"Well, I"m already here," Ginny said, grinning at Alexi.
Alexi realized that Hank didn"t want to stay. But since Ginny had made herself comfortable, Hank sat down, too. He tried to shrug off his frown. "Are you worried about the storm?" he asked.
"I"m not," Clara said. "I"ve sailed with Captain Thorne lots of times. He"ll get us through."
Ginny turned to Alexi. "What about you? Are you scared?"
"I"ve been through some rough weather, too," she answered. "It"s harder on the pa.s.sengers than it is the crew. We tend to get lots of experience," she added.
Ginny"s eyes widened. "I admit I"m feeling kind of nervous now. I mean, I have seen the movie t.i.tanic!"
She seemed sweet and innocent enough, Alexi thought. A little on the naive side, but friendly. Needless to say, her innocence could be an act. Alexi couldn"t help wondering-considering how brilliant as Hank was reputed to be-why he didn"t seek out someone more obviously on his intellectual level. But Hank had also tried, in his usual awkward way, to get involved with her and then Clara. He was rich and pleasant and nerdy. And he wasn"t the type of man who easily entered conversations or easily had affairs. He certainly had trouble talking to more sophisticated women.
So Ginny might be just perfect for him.
"The good thing," Alexi a.s.sured the young woman, "is that we"re not going to run into any icebergs down here in the Caribbean."
"No," Ginny agreed, giggling. "No icebergs here. Well, I hate flying, too. A pilot friend told me once that it"s like being in a boat. You know, waves in the water-waves of air when you"re up in the sky. Although these seem like really big waves."
"The winds are growing stronger," Hank muttered. "The storm"s going to reach hurricane force today. It"s still just sitting over Cozumel-almost gyrating there, is how the forecasters described it. We should be hightailing our way to port instead of waiting out here."
"They"re trying to outrun the storm," Clara said. "They can"t tell yet which direction it"s going to take."
Hank grunted impatiently. "We could"ve made it to a safe port by now. But...I also understand their hesitation to move us in a specific direction. We could get trapped. Don"t worry," he told Ginny. "These ladies are right. Captain Thorne is the best in the business. And I"ll do my best to make sure you"re not frightened!"
Ginny gazed up at him adoringly. Hank flushed with pleasure and turned a look of pride on Clara and Alexi. He seemed to be saying, "See! I got this girl to like me and she"s every bit as attractive as either one of you."
Alexi thought that might be why he"d wanted to join them-to let them know he was desirable, even if they"d been foolish enough not to realize it.
"Thank goodness for you!" Ginny breathed.
"Are you two traveling together or did you meet on board?" Alexi asked.
"We met at the c.r.a.ps table in the ship"s casino," Ginny said. "I was rolling the dice, I looked up, and there he was!"
Alexi glanced at Clara. She could tell they were both wondering if Ginny hadn"t known exactly who Hank Osprey was from the beginning-and if she hadn"t planned to be at the c.r.a.ps table at exactly the right time.
But if she made Hank happy, what did it matter?
"That sounds very romantic," she told them both.
"Eyes meeting across a crowded room," Clara murmured.
"Yes!" Ginny said.
Suddenly, they all realized a waitress was standing there.
Hank quickly ordered for himself and Ginny. Ginny allowed him to, gazing at him with tender, approving eyes all the while.
Alexi wondered if Jude was coming back soon.
"How do you like sailing on the Destiny, Ginny?" Clara asked politely.
Ginny giggled again and turned to Hank. "I couldn"t help but love it, could I?" she asked.
"I guess not," Clara murmured, meeting Alexi"s eyes.
Silence fell. Neither Hank nor Ginny seemed to notice.
"Um, what do you do for a living, Ginny?" Alexi asked.
"Pardon?" Apparently, Ginny had to tear her gaze away from Hank in order to hear.
"What do you do? Where are you from?" Alexi repeated.
"Inquiring minds want to know," Clara said lightly.
"Oh, well... I"m a student," Ginny said.
"Where are you going to school?" Alexi asked.
"Oh, I"m originally from Baton Rouge. I go to school in New Orleans. Loyola."
"Great school," Clara said, nodding.
"You went there, too?"
"No, I went to Carnegie Mellon," Clara told her. "But I"m from New Orleans. And I know Loyola well."
"Ginny"s in hospitality management," Hank explained proudly. "She could probably tell your Celtic American execs a thing or two about how to run a ship!"
"Oh," Clara said. "What would you say to the executives at Celtic American, Ginny? What do you think could be improved?"
Ginny laughed. "The infirmary-and that would be it. I went to get some Dramamine, and it took forever. Naturally, that was after we started getting the horrible weather. And I guess most cruise ships have one doctor and one nurse, so...oh, well. If I ran a cruise ship, I"d make sure there was more than one doctor on board."
"Poor Ginny was so sick! It was terrible. That"s why she wasn"t with me at the piano bar last night," Hank said.
"I begged him to go ahead without me," Ginny said hastily. Maybe something in Clara"s and Alexi"s expressions told her they were thinking he shouldn"t have left her if she was that sick. She winced and grinned, almost at once. "I don"t... I really didn"t want Hank seeing me- Well, there"s no delicate way to put it. I didn"t want him to see me puking all over the place! It"s hideous. So ugly."
"You could never be ugly to me!" Hank vowed.
Clara glanced at Alexi.
"I wonder what"s taking Jude so long?" Clara murmured.
Lorna Antrim had gone straight to the infirmary, which was on the Promenade Deck, wedged between a perfume store and a cupcake shop and not far from the historic infirmary.
She"d walked in immediately.
Roger had followed her.
Jude was twenty feet from the entrance, ready to follow them both, deciding to ask for a motion sickness remedy himself as an excuse-when the door opened and Roger stepped back into the hallway.
He was scowling; he didn"t see Jude.
For a long moment he stood staring at the display in the window of the cupcake store.
He seemed to have blanked out.
Then he walked over to the infirmary again and started to open the door.
He didn"t.
Instead, he walked into the hallway again and stood in front of the perfume store window.
Jude waited a few minutes, then casually sauntered by.
"Roger, is everything all right?" he asked.
Roger turned and seemed to need a minute to focus. "What? Oh, yes. Well, you know, Lorna"s in the infirmary. I"m just hoping they can help her."
"I"m sure they will."
"I hope so. I asked about arranging for a helicopter to get us off the ship, but that"s a no-go. They"re not sending anything out in this weather. And...I offered a great deal of money."
"It"s going to be rough," Jude said. "I"ll bet Lorna will be fine after they"ve given her something for the motion sickness. She"s a seasoned traveler."
"Yes, she is." Roger was quiet for a minute. He shrugged. "At the moment, though, and I hate to say it, but I feel a bit like we"re on the t.i.tanic. The ship"s rocking and rolling as if we were on an amus.e.m.e.nt park ride-zero to sixty in no time-and we"re all walking around, people shopping, eating, drinking, gambling as though nothing"s wrong. They don"t seem to notice that they walk down hallways-and then crash into them."
"We"re going to be fine," Jude said in a comforting voice.
"Well, I guess you would say that. You"re a CEO with Celtic American, right? But think of the liability if everything"s not fine," Roger said.
Frankly, Jude didn"t know a h.e.l.l of a lot about being any kind of a CEO.
He smiled. "Act of G.o.d," he said with a shrug.
"Oh, come on!"
"Everything"s going to be fine," Jude repeated. "We"re on a ship that"s survived war, mammoth storms and much more. We"re with a seasoned captain who knows the Caribbean better than a computer mapping program."
Roger studied him. "Of course, I"m not really frightened. I love sailing. I don"t mind a little pitch and sway. I guess I"m just worried about Lorna."
"I"ll see if I can hurry things along for her in the infirmary," Jude said.
He could see that David Beach"s security guard, a.s.signed to keep an eye on Roger, was now in front of the cupcake shop.
He walked into the infirmary.
It was different from most of the ship; the nurses" station and the triage area were all chrome and gla.s.s, and the floor was tiled, as it was in any modern hospital.
About twenty people were crowded into the waiting room, some of them filling out papers.
A sign on the nurses" desk read, "If you"re seasick and you feel you need the doctor, please fill out your paperwork."
A harried nurse was rea.s.suring the pa.s.sengers and answering their questions, disappearing behind a door, then bustling back out again.
Lorna sat in one of the waiting room chairs, her head resting against the wall. The woman next to her stood up as the nurse called her name, and Jude quickly slid into her seat.
Lorna opened her eyes; after a second, she smiled. "Don"t worry. We"re not going to have our attorneys sue you," she told him.
She meant the Celtic American line, of course.
"I"m not worried about being sued," he said. "I"m worried about you."
"It"s just a little queasiness," she said.
"It"s more than that, isn"t it?" She closed her eyes again. He found himself admiring her. She kept herself fit; she was a very attractive woman who was embracing her age. He wasn"t an expert, but there were no telltale plastic surgery signs on her face. She looked over at him. "Are you married, Mr. McCoy?"
"I was," he replied. "I"m divorced."
"I"m sorry," she said.
"So am I. But under the circ.u.mstances, it was the best thing. For both of us. And I wish my ex every bit of happiness she can find."
"You"re a nice man," Lorna said. She let out a sigh. "We"ve been married a very long time. Three children. Five grandchildren."
"A life well lived," Jude said.
She glanced at him, a slight smile curving her lips. "I"m hoping I still have a few years left, young man."
Jude laughed and apologized. "I just mean you two have used your years well. You both seem to have accomplished a lot."
"You"d think so, right?" Lorna remarked. "I didn"t make any millions, but...I do have beautiful children."
"I"m sure you do."
"And they"re good people, too."
"That"s wonderful."
He waited. There was no reason for her to trust him or confide in him. They"d only met a day ago; he"d spent time talking to her and Roger in the piano bar. And yet she seemed to trust him.
"I just wonder if I haven"t become old hat," she said.
"Old hat?"