Page 6 of Juicy Pickle

“Oh, Rhett! Are we on the same hall?” Viola’s voice is a sing-song.

I want to hurry away, but that’s not how it works when the buck stops with you. I pause and give the women a pinched smile.

“I’m actually one deck up,” I tell Viola. She looks like a poppy in all her bright colors. And she’s Bailey’s best friend. I saw them having lunch in the courtyard almost every day. Anything I say to this woman will get back to my former assistant, if not now, then when we return.

“Of course you are,” Viola says, her gold earrings swinging. “I do hope you’ll give me a tour. I’d love to see how the other half lives on a cruise ship.”

“All the cabins on Blue Sapphire Cruises are well appointed,” I say. “I hope you have a wonderful time. Please excuse me.”

And I’m off, striding as quickly as possible to the stairwell that leads to the executive suites.

Viola. Bailey. Two peas in a pod.

I haven’t had time to replace Bailey since I abruptly let her go. I had a lot of loose ends to tie up before getting on this boat for four days, potentially completely unavailable for our clients.

If anyone asked me, I would have cautioned against bringing the entire company on a boat with only temp employees manning the office phones. If the satellite service doesn’t function correctly once we’re out at sea, any emergencies will go unattended.

But it wasn’t my call in the end. I got the memo to celebrate the anniversary in style, and this is certainly it. I signed off on the budget that was given to me. We could have hired several new employees for the cost of it.

For what? A few days of getting drunk and sunburned, and acting inappropriately with coworkers?

I’ll be in my room as much as humanly possible.

Hopefully, with a working satellite feed.

I pass a dozen other employees as I make my way to my suite. Unlike the high-end hotels, there aren’t secure floors on Blue Sapphire Cruises. Their policy is to secure the whole ship, not any particular part of it. These cruises are normally the playground of celebrities, billionaires, and royalty.

But here we are.

The upper deck suites don’t have keycards, but are programmed with a thumbprint. I press my finger to the pad and the lock pops open. The woman at check-in informed me that I could authorize up to ten additional thumbprints to enter my suite and remove them just as easily. She seemed to think I might make use of it.

I can’t imagine churning through that many hookups in four days. Okay, maybe. But not on a work trip.

And I’m not one to fraternize with employees. She definitely pegged me wrong on that score.

The room smells of ocean air, the artificial kind. Even so, it’s a nice touch.

The decor is silver and blue, tailored with little frill. I like it. My suitcase is loaded onto a rack, and my laptop bag rests on a gleaming cherrywood desk with a plush office chair. A large monitor is prepped and ready to be a second screen. I’m clearly not the only executive to ever work on a cruise. This will do nicely.

I’ve only gotten as far as setting my laptop on the desk and extracting the charging cord when someone knocks on the door.

“Rhett?”

It’s Gloria from HR. She’s functioning as my temporary assistant until she gets me a slate of new ones to choose from, hopefully shortly after this trip.

I open the door. She’s standing there looking extremely incongruous in a red one-piece swimsuit with a built-in skirt,palm tree flip-flops, and an armful of official-looking leather-bound binders.

“I was worried that the signal wouldn’t be strong, so I had Monica print last month’s dailies for you to look over. I figured you’d be working.” She glances meaningfully behind me at my open laptop.

Maybe I should hire Gloria. But no, she’s top-notch in HR. She’ll find me someone.

I take the binders. “That was very resourceful of you. Thank you.”

“Do try to enjoy yourself.” She passes me a single sheet of paper. “This is the itinerary for the weekend. I highlighted the events where your absence might be noticed. So you can prioritize.”

Gloria gets me.

I manage a genuine smile for her. “Thank you.”

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