Page 23 of Love on Deck

I opened the cruise app and showed her my phone. “We can message each other using the ship’s Wi-Fi if we’re in their app.”

Lauren lifted her head. “Okay, good, because I didn’t plan on paying for Wi-Fi after you revoked my work privileges.” She stretched, then started to get up. “Mini golf it is. I just need to run down to the room and put my book away first. Want me to take anything of yours?”

“I’ll go with you.”

She lifted a shoulder. “No need. It will only take a second.”

I could tell when I wasn’t wanted. Which, around Lauren, was always. As a man who had never struggled with making friends, this was unnatural for me. I couldn’t tell why she didn’t like me, or what I’d done to give her such a sour expression every time she looked at me. I didn’t really understand where it all had gone wrong on our date, either, if I was being honest. All I knew was that she seemed to think we were in agreement about how awful it had been.

If anything, I had ample reason not to like her. She was the rude one who ditched me in the middle of dinner with no note or text to explain. I had to hear that she’d left from our waitress. But if I could forgive and move on, so could she.

“Do you know how to pull up the map on the app?” I asked.

“I can figure it out.”

My phone buzzed, so I guess we weren’t that far from port. I’d sent a message to my boss earlier about the possibility of moving the conference to another venue, and he’d just responded. “Wait, Lauren.”

She hovered above me. I turned my phone so she could read the text, which she did aloud. “Certainly worth discussing. You know I love a good discount.” She looked at me, confused. “Who’s Brad?”

“My boss. I told him I had a lead on a great venue with substantial discounts for the conference. I wanted you to know I’m taking this seriously.”

She nodded, giving me a strange look. “Okay. Consider it noted.”

“Now you can act like my girlfriend with confidence.”

Lauren rolled her eyes, but I sensed a bit of ease in her posture. “I’ll see you at mini golf.”

I was hesitant to leave her, but she didn’t give me a choice. She started walking away before I could say anything more. The sun beat down on us and sparkled over the ocean. Florida was disappearing into the distance, and the growing ratio of shimmery water around us compared to our ship made me feel small.

The mini golf place was up a few decks, hanging out near the ropes course. The girls hadn’t changed out of their swimsuits, but—thankfully—had shorts on. I wasn’t sure I could handle Sydney much longer if she was going to keep trying to entice me. It wasn’t working. I didn’t know how to convey that without being rude, but I hoped Lauren was coming up with a plan.

Judging by the determination in my ex’s eyes, we were going to need it.

Sydney pulled a second golf club from the rack and brought it to me. “Ready to lose?”

“Yes.” Best not to engage in banter, right? With the way the ship rocked, albeit slowly, none of us were likely to do very well anyway.

Lucas brought his club over and pretended to knock me from behind. “Are we making this interesting?”

Kevin perked up. “Loser has to...” He looked away in thought.

“Loser has to kiss the winner,” Sydney said.

“Since some of us are about to get married,” Amelia said. “I’m vetoing that.”

Sydney raised her dark eyebrow. “You’re pretty confident you’ll win?”

“No. But more than half of us are in relationships.”

“Let’s stop trying to kiss other people’s boyfriends,” Lauren said, coming up behind me and sliding her hand down my forearm. She interlocked our fingers and I wondered if my entire body was going to overheat or if that was just the sun. Lauren leaned against me. “I don’t think Kevin wants to kiss any of us anyway.”

Sydney could have been shooting fire from her eyes.

“I got it,” Lucas said, snapping. “Loser has to jump in the pool naked.”

“It’s a family cruise,” Cara said, right as a kid ran by with a basketball. “Maybe keep it PG.”

“Winner picks what we do tonight after dinner?” Amelia asked like it was a question. “There are a lot of options.”

---