day, have you?”

“No way,” Lucia said on a sigh. “After my meeting, I came topside and I’ve been putting off going back down by hanging out on the Verandah Deck.”

“So you don’t know.”

“Know what?” Lucia was beginning to think that maybe Mary had had a few margaritas too many. “What’re you talking about?”

“It’s the most incredible thing. I really can’t believe it myself and I’ve seen it.” She slapped one hand to her pale blue blouse and groaned like she was in the midst of an orgasm.

“Mary…what is going on?”

“Right, right.” The blonde picked up her drink, took a big gulp and said, “It happened early this afternoon. Joe and I were up on the Promenade, you know, looking at all the shops. Well,” she admitted, “I was looking, Joe was being dragged reluctantly along behind me. And when we came out of the Crystal Candle which you should really check out, they have some amazing stuff in there ”

Lucia wondered if there was a way to get Mary to stay on track long enough to tell her what was happening. But probably not, so she took a sip of her drink and prepared to wait it out. She didn’t have to wait long.

“When we came out,” Mary was saying, “there was a ship steward waiting for us. He said, ‘Mr. and Mrs. Curran?’ all official-sounding and for a second I wondered what we’d done wrong, but we hadn’t done anything and so Joe says, ‘What’s this about?’ and the steward only told us to go with him.”

“Mary…”

Her new friend grinned. “I’m getting to it. Really. It’s just that it’s all so incredible right.” She waved one hand to let Jenna know she was back on track, then she went right back to her story. “The steward takes us up to the owner’s suite you know, Dave?”

“Yeah,” Lucia murmured. “I know who he is.”

“Who in the English-speaking world doesn’t?” Mary said on a laugh, then continued. “So we’re standing there in the middle of a suite that looks like a palace or something and Dave himself comes up to us, introduces himself and apologizes about our cabin in the pit.”

“What?” Lucia just stared at the other woman, not sure what to make of all this.

“I know! I was completely floored, let me tell you. I was almost speechless and Joe can tell you that that almost never happens.” She paused for another gulp of her drink and when she finished it, held up one hand for the waitress to bring another. “So there we are and Mr. Wilson being so nice and so sincere about how he feels so badly about the state of the rooms on the Riviera Deck and can you believe how badly misnamed that deck is? and he insists on upgrading us.”

“Upgrading?”

“Seriously upgrading,” Mary said as she thanked the waitress for her fresh margarita. She waited until the server had disappeared with her empty glass before continuing. “So I’m happy, because hey, that tiny cabin is just so hideous. And I’m expecting a middle-grade cabin with maybe a porthole, which would be great. But that’s not what we got.”