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p into Sandy Potts the Purser who offers to carry our bags. He starts a conversation with Alex who seems to know everything that there is to know about boats and before we even get back to the suite the two of them are fast friends. I’ve never known a kid this smart before.
Sandy takes our bags into the room and then tells us to ‘wait there a moment please’ before hurrying off and returning with a captain’s cap that he places on Alex’s head.
“There you go, little captain,” he says cheerfully. “Any time you want a tour of the ship you just let me know!”
Alex is dancing with excitement as we go into the rooms to unpack our purchases. We figure out the sleeping situation without much problem. Alex and Jess take the bed and I heroically offer to sleep on the couch. It will be like one big sleepover.
As Jess folds the clothes and Alex digs through the bags of toys that we bought them I find myself thinking about how much fun I’m having. Real fun. Not fun that I’m having to piss off Robin and mom and dad.
Maybe this holiday will be better than I’d hoped.
We’ve just finished with a break and some snacks when my phone starts ringing and I step aside to answer. It’s Robin. Oh boy.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he starts off. He must be really mad to not even say hello.
For a moment I blank and then I gather myself. “I’m doing recon,” I say with confidence. “Into corporate espionage.”
This throws him off the ‘Ashley you’re irresponsible’ rant and he stammers for a bit. “What?”
“Yeah! When I talked to the purser I saw that De Haverland was on board. You know how much he hates our company. What are the chances that he is coincidentally taking the exact same cruise as you?”
Silence.
“Exactly! So I did what any loving sister would do and I decided to spy on him to see what’s going on. You can thank me later.”
More silence. Robin makes a noise like a kettle about to boil over. “Ashley, I’m going to kill you.”
“Sorry Robin, you’re breaking up.” I make fake static noise, cupping my hand over the receiver. “Connection is terrible here. Love you. Bye.”
Then I hang up and go back to the sofa where my fake girlfriend is watching cartoons with her nephew. We’re making bets on which character Scooby Doo will unmask next and Robin’s not going to ruin this for me.
Ten
Jess
I can’t remember the last time I’ve had this much fun. Ashley is hilarious and me and Alex giggle all afternoon. She does incredible impressions of everyone on the ship, and even convinces one of the chefs to make a huge bowl of chocolate pudding especially for Alex.
As she starts a story about one of her wild parties at a hotel she and her brother own, I catch myself staring at her in awe. I can’t imagine being a part of her life, and yet that’s exactly what I’m going to have to pretend to be until we get off this damn boat. All the luxury and opulence in the world won’t distract me from the mess I’ve found myself in.
Ashley’s sparkling blue eyes might do the trick though.
She is interrupted by a polite yet firm knock on the cabin door. Ashley jumps up and goes to answer it, while I try to hold Alex down and scrub the chocolate off his face with a damp towel. It dawns on me that the towel I’m using has an embossed crest on the front, the emblem of the cruise line, and that it’s 10 times softer (and 100 times more expensive) than any towel I’ve ever seen before.
I hastily drop it and kick it under the bed as the door opens and the nice Purser, Sandy, enters. I smile up at him trying not to act too guilty.
The game is up almost immediately however, when Alex pipes up with, “Auntie Jess put chocolate on the nice towel and now it’s under the bed.”
I steel myself for trouble but Sandy bursts out laughing. Alex joins in delightedly and over Sandy’s shoulder I see Ashley smirk and wink at me. I swallow and try to ignore the effect that her wonderful smirk has on me.
“Hi Sandy. It’s nice to see you. Thanks for finding that hat for Alex and offering to show him around the ship, he really had a good time this morning.”
Sandy smiles and gives Alex a high five. “Aye it’s no problem at all. Anything for my young captain, eh?”
Alex jumps up and down in excitement at being called “captain”, and I lunge across the bed to stop him from falling off the other side.
“Anyway, I was just stopping by to remind you both that you’ve been invited to dine at the Captain’s Table tonight. The perks of knowing the owners of the ship, eh? Dinner is likely to start at 7:30 but most will be there from around 7 to chat beforehand.”
I barely hear the last half of Sandy’s announcement, or Ashley’s smooth and delighted reply. A wave of cold fear washes over me. This is going to ruin the plan entirely.
