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“So why’d you look like you were going to kiss me? Is it because I don’t fall at your feet?” I taunted.
“I usually like my dates at crotch level. If they’re at my feet, they’re doing something wrong.”
“Gross. Also—sexist.”
“Natural. Also—not if I’m reciprocating. Which, for your general knowledge, I always do. Anyway, you said I could be myself around you, right? That’s me. Take it or leave it.”
“I choose to leave it,” I said emphatically, my heart beating a thousand miles a minute, because what was going on?
Were we actually discussing sex?
“Well, sweetheart, I was never yours to begin with. Now call your parents again. I’ll try my mother.”
He put me down, having had enough of my malice. I caught a glimpse of the ocean for the first time. It was endless and blue and promising, spread at my feet, and I reminded myself that in a few minutes, I wouldn’t have to deal with Haughty McHotson at all.
I’d be too busy with my family, my son, and my tan.
No more basket making, no more tables to serve. Things were finally, finally looking up.
I called my mother, then my father, then Bear. I was waiting for Bear to pick up when I heard Cruz’s mother’s voice blasting through his phone’s speaker.
“Cruz? Where are you, darling?”
“Upper deck. Waterpark bar. We’re looking for you.”
I whipped my head to catch him video-chatting his mother, pacing from side to side. I wasn’t the only one who was staring. The entire female population of the cruise ship was ogling this piece of prime meat. Some of the men, too.
Stupid pride filled my chest. Everyone could look, but he was with me. But then I was also filled with dread, because not only were we NOT together, he was literally trying his hardest to get away from me.
“Yes. We’re at the lounge, which is right at the back. You’ll see the beautiful chandelier, made of empty vintage liquor bottles. So very pretty. I’m wearing an ivory dress and a straw hat, and Donna is wearing…oh, I don’t know what she is wearing, darling. These people wouldn’t recognize a good fashion choice if it whacked them across the tush.”
Welp.
I was pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to hear that.
I had no doubt I was lumped together with these people. The blue-collared folks of Fairhope.
Cruz had the decency to shoot me an apologetic glance before hurrying to the back of the waterpark’s bar.
“I can’t see the lounge. Are you sure you’re at the waterpark?”
“By the waterpark.”
“Yeah, I don’t see any chandeliers, either. Just a bar that looks like a yellow submarine.”
A panicky feeling began buzzing in the pit of my stomach. The ship’s horn sounded, drowning out my heartbeats.
“How about we meet somewhere else? I can wait for you by the spa center on the nineteenth deck.”
“The decks only go to eighteen, Mom.”
“Nonsense, Cruzy. You’d think a man who finished med school would know how to count.”
The panic in my abdomen slithered up, up, up toward my sternum, making it almost impossible to breathe.
Cruz stopped pacing, rubbing at his face tiredly and shaking his head.
“It’s right in the brochure, Mom. The Elation has eighteen decks. Look it up.”
