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Stormy picked up the bulletin. “Our luggage will be put in the hall for us to collect later,” she read aloud. “Let’s go explore the ship. There’s no gambling until we’re outside U.S. waters. Oh, and there’s an orientation in the Club Universe once we set sail. That might be our chance to get our first glimpse of Foley and his wife. We don’t have any idea what she looks like.”
“You and the girls go explore the ship,” Tyler said. “I’ll check with the purser, see if I can wrangle the Foleys’ cabin number and which dinner seating they have, early or late. There’s supposed to be a buffet laid out on the Riviera Terrace. I’ll meet you there, in say, an hour?”
Stormy followed him into the corridor, pulling the door closed on the girls. “You’re not going to be in a bad mood this whole trip, are you? We can have fun and still—”
“We’re not going to have a minute’s privacy. And I’m not in a bad mood. See?” He flashed a toothy grin suited to a corpse.
“Just this once, could you stop thinking with your—”
“I’ll try.”
She kissed him on the cheek. “That’s better.”
“No, this is,” he said, snaking an arm around her and kissing her fully on the lips. Hearing excited voices closing in, he broke away reluctantly. “If you don’t want this happening every two minutes, go wash off that perfume.”
Stormy determined she’d wear the same perfume for the rest of her life.
The girls couldn’t reinin their excitement as Stormy led them on a tour of the ship. There was a playhouse on the stern of the Premier Deck and a video arcade and space station on the same deck as the casino. They found the ice cream parlor, the movie theater, the fitness center, and three swimming pools.
Children were everywhere: on deck playing table tennis, checkers, cards, and dancing to the band that welcomed them aboard. Stormy learned that there was a full schedule of activities for kids until 10:00 p.m. every night, all supervised by trained staff.
While on the glassed-in promenade, they felt the ship tremble. The turbines were turning.
“We’re moving!” Liane yelped.
“So we are,” Stormy agreed. The girls pressed their noses against the windows. Stormy sent up a heartfelt prayer that all would go according to plan.
The Welcome-Aboard Buffet was located in the Starboard Cafe. Hundreds of people filled their plates and congregated to dine and tap their feet on the Riviera Terrace, where a calypso band performed. Stormy found a shaded table beneath a ship strut and collapsed into a chair. Tyler would never find them in this mob, she thought.
There was no holding the girls back from the buffet. Unwilling to leave the table lest it be usurped, Stormy let them go through the line on their own. They snubbed their noses at the standing rib roast, baked ham, and salads, opting for pastries, cakes, and cookies.
“It’s all free!” gushed Janelle. “You can go back as many times as you want.”
“Just hope you don’t get seasick,” Tyler warned.
Stormy started. “You found us!”
“I spotted the girls in line and followed them here.”
“Smart you.”
“Hungry?” he asked.
“Not really. If I eat every meal they serve, I’ll go home weighing a ton.”
“Drink?” he offered, nodding toward the bar.
“Lovely.”
He returned with a pair of fancy red drinks, umbrellas and all. Stormy took a sip and sighed. “Delicious. I could get used to this. Did you find out about the Foleys?”
“They’re in a stateroom on the same deck as we are.”
“The purser just told you?”
“I told him I spied Foley and his wife coming aboard ship and that we were old college buddies. I wanted to order a bottle of champagne.”
“Did you?”
