Page 20 of It Had to be You

She nodded, impressed.

"I was glad you gave me a hand though. I was about to drop my coffee."

"I’m so glad I was able to save it… and you."

Pearl and Ben stopped beside them.

"Goodness! Where is everyone?"

Ben draped his arm gently over Pearl’s shoulder. "I had a feeling it might be like this today." He turned a sympathetic look in her direction. "Sorry about this, Miss Hansen."

"Please, Ben. You can call me Tatum." She reached out and gave him a soft pat on his arm since she couldn’t reach his shoulder. "And I had a feeling that some of the pairs might be sleeping in

after last night."

"And still more," Pearl was trying to reassure her, "are likely getting ready. I remember in my day we’d spend hours on our hair and makeup to go to the beach." She lifted a hand to touch the gold

and silver curls at the back of her neck. "We spend all that time to get ready and then we never really made it in the water unless it was just up to our knees! Those were the days."

Ben leaned down and brushed a gentle kiss at her temple. "Don’t say that, sweetheart. We’ve both a lot of years ahead of us."

Tatum could hear the meaning under the words. Ben was smitten and he was already half in love with Pearl. It was hard to imagine that they’d end the cruise as anything but a solid couple.

"Are you headed to the beach today?"

Pearl turned to look at her with an expression of mock horror. "Not me, I burn something awful."

Ben chuckled. "And I’m not a man who has a pair of sandals so I’m staying away from the beach or I’ll bring a bucketful of sand back in my shoes."

Alexander stood beside her. "Be careful. They might think you’re trying to smuggle the beach home with you."

They all had a shared laugh over the idea.

"What about one of the tours?" Tatum really wanted the two lovebirds to enjoy themselves in San Juan.

Alexander must have noticed the look that the sweet couple shared. He beat her to the punch and asked them the question on her own mind. "What’s wrong?"

Pearl shrugged, and her cheeks flushed. "It took me so long to pick a tour that I wanted to take, they were all filled up."

"All of them?" Shaking his head, Alexander reached out and gently rubbed Pearl’s arm.

She brightened at the show of sympathy and answered his question. "I wanted to take the guided food tour. I’ve been a Midwesterner all my life and besides a few years in the Peace Corps, I’ve lived within 100 miles from my birthplace my whole life. Now, with my girls busy with their own families, I admit to ‘binge-watching,’" she used her fingers to make air quotes, "shows about food. I want to try all of the local foods of San Juan, but there weren’t any spaces left."

Tatum couldn’t help but smile and still felt bad about it. "You two could come with me! One of the regular cruise ship staff has the room across from me on one of the lower floors. She gave me directions to find the food trucks and stalls in Old San Juan.I’m sure with the three of us, we’d have no trouble finding it." She saw the hesitant look pass between the two and tried to ease their worry. "I won’t be a third wheel, I promise. Once we find it, you can explore all you want."

Ben spoke first. "Oh, my dear, we’re not worried about having a third wheel."

"We don’t want you to be held back by us."

"No, no," Tatum felt for the couple, "this is my first time here, I’m perfectly happy taking a nice, easy walk and enjoy the day."

The older couple paused for a moment, communicating enough through their eyes that Tatum knew they were destined to be together.

Ben turned toward her with a smile. "We would hate to hold you back. The tour coordinator said if space opened up, they’ll put us on the tour."

"But," Pearl’s eyes were glittering and beautiful, "if they can’t, we would love to spend some time with you."

A weight lifted off Tatum’s shoulders. She really wanted the couple to have a great time on the island. "Now, let’s have some fun. We’ll just practice what you know and if you have

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