“Thanks, Todd.”
“My pleasure.”
Joey took a sip of his. “Mm…I love Sunshine’s frozen cocktail bar.”
“This is awesome.” This batch was Sour Watermelon Slushies made with vodka, which I liked better than margaritas.
“Great name, too.” Jax came up beside us with his own drink. “I’m calling it Sunshine’s Frozen Cocktail Bar from now on. I might even get a sign made.”
Todd stuck his tongue out at his friend. The pups were so much fun. After our drinks, Joey pulled his phone out and recorded everything. He was into social media and had posted about our trip, but I wasn’t fond of having the camera stuck in my face. Since he knew that, he went to record other people, but I was pretty sure he got some videos of Todd making drinks. He even included links to Todd’s website.
While he was off doing his thing, I went to find Daddy Warner. I’d been hanging out with my friends so much that I hardly saw him at all since getting on the ship. He wasn’t at Sunshine’s bar or the dining and lounge area behind the bar. I looked around the pool and didn’t see him there either. Most of the people on the ship were in these areas because they were the best places to hang out and lounge. Where else would he be? He could be up in the main dining room at the top, but I thought I’d check our room first, since it was on the way.
He wasn’t in our room. If I didn’t find him upstairs, I would have to call him. But when I walked into the big dining room, he was sitting at a table with a bunch of daddies, including Vince,Crow, and Drew. They all had their daddy drinks—whiskey—in their hands or in front of them on the table. And oh…they were playing cards.
I slipped into Daddy’s lap, and he put his arm around me. “Hey, baby. Are you having fun?”
“Yes, but I missed you. What’re you doing?”
“Playing poker.”
“Are you winning or losing?”
“Eh…”
“Win or lose, it’s your turn.” Crow held up his cards.
I didn’t understand the game and also didn’t want to be a distraction. I kissed Daddy’s cheek. “Just checking on you. I’m going to go find Joey.”
“Okay. Have fun, but I’ll be here if you need anything.”
“Okay, Daddy. Bye.”
He gave me a squeeze before I hopped off his lap. We weren’t spending much time together, but that was okay. We’d have a lot of time together after the cruise. The rest of the road trip back to Tampa included a stopover in Fort Myers for more camping and paddleboarding. For now, I wanted to enjoy the cruise part with my friends. Maybe I’d get another drink, and we could jump in the pool before dinner. The next morning, we were stopping for the swimming in the ocean part. I was excited about that for sure.
First, I wanted to find my best friend, Joey. As expected, he was on the party deck, running around filming everything. “Joey. Let’s get another drink.”
“Yeah, I need one.” He put his phone away and we got refills in our cups. Then we sat on some lounge chairs by the pool.
“Wonder where our daddies are.” Joey sipped at his drink and smooshed his straw in the frozen goodness.
“They’re playing cards in the big dining room.”
“Oh. Nice.” He drank a little bit more of his drink. “You know, this isn’t what I ever wanted. Being with Vince, I mean. But sometimes life gives you something different. Not good or bad but maybe what you need rather than what you thought you wanted. I know that was my situation. And it’s really all about your attitude and not what the thing is. But Vince has turned out to be the best.”
“Warner’s the best for me, too.”
“Why are you having such a hard time with this, then?”
“I’m just afraid of it. And what if we do have kids and something happens? And I think right now I don’t want to share Warner with kids. Maybe I won’t ever want that.”
“I don’t think he cares about that.”
I put my drink down and rubbed my face. “Of course he does. He’d probably say he doesn’t. And he’d probably give up that dream if I asked him to. That’s not fair, though. But I had enough competition growing up. I don’t want that in my family now.”
“Competition growing up? What was that about? I mean, I have a brother and cousins, so I know about some of that. But it never got out of hand.”
“It did in my house. I was always stuck in the middle. My older brother and sister fought a lot, but if I was involved, they ganged up on me. My older brother is a himbo-gym rat. Always has to be the best at everything, especially if it’s physical. My sister is finishing college, and I haven’t heard from her in a while. Hell, I probably won’t. I’d bet she even forgets to invite me to her graduation.”
