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I couldn’t do anything except nod and try to explain. “Some of those girls wouldn’t know hard work if it hit them in the face,” I said. “They aren’t used to having to think about anything other than what they want in that very moment. I apologize if any of them have been cruel to you.”
Abby smiled. “Thank you,” she said. “It’s not just them, though. It comes with the job, unfortunately. A lot of people on these cruises seem to look down on the staff. It can make the work very hard.”
“I understand,” I said. “So tell me about yourself. I know you’re named Abby. You’ve served our table before.”
“Yes!” she said. “Abby Ortega. This is actually my first trip out, and it’s been an eye-opener for sure.”
We both laughed.
“What did you do before this?” I asked.
“I was a student,” she said. “I wanted to be a social worker. I was attending the Cal State Long Beach on a full-ride, but I failed a couple classes last semester and lost my scholarship. I took a semester off. I’ll have to borrow money to go back, but I figured if I do this all summer, I can rack up enough savings to not have to work so much when I go back. I can focus more on the grades, you know?”
“That’s a good plan,” I said. “What was your scholarship for? Academic?”
Immediately, I regretted asking. She looked anxious about answering. Still, she answered anyway.
“I was a foster child,” she said. “I grew up in foster care, and there was a scholarship program I found to help kids without families go to college. I messed it up, though. I feel kind of bad.”
“No,” I said. “You shouldn’t. Everyone makes mistakes, and you’re doing everything you can to correct them, right? That’s powerful.”
She smiled at me.
“You know, a lot of the people on the boat are just trying to put back money to do other things. None of us are looking at this as permanent work, I don’t think. It’s just a good stepping stone, you know?”
I nodded, thinking about Matteo. He was enjoying the adventure of the moment, he’d said. But he, too, knew it wasn’t a permanent plan.
Abby continued talking. “The bartender, Rufus, is an immigrant. He’s saving money to get his family here. Esme is trying to help her sister save money to adopt a baby. Smithy… Well, Smithy is working through some stuff, too. We all have our reasons for being here.”
“I’m sure you do,” I said. “You know, this trip has kind of been an eye-opener for me, too. I was set in a path in my life, and I had never really thought about questioning it until I got on this boat. Then, I met someone, and he kind of changed things. He’s made me think a lot about what I really want, and I’ve realized I’m not sure what I do want. I just know it’s not what I was supposed to be getting. Does that make sense?”
Abby nodded at me. “It does,” she said. “And I know who you are, by the way. I really love your mom’s clothing line. I also know that all the buzz has been about you taking over, so I think I know what you mean when you say you don’t want what you were headed for.”
“You’re right,” I said. “My mom did very well with her fashion line, but that’s not for me. I have never had any real interest in it. I actually told her very recently that I didn’t want it, but the phone cut off on the ship. We lost signal, and she didn’t really get to try to tell me anything in rebuttal. I’m sure I’ll have a thousand angry text messages when we get back under a satellite.”
Abby giggled. “Stand firm, though,” she said. “The person you met that you mentioned earlier—he’s right.”
“How do you know it’s a he?” I teased.
“I don’t only know it’s a he,” she said. “I know which ‘he’ it is.”
We both erupted into a fit of giggles as she gestured wildly, giving her best faux-Italian hand-speak.
“And how do you know it’s him?” I asked.
“You think we don’t talk in the kitchen?” she asked. “To hear the others talk, you’d think Matteo has been a priest this whole time. Apparently, he’s not an easy guy to catch attention from—so everyone has been noticing that you seem to have his.”
“Well, I did,” I said. “We had a little bit of a disagreement. He hasn’t spoken to me much the last few days. Just a hello here and there. I think it’s over.”
“Ah,” Abby said. “That explains a lot.” She sat up on the bench and reached for a towel. The timer was almost up on the booth.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Matteo is normally a very happy-go-lucky kind of guy,” she said. “Lately, though, there’s been something a little off with him. He’s been very quiet. Not as outgoing. And he’s been a little hot-tempered. He and Rufus had an argument yesterday about where Rufus was sending the bar glasses back to be washed. Apparently he was making the dishwasher’s job harder than it needed to be, and Matteo acted like it was the end of the world. But all he really needed to do was ask Rufus nicely, you know? Rufus ain’t hard to get along with.”
Abby got up and wrapped her towel around her just as the lights and fans in the sauna came to a stop. “That’s my queue to shower and get ready for service,” she said. “I’ll see you around?”
“Sure you will,” I said. “Thank you for the chat. It was really nice, and I wish you so much luck with your future. You’re actually so brave, and you don’t even know it.”
