AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We can hear the hut dismantling around us. I’m grateful for a concrete floor and hefty, well-anchored cabinets.
But even so, these won’t withstand an intense tropical storm.
Bailey’s crying again, huddled in the corner. I don’t know what made me want to comfort her the first time, but I’m not going to try it again. She’s as prickly as a briar patch and about as welcoming.
It’s not easy to fold myself up into a small enough package to hunker down in the cabinets. At least she’s a better size for it.
My elbow bumps into a cardboard box. Maybe they leave a few supplies between trips.
Of course. The cruise line comes here often. Even if they don’t notice we’re gone, they’ll be back with another round of visitors, eventually. With the storm, though, they’ll probably skirt the area or reschedule for a day or two.
Bailey sniffs. “What’s whirring inside that evil mind?”
I swallow a salty reply. “Nothing.” Of course, Bailey thinks I’m evil. I fired her. I was not a friendly boss. She’s right aboutwhat she said earlier. We were in over our heads, and we didn’t have an easy time of it in the office.
Half of it was my fault, deciding I had to be a certain type of leader. Some of it was Uncle Sherman’s. Holding a secret that large made it hard to get overly friendly with anyone, lest they be upset later that I withheld information that important about the company.
But some of it was because of Bailey. She wanted my office to run her way. Her filing system. Her spreadsheets. Her organization. We were bound to butt heads.
“Still calculating what I owe your damn company?” Bailey shifts in the dark, her foot brushing my ankle.
“Just listening to the storm.”
“Oh.”
Now I do actually listen. The screech of metal has ended, but rain drums on the top of the counter. It leaks in the corners and around the doors, but we’re wet anyway, so it doesn’t matter.
It’s eerie and strange, curled in the dark with Bailey. After a while, she quits trying to avoid bumping me, and our legs rest against each other. I lean against the box behind me, bracing my head on the soggy top.
When might we be missed? There’s a dinner tonight, but I have been eating in my room, so my absence might not be questioned. And even if Gloria knocks on my door, there are a dozen reasons why I might not answer. I could be in the pool, or at the bar, or simply ignoring it to work. She wouldn’t exactly ask the crew to open my door.
How long might that go on? There was nothing highlighted on the itinerary for the port tomorrow that required my presence. After that stop, it’s the last night of the trip.
It might not be until the cleaning staff finds my things in the room when the cruise is over that they realize something is amiss.
“Do you think anyone will report you missing?” I ask Bailey.
“I wasn’t even supposed to be on the ship.”
“What about Viola?”
“She’s super mad at me.”
“But you were such great friends.”
“And then she got me fired.”
This statement shakes me to the core. “What do you mean, shegotyou fired? You two were clearly very tight. She was upset when she brought those requisitions in.”
Bailey blows out a long gust of air that tickles my knees. “I am not one to question the ways of Viola. It was impossible to talk to her today.”
“What did she say?”
“The same thing everyone else did. ‘Why are you here? You werefired, Bailey.’” Her voice is a sneer.
“So she won’t report you as missing.”
Bailey sighs. “I don’t have a roommate in the cabin.”
