Someone put the “Cha-Cha Slide” on. Cody bounced up and down and clapped his hands. “I wanna dance, Daddy. Come wif me.” Oh, he was in full little-mode now!
When he grabbed my hand, I shook my head. “Look.” I turned him around. “There’s Joey and Danny. Go dance.” I swatted his ass, and that was all the encouragement he needed. He rushed out to the floor and all three hugged each other, jumping up and down before getting in line while I made my way over to where their daddies were standing together.
“Lee. Vince.”
“They’re having so much fun. I really can’t thank you enough for inviting us.” Vince shook my hand, but I pulled him in for a bro hug.
“They’re always like this when they get together. You should have seen them on the Pride cruise a few years ago. Oh, well, neither Joey or Cody was there, but Danny had Levi and the rest of them to play with. And the pups.” As Lee talked about the past cruise, the pups all showed up together and practically hopped out to the dance floor, colliding with each other and bouncing up to our littles.
“Wait for me!” Levi called as he ran out to join them.
Hudson stopped beside us and clasped Lee’s shoulder. “It’s the Pride cruise all over again.”
It didn’t take long for Skyler to join the dancers and Crow stepped up beside me. “If they do karaoke…” He pointed at me.
“Oh no. They’re saving that for the cruise.” Lee chuckled. “I remember you two last year. Very good.”
“Nah…” I said, as Crow preened and agreed exclaiming, “Yes, we were.”
Everyone laughed, but then Hudson made the best suggestion of the night. “Open bar, let’s get some drinks.”
We made our way over and one of Drew’s other lawyers and his partner were handing out drinks. “Plenty of whisky, but we have whatever you want.” Whiskey all around was the verdict on that one, and Drew didn’t skimp, so it was the good stuff.
The party went on for about an hour before they cut the cake. All the littles and pups got a piece, but I wasn’t sure they needed all that sugar. Well, how could I say no when they were having so much fun and had probably burned off entirely too many calories on the dance floor alone, not to mention the pool and swimming during our paddleboard trip earlier in the day.
Finally, I whisked my boy off to bed. The cruise would be the next day, so he needed some rest, and he was so tired by then that he didn’t even argue.
Chapter seventeen
Cody – I’m on a Boat
What I expected and what we ended up with were not the same. Sure, they said cruise, but honestly, I didn’t think the boat would be this big. Jax’s company must have been doing great to have a giant boat like this. Well, it wasn’t as big as a commercial cruise line like you see on TV, but it was definitely bigger than the small yacht I had in my head.
We walked up the gangplank…walk-plank…walkway. Whatever you called it, we boarded. “Jax!” I waved my hand over my head and ran over to him, giving him a big hug.
“Hi, Cody. Welcome aboard.”
“Thanks. I like your boat so far. It’s big.”
“Ship.”
“Oh, yeah. Ship.”
“These guys are our helpers for the trip, and they’ll take your luggage to your room.” He turned to the two guys dressed in Hoadley Yacht uniforms. “This is Warner Rainey and Cody Schroeder.”
“Thank you, sir.” They gave us a bow and took our bags. “Follow me, please.”
Jax waved us off. “Find the pool when you’re all settled in. We’ll all be there for the launch party.”
“Thank you, Jax.” Daddy shook his hand, and we were off.
The room was as nice as a fancy hotel, but smaller than I thought it would be. The stewards set our bags at the foot of the bed and refused Warner’s tip, saying it would be covered in their pay, which I thought was super weird. Once they left, I looked around. There was an attached bathroom, a table, a sitting area, and a glass door that took up nearly the whole wall, leading outside to a balcony with a sitting area. That was amazing. I opened it and rushed out to the railing. We were on the far side overlooking the water. “Daddy. Look.”
He came up behind me. “I see.”
We stood together looking out. “Is that the Atlantic Ocean?”
“Uh, no. I think that is actually the Gulf of Mexico.” He ruffled my hair. “Let’s get unpacked and find everyone at the pool.”
