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Blinking her emerald eyes at me a few times, she gave me a look that said I should stop messing with her. “How about a hike?”
“Oh, a hike. Never would’ve guessed.” I giggled, and she shook her head at me. “I don’t know, Luce. You’re in so much better shape than me, and I always lag behind.” Lucy was petite, with long dark hair and a pretty face. She had a ton of energy, and despite her short legs, she walked faster than anyone I knew.
I, on the other hand, happened to fall into the curvy category. Lucy always said she was jealous of my figure because I looked like a real woman, whereas she struggled to find a bra outside of the training section of the girls’ department. I appreciated her compliments, but I didn’t always feel that stunning. Most of the time, I put very little effort into my appearance because I didn’t actually see anyone anyway. I supposed, when I fixed my long blonde hair and used the right color of eyeshadow to set off my brown eyes, I could be pretty enough.
That didn’t make me any faster when it came to Lucy’s hikes. I would never be able to keep up with her.
“I don’t care if we have to go slow,” she said with a shrug. “I just wanna spend some time with my best girl, that’s all.”
“Well, when you put it like that, how could I resist?” I asked with a chuckle. Despite her reassurances, though, I knew that what she was saying now probably wouldn’t be what actually happened on the trail. No doubt, she’d get aggravated at my pace and ask me to walk faster, and I’d remind her that she’d promised she’d slow down. We’d bicker at one another, but it would still probably be a nice time.
“How’s the weather?” I asked, heading into the bedroom to change.
Lucy followed me, plopping down on my bed while I stepped into the closet. “Not bad. Right now, it’s in the fifties, but it’s supposed to get up to sixty-three this afternoon.”
“Sounds good.” I grabbed a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, knowing I’d be pretty warm despite the cooler temperatures once we started hiking. The summer in Seattle was one of the best times of year. Not too hot and not as much rain as in other seasons, I would rather spend time outside now than in the spring, fall, or winter.
Once I was dressed, I pulled my hair up into a tight ponytail and looped it around so it wouldn’t keep my neck warm. Then, I put on my boots and filled my water bottle before making sure I had plenty of snacks and emergency supplies in my backpack, including bear spray. The park we liked to walk in never had any bears, according to Lucy, but I’d be the one person to run into a black bear and be eaten alive before anyone could get me help, so I always carried it with me when I was going out in the woods.
About an hour later, we were out among the wildflowers, feeling the cool breeze against our sweaty cheeks, breathing in the fresh air of nature. “This is amazing,” Lucy said, not for the first time, spreading her arms wide. “I just love it out here.”
In the distance, we could see Mt. Rainier. One of these days, I expected her to tell me we were going to climb it. That would be the day I decided Lucy Whitfield was no longer my best friend.
“It is very pretty today,” I agreed, looking up at the azure sky. A few billowy clouds rolled by, their white puffy forms making the sky look even bluer.
“It’s not fair that you get to go outside whenever you want to,” Lucy lamented, walking a few steps ahead of me.
“Girl, we’ve been over this before. Just because I don’t work in an office like you doesn’t mean I don’t work.” I tried not to roll my eyes at her, even though she couldn’t see me with her back to me.
“I know, but I hate being in that stuffy cubicle all day in my office job. Accounts receivable sucks, you know? Contacting people all day and asking them to make a payment on their account. Why can’t companies just be responsible and pay their damn bills?”
“It sounds to me like you should just get another job.” This was not the first time I’d suggested to her that she could make more money and be happier in another line of work.
“I know, but I do like the perks of my job.” She ducked to go under a low branch. If it was short for her, I’d really need to be careful. “Just the other day a guy gave me a ticket on a cruise for next month.”
“Really?” I stopped in my tracks, waiting for her to turn and look at me. She didn’t, so I rushed to hurry up. “That’s amazing. Are you going to go? Is it to the Caribbean? Maybe Mexico?”
“Nah, the cruise is to Alaska. Still really cool. And this is the time of year to go. But I can’t do it.” She sighed and bent down to smell a flower. I was certain she’d know the name of it if I asked, but I wouldn’t remember even if she told me. Lucy stood and turned around to look at me, a crooked grin on her pretty face. “Hey, you could go.”
One eyebrow arched as I considered her. “Why can’t you go?”
“I have to work,” she reminded me. “But you don’t have that problem.”
“I also have to work.” While I got what she was alluding to, it annoyed me that people seemed to think that I didn’t work just because I worked from home. Had Covid taught us nothing? Or maybe that was the problem—so many people who were supposed to be working from home during the pandemic didn’t actually do anything that we all assumed no one actually did work when they worked from home.
“No, I know that you have to work.” She waved her hand at me. “I mean, you can work from anywhere, right? Why not work from the cruise ship on the way to Alaska? You’ve always wanted to go.” She stepped back over to me and rested a hand on my arm.
Automatically, I shook my head. “I don’t think so, Lucy.” There was a reason I preferred to work from home. I’d always had a small amount of social anxiety. While I tended to get over it once I was around other people for a little while, the thought of stepping out on my own and doing something like this, going on a cruise, made my stomach twist into a knot.
“Oh, why not? I figured you’d say no. You should do it, though, Georgia. It’s not a super long cruise, so you’ll only be gone, like, a week or so. And it’ll give you a chance to scratch something off your bucket list. Besides, you deserve it. You work so hard, and you never do anything for yourself.”
My instincts told me to continue to shake my head, but she did have a good point. How long had I been talking about taking a trip? I never went anywhere, nowhere that Lucy didn’t drag me anyway. “But I won’t know anyone.” Despite the slight sway in my thoughts, I could still feel the nervousness mounting inside of me.
She shrugged. “You’re a lot better at making friends than you give yourself credit for. But even if you don’t meet anyone at all, you can sit on your own private deck and do your work while staring at the beautiful ocean, or a glacier, or whatever amazing landscape you get to see that day. What could possibly be better than that?”
Once again, my best friend made some points I couldn’t really argue with. “Will it cost me anything?” That was the only thing. While my job paid well enough that I didn’t have to necessarily worry about money, I was on a fairly tight budget without a lot in my savings account.
“Nah, not really. He said besides the ticket, there would be an onboard credit. And you won’t have to travel to board the ship because it leaves from here.”
