Jordan took part in the next round of groans. “I’m out. How about you?”
Spencer held up her ticket. “I’m still in it. For the moment, anyway.”
Jordan crossed her fingers in solidarity.
“Six.” Seeming to enjoy drawing out the suspense, Laure paused again. “And the final number is two.”
Spencer felt like she was having an out-of-body experience. There was some kind of disconnect between what she was seeing and what she had heard. There had to be. Because if there weren’t, that meant—
“Hey, those are your numbers,” Jordan said. “You won!”
“Do we have a winner?” Amy shielded her eyes with her hand as she scanned the crowd.
Spencer wasn’t quite sure what she was supposed to do. Jump up and down like someone who had won the Final Showcase on The Price is Right or exhibit a modicum of restraint like someone who had just triumphed on Jeopardy!
Jordan dug an elbow into Spencer’s ribs to get her attention. “If you don’t say something, they’re going to draw another number and give the trip to someone else.”
The reminder that she might lose the trip she had barely won spurred Spencer into action. She raised her ticket over her head and leaped to her feet. “Here! Over here!” She squinted when the blinding beam of a spotlight played across the crowd and came to rest on her face.
“May I see that?” Sunny reached for Spencer’s ticket and checked the numbers. She nodded after she confirmed that the numbers on Spencer’s ticket matched the numbers Laure had announced. “What’s your name, and where are you from?”
“Spencer Collins from Pipkinville, Georgia.” She pumped her fist when the other Georgians in the room made their presence known. I’m starting to think I should have brought more business cards.
“Congratulations, Spencer,” Amy said from the stage. “Can you go on the trip?”
Dozens of people turned to face Spencer, waiting to see if she would say yes or no. Deep down, she knew she probably wouldn’t be able to give the trip to her parents as she had originally planned. Did she want to keep the prize for herself, or give someone else—someone in a relationship—a chance to win?
“Yes,” she said, deciding to take a chance on herself for once, “I can go.”
“Awesome. Come see me at the conclusion of today’s presentation to claim your prize.”
“Change of plans,” Jordan said after Spencer reclaimed her seat. “I’m not buying this afternoon. After this turn of events, drinks are on you.”
Spencer couldn’t help but laugh at Jordan’s joke—and at her own good fortune. “Cool. Because I think I see a bottle of chardonnay with my name on it.”
* * *
Jessica’s adrenaline was pumping too hard for her to pay attention to the burning in her legs. She typically averaged between fifteen and twenty miles for a beginner spin class, thirty for an advanced one. Since attendees of all levels had taken part in today’s session, her mileage total had fallen somewhere in between. Some women had dropped out shortly after the class started. Some had bailed after forty-five minutes. Only a few had kept pedaling for the full hour. She was pleased to see that Tatum, the former Marine who was recovering from a spinal injury, was one of them. After the timer on her watch hit the sixty-minute mark, she raised her arms over her head to indicate the class had come to an end.
“Good job, everyone. Give yourselves a hand.” She climbed off her bike and led the weary warriors who remained in a round of applause. “Thanks for spending part of your afternoon with me. I hope to see you tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your day.”
She chugged a bottle of water while the women made plans to meet up later for drinks, lunch, or dinner. She wished she could work SOS Tours cruises on every trip. The energy that developed was always supportive, not cutthroat like it could be on some of the straight cruises. If given a choice, she would prefer to see women lifting each other up, not tearing each other down.
“How was it?” She resisted the urge to offer a helping hand as Tatum climbed off the recumbent bike and used her crutches to drag herself to her feet. She knew from experience not to offer assistance to people with a physical challenge unless they asked for it beforehand.
“Incredible.” Tatum’s face glowed from a rush of endorphins. She, like Jessica, obviously didn’t need to take drugs to get high. Exercise had the same intoxicating effects. “Aside from meeting my girlfriend, I haven’t felt this happy in years. Do you do this every day?”
“I have to do something to burn off all the free alcohol.”
“I hear you. I seriously doubt my liver will be on speaking terms with me by the end of the week.”
“Make sure to drink plenty of water. That’s my secret. I’m teaching a Zumba class tomorrow. Are you planning to attend that, too?”
“I wish I could, but my girlfriend has made plans to go parasailing in Grand Turk tomorrow, and I’ll be lounging in a cabana on the beach cheering her on.”
“Such a hard life you lead.”
“I know, right? Seriously, though, thanks for going out on a limb to make this possible for me.”
“No big deal.”
Tears welled in Tatum’s eyes. “Yes, it was.” She reached into her backpack to retrieve her buzzing cell phone. “That’s probably my girlfriend, Jordan, texting to check up on me. She was afraid I might overexert myself today.” She looked at the phone’s display. “Okay, I was only half-right. The text is from Jordan. She wants to know how much longer I’m going to be. There’s someone she wants me to meet.”
“You sound like that happens often.”
“Are you familiar with the phrase ‘never met a stranger’? That’s Jordan in a nutshell. She introduces herself to everyone she comes across. Five minutes later, they’re BFFs. Unless the subject of politics comes up. Then all bets are off.”
“Are you the same way?”
“Not even close. It takes a long time for me to warm up to people. For me, trust is earned, not implicit.”
“Did you trust Jordan when you met her?”
“Oh, God, no. I live on Jekyll Island, so I have a love/hate relationship with the summer people who flock into town every year. When I met her, I thought she was a flighty, insufferable tourist more concerned about working on her tan than anything else. I made the mistake of judging her by her friends instead of trying to get to know her. When I spent more time with her, I realized what a big heart she has. I might not understand her need to march in every protest within a five-hundred-mile radius or lend her support to so many causes, but I know she does it because she cares. I didn’t mean to talk your ear off, but you got me started on one of my favorite subjects.”
“Sounds like you have a full day planned. I’ll have to work all that frivolity out of you when you come back for another spin class.”
“I’m looking forward to it. Thanks again.”
“You’re welcome.” When Jessica turned to watch Tatum leave, she spotted Breanna standing near one of the treadmill machines. She had been so focused on her conversation with Tatum she hadn’t heard or seen Breanna enter the room. “Hey, beautiful lady. When did you get here?”
“Somewhere between your benediction and your coronation. I wouldn’t have pegged you for sainthood.”
“Good. Because I’m certainly not aiming for it.”
Breanna sauntered across the room. Breanna was Hawaiian, so she rarely if ever did anything in a hurry. She always got the job done on time, but she never seemed to be rushed. Jessica loved that about her. Especially in bed. The time they spent together on a cruise didn’t feel like a few days. It felt like a lifetime.
“That’s welcome news. I was starting to wonder since I hadn’t seen much of you this trip. Where were you last night? You missed out on a killer party below decks.”
Her conversation with Raq had prompted Jessica to lay low after she finished her shift. She had fixed a to-go plate from the buffet and sought out Brandon so she could warn him that there was a Mexi
can federal police officer on board, but he’d been too busy trying to get into the pants of a cashier from one of the clothing boutiques to listen to what she had to say. God, she hoped he knew what he was doing. Because like it or not, her future was tied to his.
“I didn’t want to overdo it on the first night. I’m trying to pace myself.”
Breanna poked out her lower lip in a sexy pout. “What’s the matter? Did you find someone else to play with? I know we never tried to define what we mean to each other, but I thought we were having fun.”
“We were.”
“Past tense?”
“Stop trying to read between the lines. I’ve always been an open book. You know that.”
“Prove it.”
Jessica kissed her to erase Breanna’s fears and assuage her own guilt. “You’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever met in my life. I want you just as much as I ever did.”
“Then I’m counting on seeing you tonight. It’s seventies night in the disco. I hope you packed platform shoes and plenty of polyester.”
Breanna turned to leave, but Jessica called her back.
“Yes?” Breanna said.
Jessica wanted to tell her everything. She wanted to confess all of her sins so there would be no secrets between them. She wanted to tell Breanna she had done something incredibly stupid. Something that might put everything and everyone they knew at risk. But something held her back.
She and Breanna were occasional bedmates, not lovers. They were friends with benefits, not soul mates. They were, in Breanna’s words, just having fun. Their relationship, such as it was, was too delicate to survive such a weighty admission. She chose to keep quiet rather than risk ruining a good thing.
“Save the last dance for me.”
* * *
Amy treated herself to a small glass of wine from the display table. She was still on the clock, but she couldn’t pass up a chance to sample some of the wares from Laure and Sinjin’s vineyard. She let the wine fill her mouth before she swallowed, allowing the flavors of apple, pear, and oak to coat her palate. “That’s definitely worth fifty dollars a bottle.”
“You’re not drinking on the job, are you?”
Amy turned to find Spencer standing behind her. “The last time I saw you, you were surrounded by a horde of well-wishers. I started to join you, but I didn’t want to interrupt the party.”
“They’re really interesting people.” Spencer pointed out the four couples with whom she had been conversing. “Luisa and Finn met on the Cancún trip. Luisa’s the Mexican federal police officer who offered to trade herself for one of the hostages. Finn’s a travel writer who was assigned to write an article about the trip but ended up having an entirely different story to tell.”
“I’ve met them.”
Amy had been given strict instructions by her bosses to do everything in her power to make sure Finn and Luisa had an uneventful vacation. All the clients from the Cancún trip had been given vouchers for free vacations to make up for the trip that had been ruined when members of a drug cartel invaded the resort in which they were staying. Finn had used her voucher to book this cruise. A voyage that had gotten off to a rough start when Luisa had mistaken the sound effects in her neighbor’s video game for gunshots. Amy couldn’t blame Luisa and Finn for being skittish after everything they had experienced a few short months ago. She just hoped yesterday’s mix-up would turn out to be nothing more than an amusing footnote instead of a portent of things to come.
“I’m sure you’ve met Bathsheba and Raq, too,” Spencer said, “since Raq told me she was the reason for your false alarm yesterday.”
“Did you tell her you’re a gamer, too?”
“I did. Raq and I gave each other our online handles so we can play a few games against each other when we get home. I’m looking forward to testing my skills against someone new. I’ve been playing the same set of online friends so long I’ve learned all their patterns. Then again, I’m sure they can probably say the same about me. In any case, it’ll be good to switch things up.”
“Who are the other couples?” Amy had assigned herself the daunting task of introducing herself to each passenger during the trip. She thought she was off to a pretty good start, but she hadn’t been able to get around to everyone yet. When she and the rest of her teammates lined up to bid farewell to the departing passengers next Saturday, she hoped she would be able to connect the right name to the right face. Otherwise, all her efforts would be for naught.
“Jordan and Tatum are fellow Georgians. Jordan sat next to me during the presentation. Tatum joined us afterward. They manage a hotel in Jekyll Island. I met Hannah at the mixer yesterday. She and Maneet had dinner together last night. Hannah says she doesn’t do relationships, but she and Maneet seem mighty cozy.”
“You learned all that from one brief conversation?”
“More like a series of conversations.”
Amy remembered how shy and withdrawn Spencer had seemed when she met her the day before. “You came out of your shell in a hurry.”
“Alcohol might be bad for you, but it certainly helps to loosen the tongue.” Spencer took a sip of her wine. The merlot, from the looks of it. “I had forgotten how much fun it was to be around people. This cruise is a far cry from the last one I went on, that’s for sure.”
“In what way?”
Spencer held up her hands as if she were warding off an invisible attacker. “The less said about that first trip, the better.”
Spencer’s reaction to such a seemingly innocuous question piqued Amy’s curiosity. Now she really wanted to know what had happened during Spencer’s previous voyage. Since Spencer looked like she was uncomfortable with the conversation, Amy decided not to test her boundaries. If Spencer wanted to share her story, she would when she was ready to do so. Until that day came, Amy’s imagination would be working overtime trying to fill in the missing pieces.
“I don’t want to keep you from your friends,” Amy said. “The envelope containing your voucher for the Montpellier trip is in the cruise director’s office. I’m using the space since the ship’s cruise director has the week off. I’m headed there now. You can follow me if you’d like to pick it up, or I can give it to you later. It’s your choice.”
Amy had experienced mixed feelings when she realized Spencer had won the drawing for the riverboat cruise. She was thrilled she would have a chance to see Spencer again, but she was bummed that the opportunity would be in a professional rather than a personal capacity. She liked the idea that Spencer might become a repeat client, but she hated the fact that it meant Spencer could never become more than that.
Spencer pointed to the cluster of women behind her. “We’re about to grab some lunch in the grill. Would you like to join us? There’s no need for you to pick my brain at dinner since you participated in the most exciting part of my day.”
“The day’s not over yet.”
“I know, but I doubt anything can top this.”
Amy was tempted to say yes, but she needed to establish some distance before she allowed Spencer to get too close. “Thanks for the invitation, but I have some things I need to take care of before the disco ball tonight. When you’re ready to pick up your voucher, you know where to find me.”
At arm’s length, not by her side.
Night Two
Spencer’s cheeks hurt from smiling. She couldn’t remember the last time she had laughed so much. She could have spent all day listening to everyone’s stories. She very nearly had. What was supposed to be a quick lunch had ended up lasting most of the afternoon.
First, Bathsheba and Luisa had taken turns trying to one-up each other with tales of their often hair-raising adventures in law enforcement. Then Raq and Tatum had traded war stories, Tatum’s based in the battlefields of Afghanistan and Raq’s on the mean streets of Baltimore. When Tatum and Raq were done, Finn had regaled everyone with anecdotes culled from her many trips to exotic destinations around the world. Maneet was a former aid work
er, not a travel writer, but she had visited nearly as many countries as Finn and had just as many memories to share.
As they dined on a wide variety of burgers and grilled sandwiches, each of the women around the table had had a story to tell—even Spencer—but Hannah’s had turned out to be the most memorable.
As she headed to her room to shower and change for the evening’s festivities, Spencer laughed to herself as she visualized Hannah taking a couple of clients on a tour of what was supposed to be an empty condo, only to walk in on the owners having sex in the master bedroom.
“The owners might not have closed the deal, so to speak,” Hannah had said as everyone devolved into fits of laughter, “but I still made the sale.”
Spencer hadn’t been surprised to hear Hannah had been able to convince her clients to buy the condo despite the X-rated floorshow. The woman was such a smooth talker she could probably sell ice to an Eskimo.
Spencer slowed to check out the decorations on her neighbors’ stateroom doors. A few of the designs were relatively simple, but some were as elaborate as a float in a holiday parade. Spencer had never been especially crafty, but she was tempted to get in on the fun. But what theme should she use? Her room was her home away from home this week. It deserved to be more memorable than the real one.
Spencer felt a pang of melancholy as she wondered how she could feel such a deep connection with a group of women she had known for only a few days while her bonds with some of the people she had known most of her life were irreparably frayed. Would she ever be able to outrun her past, or was she doomed to keep paying for the stupid mistake she had made on her ill-fated senior trip?
She let herself into her room, grabbed a bottle of water from the minibar, and headed out to the balcony to enjoy the view as the ship continued to make its way toward Turks and Caicos. She took a deep breath, drawing the crisp salt air into her lungs.
“What would Summer and Madison say if they could see me now? Easy,” she said, answering her own question. “The same thing they said in high school.”
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