AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We each extend a hand and he shakes them one at a time. “Nice to meet you both. Sorry I’m late. I got stuck on a call with my office that ran over. I hope it won’t ruin your first impression of me.”
“No. No problem,” Blake says.
“It’s totally fine,” I say at the same time. “We get it.”
He kisses the side of her head near her temple and pulls away as the waitress approaches.
“You’re beside Blake,” Florence tells Patton, gesturing toward the empty seat. We return to the table as the waitress, whose name tag readsDestiny (She/her), reaches us.
She takes their drink orders while the two new arrivals read over their menus, and when she returns moments later, we place our orders and pass the menus back to her.
Once we’re alone again, I eye my husband. “So, what are you supposed to be telling me?”
His gaze falls to Florence, and they seem to have a silent conversation I’m not yet privy to.
“Okay. You guys are freaking me out. What’s going on?” I demand, trying to keep my tone light, though I feel quite the opposite.
Florence rests her hands flat on the table, turning her head to look at me slowly. She inhales. “We have a sort of…surprise for you.”
“A surprise?”
“Yes. Hopefully it’s a good one. We’re, uh, we’re going on a cruise!” She winces as she says it, though her face is lit up like she’s been bursting to tell me. And I guess she has been.
It takes me a few seconds to process what she’s said. “A cruise? What?When?”
This is my only week of vacation time, and I can’t afford to take any more time off. Blake knows this, so why does he look so happy?
“Tomorrow.” She beams at me, lips pinched together, all prim and proper. “For five days.”
Time stops for half a second. Tomorrow is impossible. This has to be a joke. “Tomorrow,tomorrow? How? Where? I didn’t bring my passport. We’re already checked into the hotel for the week. We’re supposed to be here.” I don’t mean to sound as angry as I do, but I hate last-minute changes in plans. Especially when I’m the only one who seems to not have been made aware of them.
“I packed your passport,” Blake speaks up. “And I only made the hotel reservation for the night.”
“What? Why?”
“We wanted to surprise you,” Florence says, her voice softer than it was when she last spoke. My reaction has thrown her off. “I, er, well,wethought… I knew you wanted to be here for the anniversary, but since it’s the first year that your parents couldn’t come with you… I just thought it might be nice to change it up a bit. Do something new.”
I don’t know what to say, but it’s obvious I need to say something. Florence’s confidence is waning by the minute, her smile fading like a time-lapse video. I can’t help feeling guilty.
“We thought you’d like it,” Blake says gently. “Was it a bad idea?”
“No.” I force myself to say it with a grin plastered on my face. “No, of course not. It’s really sweet. I just… I’m processing. So”—I let out a sigh—“we’re going on a cruise? And we leave tomorrow?”
“Yes. We’re going to Costa Maya and Cozumel.” Florence squeaks with excitement. “It’s going to be so much fun.”
“Wow. So, it’s real… It’s, like, real then? How long’ve you been planning this?”
The three of them exchange glances.
“Well…” Blake shifts his gaze back to me. “Florence asked me what I thought right after we found out your parents weren’t going to be able to make it this year. We wanted to do something to make the trip extra special for you but couldn’t decide what. We booked the cruise two weeks ago. It was all very last minute.”
“Patton’s company does some IT work for the cruise line, so he got us a stellar deal, which I know you’ll appreciate,” Florence teases, nudging me gently.
“I do love a good deal… How did you manage to keep it a secret?” I ask.
Blake chuckles. “Well, it wasn’t easy. I almost slipped up more than once. But I put it on my credit card so you wouldn’t notice the charges. That was the biggest thing.”
“And you planned…everything?”
