AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Francis. De Haverland. I own Sonara Hotels, which some consider to be the finest of all hotels. We have rather a few in the Caribbean.”
I bristle. “Of course Barbados is in the Caribbean, but I don’t think I saw one of your hotels where we stayed, either time. We were in a rather more…exclusive resort.”
De Haverland sits up straighter, annoyance flashing in his eyes. Beside me, Ms. Peterson snickers. I lift my chin slightly and drape myself over Ashley’s shoulder again.
Finally, I’m starting to enjoy myself.
Eleven
Ashley
As I relax and see Jess doing the same, I can’t help but start to enjoy myself. The atmosphere is lively, even with De Haverland there, and it amuses me to hear the stories that Jess is making up about us.
I drape my arm lightly over Jess’ shoulder, and smirk devilishly as the contact makes her stutter slightly. I start rubbing small circles into her neck as I engage the guy next to me in a heated debate about the use of new technology in the hotel and leisure industries.
The first few times someone enters the room I stiffen automatically. I’m worried that the twins will decide to make an appearance, even though I double and triple checked with the staff that they were tired and had ordered room service direct to their cabins. They’ll be there for the night, which means we have plenty of time to sell ourselves to our fellow diners.
I only remove my arm from around Jess’ shoulders when the food comes. It is crab, but I squeeze Jess’ hand lightly under the table in reassurance. She looks at me with slightly nervous eyes, and I deliberately pick up the crab fork and use it to fish the meat out of the shell.
She watches my movements, trying to pretend to be casual. As she goes to pick up her own crab fork her hand shakes slightly.
“Darling, you just have to try this,” the words are out of my mouth before I realize it, and I pick up some crab meat on my fork, feeding it to Jess.
Her eyes widen again, but this time with a look of pleasure so strong that it throws me. “Oh wow, that’s delicious. It’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten!”
“Yes, it is rather good isn’t it? But of course, they have a top notch chef on the ship, it’s one of the reasons people keep coming back. Basically Michelin starred you know,” Ms. Peterson offered.
Jess nods and digs into her own crab, her worries and concerns over whether she can play the part largely forgotten. As her eyelashes flutter in pleasure, I swallow hard and have to remind myself to keep my composure.
It’s a battle I’m not sure I’ll win though, especially when she keeps looking at me with her beautiful big green eyes wide and delighted. I’ve dined in some fancy places, but I would really call myself a foodie – not usually anyway. But watching Jess and hearing her exclaim how good everything is gives me a much deeper appreciation that I usually have.
The food really is delicious. And I’m enjoying spending time with the cutie on my arm just a bit too much.
I jump in occasionally with quick remarks to make our fellow diners laugh, but I mostly just leave it to Jess to explain how ‘Robin’ and ‘Emily’ met, where we’ve been, how we’re finding the cruise. I watch her speak with fascination, loving how she throws her hands in the air when she gets excited and how her eyes sparkle with excitement as she creates more and more elaborate stories.
When De Haverland pipes up in an attempt to make Jess feel inferior and stupid I feel myself getting surprisingly angry. But just as I am about to lash out with some half thought out remark, Jess coolly deals with the matter herself. As the other diners snicker quietly, I lean over and kiss her on the cheek.
“You’re so great,” I whisper in her ear, and she blushes furiously. I can’t stop myself from smirking, and my grin only grows wider when I hear the annoyed murmurs of those girls from the shop who are sitting across the table from us.
“And you’re with that little boy, aren’t you?” Ms. Peterson cuts in.
“Yes, Alex. He’s Jess’ nephew and we look after him. He’s a great kid, he’s so clever and funny, and he knows so much about boats!”
I see Jess turn to me out of the corner of my eye. I think she’s surprised that I’m the one offering up information about Alex. Her smile grows bigger and I smile back, happy and relieved that my inclusion of him has made her so happy.
“Kids are like that. Always have that one thing you can’t get away from. My daughters love horses,” a man from the other side of the table offers.
As I chat about Alex, I’m surprised at how naturally the words come to me, and how little I have to pretend or force myself to be enthusiastic. I tell them some stories about what Alex has gotten up to on the ship so far, and pepper in some made up tales about our life in our apartment together in New York City.
Jess keeps smiling at me, and now it’s her turn to drape herself over me. I love how happy this is all making her, and for reasons I’m not sure I want to understand her happiness seems more important to me than anything else right now.
“I was very interested to find out that the famous Robin Carmichael is a woman. Of course, it’s a symptom of our society isn’t it, that we all assumed a famous and successful hotelier must be a man. Really makes you think about how far we still have to go doesn’t it?”
There’s a murmur of agreements with Ms. Peterson’s statement, but De Haverland snorts, unimpressed. I try to suppress my natural urge to glare at him until he bursts into flames.
I’m relieved that everyone has accepted me as ‘Robin’ so easily, and Jess is surprisingly great at pretending to be in love with me. I feel a pang in my chest when I remember this is all pretend, but I squash the feelings down. There’s no time to dwell on something like that right now.
“I bet you’re enjoying yourself here, Robin. It’s so far away from that wastrel of a sister of yours,” De Haverland says casually, gauging me for a reaction.
