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“I’m sure you’ll love it, just like me. Where else do you get to travel all over the world for nothing?”
The Navy!
“I’m sure I will. Now, I’d better go clean myself up. Have a good night, Betty,” I said, reading her name tag as I rose from the lounger.
“You too. Hey, what’s your name?” she asked.
“Rick.”
“Thanks, Rick. Thank you for not saying anything to anyone. I really don’t want a mark on my record,” she said.
“No problem.” I wasn’t out to get anyone in trouble. Where I came from, there was a code of honor, and we had each other’s back. Unfortunately, I was learning, that wasn’t how the rest of the world functioned.
Not one minute later I heard a man yelling. “I ordered two drinks. Where the hell is the other one?”
“I’m sorry, sir. I’ll be right back with the other,” Betty stammered. “I had a slight accident. It’ll only take me a few minutes to return with a fresh one.”
“And which one of us should wait? Me or her?” he grumbled.
I couldn’t just walk away and let someone speak to Betty that way. It might not be any of my business, but I was about to make it so.
When I came around the corner, I saw this young, arrogant ass, bare chest all puffed up as he stared Betty down. I could see the young lady he was with, shrinking back in her chair, totally embarrassed by the exchange. Betty fumbled for words, shaken.
“Hey, the lady said she’d be right back. Why don’t you cut her some slack and enjoy the view of the ocean instead of running your mouth?” I suggested.
“Listen, old man, why don’t you mind your business?”
“Don’t let these gray hairs fool you. I’m not someone you want to disrespect,” I warned. In my free time on the ship, I boxed for a hobby. I’ve missed a sparring partner, but this kid would do just fine as a stand-in.
The woman with him said, “I’m leaving. You’re an ass and I hope we don’t see each other again on this trip.” She walked away, the only one of us currently winning.
The young guy said, “See. I told you making her wait for a drink was going to ruin the night.”
Before Betty had a chance to reply I said, “You lost her the moment you opened your mouth. Now why don’t you take your drink and go find someone else to bother?”
He glared at me, and I expected a challenge. Instead, he huffed and walked in the opposite direction from where the young lady had gone.
“I can’t believe you did that,” Betty said. “He could report you and… you’d be fired.”
I laughed. “He doesn’t know I work here.”
Betty smiled. “That’s true. And hopefully you guys don’t bump into each other again and he finds out,” she said.
“I won’t worry about it. Now, I’m going to change. Hope you have a good night, Betty,” I said.
“Thanks to you, I just might.”
I headed to my cabin, where I planned on staying for the rest of the night. It was the only place I was going to get any quiet.
When I arrived at my cabin, I realized that I’d left my sister’s book on the lounge chair. It was an advance reader’s copy, so it wasn’t like I could download another one and pretend I didn’t lose her signed copy.
Damn it.
There was no reason why I couldn’t take a quick shower and change before heading up. This ship was filled with people checking each other out, I was sure no one wanted to spend time with their nose stuck in a book.
Less than ten minutes later, I was on my way back to retrieve my book. Betty was still delivering drinks to people in the area. She waved at me when she saw me approaching and almost toppled the tray she was carrying. She was nice but seemed clumsy as hell. I wasn’t sure she was going to last on this ship. Maybe it would be a race to see who got fired first.
I walked over to my lounge chair. It was still vacant, but I couldn’t find the book anywhere.
