Page 22 of It Had to be You

And she really hoped they got a chance to go.

"Have you heard anything yet?"

The look that passed between them was so sweet.

Pearl reached over and took Ben’s hand. "No, dear. We checked in and they know we’re interested in case they have a space." She looked up at Ben. "I’m so sorry I took so long to make up my

mind."

Ben lifted his free hand and wiped a tear from her cheek.

Tatum wanted to go find Martina and ask why there weren’t enough spaces for all the couples. She wanted to get someone to find a way to put these two adorable people on the tour.

"Oh, I know that look." Pearl leaned forward. "Now don’t you go getting upset too!"

"Really," Tatum wanted to hug them both, "I just feel horrible. And you two know that I’ll be happy to take you with me." She put her hand over her pocket. "I have the directions here. I’m

sure we’d have a great time finding the location."

Ben’s eyes were so soft as he looked at Pearl. "That’s okay, Miss. If we can’t get on the tour, I think I might just convince this lovely lady to sit out by the pool with me. With everyone off the

ship, it would be like it was our own private moment."

She couldn’t help but smile and feel more than a little envious. Sure, she wanted to find the right man for her, and if she had to wait until she was Pearl’s age to find a man like Ben, it would

be fine with her. That kind of amazing didn’t come around every corner.

"Okay," she leaned in and gave each of them a kiss on their cheek, "I’m going to head out, because thinking about all of that food out there is making me hungry."

Ben gestured toward the town. "Then don’t let us hold you back, dear. Go and find that food. You can tell us all about it when you get back."

"I’ll try to bring some things back with me. And I have my phone." She gave her other pants pocket a pat. "I’ll take pictures of things that I can’t."

Pearl clapped her hands together.

"How lovely!"

With a wave, Tatum walked away along the line of people in the tour line.

She was looking forward to the adventure, but she couldn’t help but wish she wasn’t going alone. Letting out a sigh, she squared her shoulders and continued. It would do her no good to hope

for something she couldn’t have.

No matter how much she was starting to care.

CHAPTER 6

Alexander looked up when he heard Tatum’s name. Turning off his phone, he slipped it into his

back pocket and pushed away from the tree he’d been leaning on and turned his head to look for her.

At first, he didn’t see her, but it was hard to miss the bobbing brim of the bright pink sunhat that was zeroing in on Ben and Pearl seated on a bench about ten feet away.

He watched as they spoke, and the tropical wind gave him a chance to see Tatum’s face when it

lifted the brim over and over. When the smiles gave way to the concerned pinch of her features, he knew he wanted to do something to help. Remembering their earlier conversation about the tours there in San Juan, he pulled his phone back out of his pocket. Tapping on the screen, he dialed Blair’s number.

It rang and rang until it went to voicemail.

---