by Chelsea Hale
Mandy knew she’d like Alice. From the moment Mandy read Alice’s profile three months ago, Mandy knew Alice would remind her of her grandma. The smell of roses and peppermint only heightened that reality—Alice even smelled like her grandma. Mandy’s chest constricted around the hole in her heart, still empty, though it had been a decade since her grandma passed away.
“All right, let’s go over the final details.”
Mandy knew it was a bad idea to ask, “Do you have any questions or concerns?” with Derek present, but it was part of her scripted protocol. She always asked the question before committing her client to sign on the dotted line, even though she had answered most of the questions in their video chats leading up to the vacation.
As it turned out Derek had fifteen minutes of questions ready to fire off at the first opportunity. Inwardly she groaned. This was not what she signed up for. But Alice was an influential client, so perhaps appeasing her grandson was part of the process.
Alice seemed content as they discussed the final details over their lunch buffet. It was a standard contract. Mandy negotiated her two hours a day during waking hours for herself, to be taken at various times based on the schedules. On the clock hours started at 8:00 a.m., and ended at 10:00 p.m. She was paid a daily rate regardless of whether Alice used her services.
Mandy folded the signed document and placed it in an envelope. She’d put it in her room safe once they were allowed to settle in.
Derek’s phone buzzed loudly.
Mandy held her dessert inches from her mouth but stopped short. Was he really going to answer the phone in the middle of their lunch? He picked up, and she allowed the hovering fork into her mouth. At least he won’t have service after today. Who takes calls on a cruise?
“Thompson, here. Yes sir, my secretary will be sending those right over.” Derek stood, removing his napkin from his lap and covering his plate. He muted the phone and spoke to Alice. “I have to take this, but I’ll meet you outside the restaurant when you’re done.”
Alice nodded then eyed Mandy and smiled. “Work is very important to Derek.”
“Apparently. How nice he can take off at a moment’s notice to accompany you on a trip,” Mandy said.
Alice snorted and took a drink of her iced tea before she responded, “This is the first time he has ever taken off at a moment’s notice, or at any notice.”
Mandy chewed slowly, hesitating to speak too quickly as she took in that nugget of information. If Derek never took off work to spend time with Alice, and he was here now, maybe she didn’t need a companion after all. “Alice. I know we just signed the contract, but truly, I don’t want to be in the way of you spending time with your grandson.”
Alice put her hand over the one Mandy rested next to her drink. “Nonsense. I signed up for this, and you aren’t getting out of it. I want you to show me how to enjoy cruising and to be my adventure guide, as I turn over this new leaf in my life. I can’t imagine Derek will be around much anyway.”
Mandy nodded. Here’s hoping Derek decides to do his own thing for the entire cruise.
Chapter Two
“You’re late.” A muffled voice came through Mandy’s door.
She rolled her eyes. Derek was going to be a handful. Just remember, Alice is a big client. Her good review is a walking advertisement. Mandy took a deep breath and picked up her heels from her suitcase. She opened the door and arched an eyebrow. “Can I help you?”
Derek’s stormy eyes squinted at her. “It’s not me who needs the helping. According to your contract, you’re late to help Grams.” He folded his arms across his sport coat. He looked like he should be in a board meeting. The button-down shirt and tie made him look more like a cruise director than a patron. Leather shoes on a ship? Really?
“The mandatory drill starts soon. I don’t want Grams late because you’re still unpacking.” He glared at the animal-print heels she still held.
She glanced at her watch. “We have twenty minutes to get to the meeting. It’s only down the hall.” She opened her door wider, to reveal the room in pristine order. Only a few items remained in her suitcase. She put her heels in the closet next to her other shoes and sandals.
“How many shoes does a woman need on a cruise?”
“That’s funny. Seven pairs for two weeks is actually minimalist packing.”
She removed her bathroom bag from her suitcase and plugged in her phone charger to give her cell a little juice. She’d be in service for only a few hours while they were still docked.
She stored the suitcase underneath the bed. It always felt nice to be unpacked and organized when she lived in two hundred square feet for a week or two. She slipped on her wedges. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go and check on Alice.” She pulled a small purse from a closet hanger and closed the door shut behind her.
Stepping around Derek, she knocked on the door next to hers. Alice opened the door.
“How is the unpacking going? Derek is concerned we might be late for the safety orientation.” Mandy glanced to her right, though he must have been out of Alice’s view.
Alice scrunched her face at her daily cruise guide she held and then glanced at her watch. “Oh, if he’s not fifteen minutes early, he thinks he’s late.” She nodded and then winked past Mandy. “Ah, Derek. There you are. How did you settle into your room so quickly?” Alice swung the door wide, gesturing them in. “I’m not quite finished unpacking.”
Derek didn’t move. “We’re going to be late.”
Alice moved toward her open suitcase, clothes still folded neatly inside. “Will you attend the same one as ours? I thought it was divided by deck?”
“I assumed I could go to whichever one as long as I attended,” he said, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “I don’t want to leave you alone.”
Mandy bit the inside of her cheek. The cruise ship’s policy specifically stated that each deck was assigned a specific location to meet for the mandatory safety orientation meeting. But she wasn’t going to voluntarily be the bearer of bad news.
Alice laughed. “I’m not going to be alone. Mandy is here with me.” She pulled out a pair of walking shoes from her suitcase, and Mandy saw her opportunity to be useful. She held out her hands toward Alice and accepted the shoes to put away. “Thank you, dear. I brought eight pairs of shoes for this trip. Is that too many? I wasn’t quite sure about all of the activities, and I need my old feet to be comfortable.”
Mandy smiled as she crouched down to organize the shoes in the closet. “Derek, do you have an opinion on the correct number of shoes to bring on a cruise?”
He cleared his throat and walked over to Alice, kissing her on the cheek. “Your judgment is always sound, Grams. Whatever you think is best. I’m sure you have good reasons.” He glared at Mandy over his shoulder.
Mandy hung Alice’s outfits in the closet and stored her luggage. “Your room looks lovely,” Mandy said, picking up a picture of Alice with a man. “Is this your husband?”
“Yes.” Alice smiled through sad eyes. “He passed away six years ago. This picture was taken on the last Christmas we celebrated together.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
Alice patted Mandy’s arm as she picked up the picture, caressing it lovingly. “He was a good man. And handsome too, if I do say so myself.”
Mandy laughed. “He’s very handsome. Rugged good looks.”
Derek cleared his throat and picked up a small unframed picture from a stack of papers on the desk near him. “Who’s this, Grams?”
Alice set down the picture frame she had been holding on the nightstand then turned to face her grandson. “That’s Harold Worthington. I think I’ve mentioned him before. He was a good friend of your grandfather’s and has been a widower for the last two years.”
Derek squinted at the picture and Mandy felt the air in the room still. “Are you seeing him?”
Alice took the picture from Derek and placed it back on the desk then patted
his cheek tenderly. “Ah, ever my protective grandson.” She slipped on her sandals. “I believe we’ll be late for our safety orientation if we don’t hurry.”
“You’re avoiding my question.”
“Let’s not do interrogations right now, hmm? Maybe we can all have a lovely chat about it during dinner.” Alice moved them all toward the door.
Mandy stepped next to Alice and linked arms with her. “What a great idea. I’d love to hear about your love life—past and present.” The two chatted together, like school girls, as they headed toward the orientation. Mandy wasn’t quite sure when Derek disappeared from behind them, but breathed a full sigh of relief when she realized she wouldn’t be in his company for the thirty minutes of orientation. She usually found the meeting dull and repetitive, but today it was a welcome reprieve from the stifling company of a tightly wound handsome man in a stuffy sports coat and leather shoes.
“Ah, there you are, dear. We were beginning to worry,” Grams said to Derek as he approached their assigned dinner seat. An hour after the sail away party, his legs felt like rubber. The rocking of the ship as it set sail caused his insides to swim.
He hadn’t remembered being this sick since his first time on the upside-down rollercoaster, Dragon Death, when he was ten. Had he not eaten lunch right before the ride, he knew he could have enjoyed the ride without getting sick. Now he regretted everything he ate during the lunch buffet.
The ship only seemed to rock slightly, but he struggled to maintain his balance and stand up straight. He quickly took his seat next to Grams, diagonal from Mandy.
“You look a little green,” Mandy said, as she studied him. “Our server did say he could fit us into the late seating for the night if we’d rather wait to eat.”
Derek took the napkin, folded in the shape of a fan, off his plate, and smoothed it onto his lap. His head pounded, but he wasn’t going to take niceties from a woman who was trying to swindle Grams. He straightened up and forced himself to smile. “Now is fine. Besides the early show has already started, so if we wait to eat dinner, we’ll miss the late show.” He reached for a roll from the assorted basket, but the movement caused the nausea to sink further into his stomach. Maybe he should pass on dinner after all.
Mandy cocked her head. “You prefer stubbornness to feeling well?”
He cleared his throat. “I’m not sick.”
She glanced at Grams then back to him, and chewed slowly on her lip. He mentally smacked himself for even noticing how pretty her lips were. Maybe a side-effect of the motion sickness medicine was delusional thinking. But the moment his brain latched onto that thought, he processed how pretty the rest of her face was too. She’s trying to con Grams. Don’t be fooled by a pretty face. He frowned.
Mandy nodded. “Of course you’re not.” Her tone didn’t sound like she believed the words. She reached into her purse that was on the empty chair next to her.
Had she wanted to make sure I didn’t sit by her? Not that he cared, of course. But maybe next time he would switch spots. Just because.
“In case you don’t feel well—now or during the trip.” She pushed a small plastic container toward him. “I always have a few extra. The first two days are usually the roughest. After that most people have their sea-legs under them.”
“What is that?”
“They’re called sea-bands. They help with any kind of motion sickness though. I use them on long car rides if I sit in the back. There are instructions on how to use them properly by placing them on your wrist on a certain pressure point. And there are no side-effects from them like there can be with motion sickness pills.”
He pushed through his foggy brain and wondered if his delusional thinking was a side effect or if Mandy affected him. Her manipulative behavior in trying to get on his good side was not going to work. He slid them back to her. “I don’t believe in that kind of stuff. My medicine should be kicking in soon.”
He ignored the way her jaw slacked like she might say more and focused on her raised brow as she slipped the bands back into her purse. He’d spent enough time studying her beautiful features.
“I’m Stefan,” the server said. “Are we ready to order?”
Derek noted the women already had their menus folded in front of them. He did too, but he hadn’t even glanced through it. He quickly opened the menu, perusing the assortment of dishes. Stefan came around to his side of the table. Derek hadn’t paid attention to what the other two ordered, but it didn’t matter. “What is your favorite dish on the menu tonight?” Derek asked the server.
Stefan’s toothy smile expanded, the pearly whites contrasting against his olive skin. “Ah. My favorite tonight is the fish. You can’t go wrong with fish on this ship,” he said in a heavily accented voice.
Derek nodded to him and held out the leather menu. “I’ll take that.”
Drinks were brought out, and then the assistant server refilled the bread bowl. Derek took a flat piece of bread from the assortment. “What did you talk about before I joined you?”
Mandy flushed slightly. “I was just asking your grandma about her late husband. She told me how they met and some of their courting.”
Alice smiled. “Those were such good days. Being in love does something to a person.” Her eyes stared unfocused in front of her.
“Are you talking of lost love or current love?” Derek leaned back in his chair, caught a little off-guard at how bold he sounded. He never would have asked Grams such a question, but Mandy’s prying seemed to bring it out of him. Why should she learn about Grams first? He had to know.
Grams leaned forward as she focused on him. “Maybe a little of both.”
“How romantic,” Mandy said. She put a hand under chin and gave her full attention to Grams.
Derek cleared his throat. It wasn’t romantic. And he didn’t like it.
“And do you have anyone special in your life?” Grams asked Mandy.
“You may find this hard to believe, but my job has me traveling a considerable portion of the month, so no, I’m not in a relationship, though I go on a few double dates with my roommates here and there.” She glanced at Derek and smiled. “Several clients have tried to set me up with one or two of their grandsons, though no one has ever brought along a grandson until now.” She laughed a little, then stopped as her eyes held his.
Grams laughed. “I didn’t bring him, he followed me.” She stared him down with a pointed look until he looked away, unwilling to vocalize the reason he had followed her.
“Ah. Well, then the number of grandsons I have met to be set up with is still at zero.” Mandy laughed and finished her roll.
“What about you, Derek? How are things going with Shannon?”
Derek dropped the butter knife next to his plate, causing a clattering sound. He should have known his Grams would bring up the topic at some point. Better to get rid of it sooner rather than later.
“She seems happy with her husband. They were married a few months ago. I haven’t seen them since they moved to Jersey.” Derek didn’t want to get into the details. They felt like open wounds that wouldn’t scar over, a further reminder that his life was out of control and he needed to do something about it.
Grams reached toward him and took his hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. The last time we talked about it, you were thinking about proposing to her.”
He squirmed in his chair as he caught the surprised look on Mandy’s face, and he patted Grams’ hand before releasing it.
Their food was presented, and Mandy practically squealed when she saw Grams’ wide-eyed reaction. Derek rolled his eyes. It seemed similar enough to the food they were used to in New York. But one bite of the Grilled Rum-Marinated Swordfish proved him wrong. He savored the delicate meat in his mouth. He opened his eyes to see Mandy watching him.
“How’s the fish? It was my second choice.”
“It’s very good.”
“Makes up for the lunch buffet, then? Trust me, the food only gets better as
the cruise progresses.” She then turned her attention to Grams. “How is your food? Is the chicken what you were hoping for?”
Grams nodded, and Derek knew from the thoughtful way she chewed she was trying to memorize all of the flavors so she could have her cook recreate it.
The ship pitched a little, and they watched the horizon sway up and down. It looked like it would never be level again. Derek felt his stomach do the same thing. He decided it was best to cut the rest of the meal short. He put his napkin on the table.
“Are you feeling sick again? You are welcome to try the sea-bands. They might make a difference for you.” Mandy’s brows were knit together in concern.
“No. I’ll be fine. I will meet you at the show tonight.” He stood and held on to the chair to steady himself.
Grams stretched her hands toward Derek, and for the first time he noticed the gray bands on her wrists next to her bracelets. “They really help. I’ve been wearing them since lunch, and I haven’t noticed any of the rocking.”
Derek tried to smile but the effort was too much while he wanted to keep the food down. He nodded and squeezed her hands. “I’ll meet you at the show, stage Right.”
Chapter Three
Far too many desserts and a show later, Mandy said goodnight to Alice at the door but didn’t feel tired enough to turn in. Derek hadn’t shown up for the show and there was no answer when Alice called his room phone. He’d probably fallen asleep.
Mandy grabbed the chocolate mint off her bed where the staff left it next to some folded towel animals and her itinerary for tomorrow. The creamy treat melted in her mouth.
She took her sketch pad and headed for the top deck. The ocean water lapped against the side of the ship. The salty air enlivened her senses, and she took a deep breath, blowing it out slowly.
It had been a more taxing first day than usual, and she credited all the extra stress to Derek. Alice was easy going and light-hearted. So different from her grandson. She shook the thought from her head. Positive or negative, she was thinking of Alice’s grandson too much.