“By the pool deck?” He was sunburned, so maybe he hadn’t been looking for me. “I’m… not alone.”
“What? We planned this. Come on, Anisa, no cruise fling will give you what we have.”
Yes, I thought. What we had was heartache, and it was only after you left that I really saw it.
“I thought you got your deposit back?”
“Well, I couldn’t, but I could get my own cabin. Can we combine and get a bigger one now, or can I just join yours?”
“Steven. I’m not doing this. I haven’t heard from you in months. If you thought I’d take you right back, you wasted your time and money.”
“Anisa!”
Yep, he was actually following me out. He didn’t follow me this intently while we were dating. And I definitely didn’t want him to know where my cabin was. Should I go to the guys’ penthouse? No, I wanted to spare them from him.
I turned and faced him again. “Please, just leave me alone.”
“But I came here for you? Can’t we just get a cup of coffee and talk?”
I really doubted he came here for me. More than likely, he couldn’t get a refund. “If you really came here for me, why didn’t you contact me after the ship set sail? I mean, I just ran into you.”
“I was on my way to see you.”
I doubted that. “Where?”
“In your cabin.” He pointed toward where I was headed, but there were a lot of cabins there.
“Come on, we dated for years.”
“Less than two years.” Now he was rewriting history. “I have to go.”
“Can we meet later?”
“Sorry, Steven,” I said, smiling at last. “I have a date.”
***
I pulled on my one-shoulder black dress that was fitted and had a long skirt with a high slit. It was stretchy and sparkled a little. While I bought it around the holidays, somehow it fit on the cruise. I was ready to sparkle with my two dates.
My hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail, with tendrils on each side of my face. My mind flashed on an image of Duane holding my ponytail while he moved into me from behind. And in front of me? I had my hands, then my mouth, on Gill.
“Whew!” I fanned my reddening face. That would be fun, but I didn’t want to scare them away by jumping them tonight. I wondered what they would do if I did, though.
I glanced down each way in the hall when it was time to leave, making sure Steven wasn’t there. The hallways were getting busy again, as people went to get dinner or find an evening of fun. I knew they were doing speed dating at the Golden Sunset Sushi Bar. When I’d looked up my plans originally, I’d thought about doing that. Happily, I found the perfect guys already on this trip.
Clearly, others hadn’t, as the line to get into the sushi bar was very long. I skirted around it to find the stairs up to the Stellar Sky Lounge Was that Steven? Yes, Steven was talking to a young woman with very high heels, in line for the speed dating. He recovered pretty quickly, I thought, with a snort.
I didn’t see Duane or Gill right away, but doubting they would come never entered my mind. I saw a table for two and pulled over another chair.
***
Within minutes, they both arrived, each looking amazing. Duane had on a black linen shirt and white slacks. Gill wore a greendress shirt tucked into black pants. I was glad I’d worn this dress as soon as I saw the welcoming heat in their eyes.
“You look wonderful,” Gill said, kissing me.
“So beautiful,” Duane murmured when it was his turn to kiss me.
“You two look so handsome. And this lounge is incredible,” I said, gesturing towards the ocean views from all sides. The moon was providing a lot of light in the lounge.