Page 10 of Waylaid in Whittier

Danielle’s eyes grew as round as saucers. “Knowing Sharky, I’m going to guess it went over like a lead balloon.”

“He wasn’t thrilled.”

“Because he didn’t schedule time off, which means he’ll be working. I don’t know much about the woman, but something tells me she doesn’t plan on sitting in his cabin, twiddling her thumbs and waiting for him to get off work.”

“Nope. Reading between the lines, she wants to enjoy a little R&R—a free vacation courtesy of Sharky and he wasn’t having any of it,” Millie said. “I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt and believe she didn’t know Sharky would need to plan well in advance to take time off.”

“Poor guy. He doesn’t have much luck with women.” Danielle absentmindedly tapped the top of her scheduling app. “I have a full day today. The mix and mingles singles party, dress the guest, two galley tours and some other hosting events.”

“Speaking of galley, you missed out on a delicious baked salmon pie yesterday.” Millie smacked her lips. “I can still taste it.”

“I need to ask Amit and Annette to teach me how to cook one of these days.”

“Annette has a new friend…or should I say, an old friend who has come back on board.” Millie made googly eyes.

Danielle perked up. “A male friend?”

“His name is Jose Juan Carlos something, something. He used to go by the name of Gary.” Millie told her how she’d met the man only hours after boarding Siren of the Seas for the very first time. “Between you and me, the guy gave me a creepster vibe.”

“Annette’s one of the smartest people I know. She would show him the door if he wasn’t a good person.”

“Or maybe he has her fooled. Anyway, I’m sure you’ll run into him eventually.”

“What does he look like?”

Millie started to describe him and could tell from the look on her friend’s face she and Jose had already crossed paths, but not in a good way. “You’ve already met him?”

“I know who you’re talking about now. I’m not a fan.”

“What…did he do?”

“He works in the IT department. I was having an issue with my personal computer. I took it in to have them look at it. Jose was the one working. He helped me figure out the issue. While he thought I wasn’t paying attention, I caught him going over my recent internet searches without my permission.”

Millie’s jaw dropped. “You took your computer in to be looked at and he started digging around in your personal information?”

“Yep. I called him out. He apologized and made some lame excuse.” Danielle twined her fingers. “Maybe it’s the new company policy, but any other time I’ve taken my computer in to be checked out, the IT guys fix it and give it back. They don’t start snooping around.”

“I wouldn’t be happy about it either.”

Danielle’s watch chimed. “Time for me to head to the Sunrise Stretch yoga class.”

“While you’re up there, check out the snow shower if you have a chance. It’s pretty cool.”

“I will.” Danielle took off, and an inkling of concern crept in as Millie stared at the empty doorway. Jose’s actions were throwing up all sorts of red flags. Why had he come back after all thistime? Even more concerning…why was her friend giving him the time of day?

Thinking it wouldn’t hurt to do a little digging around, she accessed Majestic Cruise Line’s personnel website.

Millie typed Jose’s name, or as much of it as she could remember, into the search bar and hit the enter key. A link to his file appeared.

“Here goes nothing.” She double-clicked on the link, pulling up his job history. Scrolling to the top, Millie noted he’d been employed by Majestic Cruise Lines roughly a year longer than she had, working on board Siren of the Seas until around the time of her initial contract.

He transferred a couple of weeks later to another ship and then another. The job descriptions were all the same. Jose worked in the IT department.

She leaned back in her chair and studied the screen. It wasn’t unusual for crewmembers to hop from ship to ship. In fact, it was more uncommon for them to stick with one like she had done. Many of them, especially the younger ones, strategically moved to various ships, allowing them to travel around the world based on a particular itinerary.

Had Millie not met Nic and fallen in love, she might have done the same. Perhaps Jose was of the same mindset.

She skimmed a few more lines and clicked out of the screen. Despite an inkling of concern, Annette was an adult, fully capable of deciding who she wanted to be involved with, except for the fact that several years back she’d insisted she was not interested in dating and was perfectly content being single.

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