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During lunch, Liane and Janelle chatted away with the couple from Wales like well-seasoned travelers. They wore newly purchased character hats and pirate swords they had made in a crafts class. They also begged to play video games in the arcade. “Jason is going,” came the predictable plea.
This is how it starts, Stormy thought as she returned them to the care of their youth counselors. She freshened up in her cabin and spent a moment debating whether to put on earrings and fix her hair. Maybe put it up?Stupid, she told herself, discarding the idea.
When she returned, Tyler and the Foley woman had moved to the roulette table. Stormy browsed the lounge deck, looking for H.B.
She found him hunkered down in the Junkanoo Bar. She ordered a Coke and, braving fate, sat down at the next table. He looked up. She smiled.
“We met last night,” she said. “Your little boy, Jason, and my daughter have become great friends.”
“Oh, right,” he said, then stared past her.
She searched frantically for something more to say. “You were funny in orientation. Did you find your fraternity brother?”
“What? Oh, no. That was just part of their script. I don’t know anyone aboard ship.”
“You’ve been on cruises before?”
His brow wrinkled. “A few.”
Stormy cocked her head. “You don’t sound as though you enjoy them.”
“My wife does,” he said abruptly.
Stormy exhaled.How much can I get away with? she wondered. If Liane had told Jason that she and Tyler weren’t married… “So does my friend. He loves to gamble. To excess, I think. He’d rather play blackjack than eat.” She looked down and twiddled her straw. “Tell you the truth, it scares me sometimes. He seems driven. And it takes so much money.” She gave a little laugh.
“It does that. Well, if you’ll excuse me, I have to check on my boys.”
“Oh. Sure. Nice talking to you.” Heart clattering, she returned to the casino.
Cheryl was in line at the cashier. Stormy moved to the side and watched the transaction. From what Stormy could hear, the cashier added five hundred dollars to Cheryl’s playing card. Cheryl crumpled up the credit-card receipt and tossed it toward the nearby trash bin. It missed.
Stormy retrieved it and wandered over to the roulette table, nudging Tyler. “Having any luck?” she asked in her most syrupy voice.
“Fair. You?”
“I won a hundred dollars.” She bent over and kissed him on the ear. “Our friend just added five hundred to her playing card,” she whispered. “I spoke to H.B., and he’s not happy.”
“You—” Tyler picked up his chips and put them in his pocket. “Let’s go find a cup of coffee,” he said, taking her arm, ushering her out of the casino and back into the bar. “You’re playing with fire,” he said angrily after the waiter took their order.
“And you aren’t? Anyway, I feel superfluous just standing around. Everybody has something to do except me.”
“Poor baby.”
“Don’t patronize me.” She tossed the credit-card receipt onto the table. “Here, she threw this away.”
Tyler smoothed it out. “She’ll keep on tossing them. From here on out, we need to stick to her like glue, pick up every one of these we can. They’re going ashore to the Crystal Palace tonight. You’d better make arrangements for a babysitter.”
“You mean, leave the girls aboard ship alone?”
He sighed. “Not alone. They have a program for the kids while parents are ashore. They take them to the movies, entertain them, and put them to bed. They’ll be fine. It’s the in-thing.”
“The Crystal Palace, huh? You got that chummy with her.”
“She was trying to be helpful—said the gaming tables warm up around ten. Look, I’m taking you on a date. If we were back in St. Augustine and I asked you out, you’d get a babysitter, wouldn’t you?”
“A date?” Stormy laughed. “After all we’ve been through? What do you call this cruise, for heaven’s sake?”
“Business! Hot damn, but you’re stubborn,” he fretted, shaking his head. “Just so you don’t feel guilty, once we dock, let’s take the girls ashore, do the tourist bit, have dinner somewhere local, then bring the kids back, and get them settled.”
