Page 113 of Ten Years and Then…
All he’d said was, “Are you really sure you want to eat snails?” And then when she’d affirmed that, yes, she was going to try them, because if she was ever going to, this was the place to do it, he’d eaten one as well.
It was exactly as gross as he’d expected.
“Well, like you said, a vacation is the time to try new things. Now we know we don’t like snails, we can check that off the list.”
They went down to deck one, and, sure enough, even though the sickbay was closed, there was a rack on the wall with seasickness pills in little paper pouches. Daniel grabbed a handful, and escorted Leanne up to Room 4548.
He got her into bed, poured her a glass of water, gave her the remote control for the TV. “You can stop fussing over me, Daniel.” She reached out, pulled his head down, kissed him quickly. “Actually, it is kind of nice. You can keep doing it. But after the show. You said you wanted to see the comedy act, so go. I’ll be okay by myself.”
She didn’t really look okay, but resting in bed was the best thing for her. He could leave her for a little while, and, anyway, she’d probably be asleep in ten minutes. The show would only be an hour, and he could come straight back here as soon as it was over.
Everything would be fine.
Nora, the same time
“I’m fine,” Greg said. “It’s just food coma. That was a very heavy meal. I’ll pace myself better tomorrow.”
They were heading back to the cabin. Nora had been trying to convince Greg to explore the ship by night, but he wasn’t up for anything except an early bedtime.
“Would you be okay if I went back up to the Atrium for a little while, after I drop my purse off? There’s supposed to be a live band.” She felt a little guilty—but only a little. There was so much to see and do aboard the ship, and she wanted to experience it all, not go to bed before ten o’clock. She could—and too often did—do that at home.
“Of course,” he said. “I’ll be more lively tomorrow, I promise.”
He had his SeaPass card out, ready to insert in the door, but he stopped when he saw the message on the door, stuck there with magnets.
“Did you put that up, Nora?”
“Isn’t it great?” She’d debated writing a message that included their names, but she decided against it, thinking that Greg might feel self-conscious. But what was wrong with Caution: Unsupervised Couple on Vacation?
“It’s cute, I guess,” he said, not sounding very sure. Maybe she should have asked him first.
He opened the door and headed immediately to the bed, only stopping to take his shoes off. A good night’s sleep would do wonders for him, like he said. Tomorrow he’d be ready to explore with her—and she could downshift to a lower gear, and not make him feel like they were in some kind of race to do everything as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, though, he looked comfortable, and she wanted to see the band. “I’ll just be an hour or so. I only want to hear a few songs, maybe dance a little depending on what they play. Okay?”
“Have fun,” he told her.
She blew him a kiss as she left the room. He didn’t look up, but that was okay. There was music waiting for her.
Daniel, ten minutes later
Daniel checked his watch as he got off the elevator on deck five. A quarter to ten, so he still had fifteen minutes before the show started. And there was music coming from deck four, the lowest level of the atrium. Familiar music.
Bon Jovi. It was a cover band, playing a decent rendition of Living on a Prayer. He walked over to the railing, looking down at the band, and the little crowd dancing—as much as you could dance to a song like that. Really they were mostly shuffling around and waving their arms a beat or two behind the music.
Exactly like he’d danced to it with Nora, on a Halloween night in his dorm room nine years ago.
And then he looked up, and on the other side of the atrium, standing at the railing just like him and maybe a hundred feet away … A green dress, and hair a little bit longer than she’d had in college.
But it was her all the same.
No. What was wrong with him? He’d been thinking about her all the time yesterday and today, when he should be thinking only about Leanne. His girlfriend, who had been nothing but sweet to him for nearly nine months, who was lying in bed right now feeling sick.
What kind of jerk was he, to be obsessing about someone else, no matter how much that someone had meant to him once upon a time?
He looked back, and the woman he’d thought was Nora was gone. Maybe she hadn’t been there at all; maybe she was just a mirage.
That’s all she was. Obviously.
