Love on the High Seas

by Yasmin Sullivan

  “Game not going well?”

  “Yeah, it’s fine.”

  She held his head and looked into his eyes; he seemed okay.

  “Well, I’ll go start dinner. Spaghetti and meatballs sound good?”

  “Yep. Can I help?”

  She held his shoulder and put the back of her hand to his forehead. “You don’t have a fever. You feeling okay?” She chuckled.

  “Yep.”

  Philly had been hovering a little closer to her the past week, and now she realized that it was because he had missed her.

  “Okay, let’s go get dinner ready.”

  “I get to make...the balls.”

  “That’s perfect,” she said and picked him up.

  With spaghetti in the strainer, meatballs simmering in the sauce, rolls heating in the oven and salad waiting in a big wooden bowl, Angelina turned from the kitchen.

  “Alex, come set the table and get the drinks. I’ll get Aunt Rose.”

  Upstairs, she peeked in on her great-aunt, who was sitting up in bed and watching the soaps on television.

  “Dinner’s ready.”

  “Oh, good, honey.”

  Her great-aunt reached for her false teeth and began the process of repositioning herself on the bed so that she could get up. Angelina moved her great-aunt’s walker next to the bed within her reach.

  “I’ll be right back to go downstairs with you.”

  Angelina was glad to finally get out of her shoes and made a quick change into sweatpants. She already missed the days when she didn’t have to worry about getting dinner ready, when all she had to do was figure out what time she would meet...

  By the time she returned, her great-aunt’s feet were on the floor. She took the older woman’s hands and let her pull herself up to a standing position. Going downstairs, Aunt Rose had to take one step at time, but she was okay on her own once she got to the bottom.

  “Did you find any job leads today?” Angelina asked Alex over dinner.

  “I found a couple things in the paper.”

  “Don’t forget that school is an option.”

  He had gone to Howard, where you still had to take swimming, which brought his average down....

  “I know,” Alex said.

  “Thank you for watching Philly today. I owe you. Are you guys still playing with that handheld game?”

  “Yeah, it’s cool.”

  Alex wasn’t one of many words, and Angelina didn’t know how else to get him talking, so she patted his hand briefly and turned to her great-aunt.

  “How was your day, Aunt Rose?”

  “Oh, the same. Knees still aching a bit.”

  “We have to talk to the doctor about that again.”

  He was a radiologist. He would know a boatload of doctors and nurses and...

  “Nothing to do for it more than I am,” her great-aunt said. “It comes and goes. Ms. Lee stopped by this afternoon with some lunch for me. I already ate with Phillip and Alexander, so it’s in there for tomorrow.”

  Ms. Lee was her great-aunt’s best friend. She lived a block over in the retirement village.

  “Is there anything going on at the retirement center you want to go to?”

  “Nothing right now. There’s a new pastor coming that they’re having to the center a few weeks from now that Ms. Lee was telling me about. I’d like to see him when he comes.”

  “What day is it? Sunday?”

  That’s the day they were to meet for breakfast and exchange numbers so that they...

  “I think a Wednesday. I’ll check.”

  “Let me know so that I can be sure I can take you.”

  “I’ll get the news from Ms. Lee when she comes by again.”

  “Okay. I’ll be available.” Angelina turned to Philly, “What about you, sweetie? Are you ready for school next week?”

  “Uh-ha. It was supposed to be this week. But they’re doing stuff to the school.”

  “I know. They’re renovating. I have a list of supplies we need to get this week. You coming with me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then we can get some school clothes for you while we’re out. Do you need anything, Alex?”

  “No, I’m fine.”

  “No clothes?”

  Maybe some polo shirts would look good on him, like the ones she’d picked for...

  “No, I’m fine on clothes.”

  Angelina wasn’t sure he would tell her if he did need something.

  “You’ll let me know when you do?”

  “Yeah.”

  Angelina dipped the remainder of her bread into the last bit of sauce on her plate.

  Like their first meal together, when he put his hand on the back of her chair and stroked her shoulder....

  Tonight everything reminded her of Jeremy. She couldn’t shake that cruise from her mind, and she couldn’t stop her heart from feeling broken. But she didn’t have time for this—for wallowing.

  “Speaking of clothes, I need your laundry when we’re done.”

  While Alex and Philly stacked the dishwasher, Angelina got her great-aunt into the living room and did the heavy dishes in the sink. Then she got her aunt’s laundry while Philly and Alex collected theirs. She got the first load in while Alex found something on the television that he, Philly and Aunt Rose could watch together.

  With a third load in the laundry, she collected Aunt Rose and helped her up the stairs and into her nightclothes. Next it was Philly’s turn. After he got his teeth brushed and his pajamas on, she read to him while the third load dried. The little one dropped off to sleep before she had to go check the dryer.

  When that load was done, she said good-night to Alex and left him downstairs watching television. She finally had some time to get some of her own work done.

  She had two work stations in her room—one for the computer and one for paperwork. She took a seat at the table she used for writing and stared at the piles on it, trying to weigh them. It was her usual balancing act, but it caused her a great deal of anxiety.

  The papers to grade and the books for class prep needed to be done for Monday. The research she’d collected for her critical article and the draft of what she’d done so far on her novel were less pressing, but it was the latter to which she was drawn. She knew she couldn’t spend that much time with her creative writing, so she decided that she would only read over the last few chapters for editing and changes.

  The time that she’d spent working on the ship had been split between her syllabi, her reading and her creative writing. They had actually gotten equal time. The creative writing was a luxury, but it seemed to match with the extravagance of being on a cruise. Now she didn’t have that leisure.

  Of course, the whole cruise had been on borrowed time. She’d taken work with her to do, but hadn’t gotten enough of it done, so now she had to make up for that, too. She hadn’t anticipated those warm brown eyes, those strong brown arms, those hard brown thighs...

  Angelina pulled herself back to reality. She had been thinking about making love to Jeremy on the cruise, before everything went sour. And she couldn’t afford to let her mind wander to what she couldn’t have. It just made her desirous to no end. Then she would be let down. It was like waking from a dream that you want to recapture but just can’t. The day has to begin. Real life is different.

  She had replayed that last evening in her mind over and over. Listening to his friends paint her as a loose hussy, listening to their laughter, watching him do and say nothing, knowing what he had wanted her for, knowing that he had gotten just that—it all mortified her, debased her. What had she been thinking? Or rather, why hadn’t she been thinking?

  And here she was again, mulling over what she had deliberately put out of her mind and wasting
time in the process.

  She finished reading over the last few pages of her draft and then turned to class preparation for Monday. She already knew Douglass’s Narrative and had lecture notes on that, so she started reading History of the Black Atlantic.

  She hoped that when she was done with her reading, she would be able to start on the papers or do some notes for her article. By the time she closed the book, however, it was past midnight, and she was exhausted.

  She changed for bed, aware that her modest cotton pajamas were a far cry from the silk concoctions that she’d worn on the Palace of the Seas. Who really wore such things in real life? Well, Safire did. But who else?

  Tomorrow was Saturday. She had her usual errands to run, plus school supplies and clothes for Philly to get. She also wanted to find something to thank Alex for helping during her time away, and she needed to see if the pharmacist could recommend anything for Aunt Rose’s knees. She also needed to get her lecture notes done and to get started on the papers.

  Yes, she was back to real life.

  Chapter 10

  Jeremy opened his desk, realized that he wasn’t looking for anything and slammed it shut.

  “Dr. Bell?”

  “Yes, Evelyn, come in. Do you need anything?”

  “Dr. Carter is on the phone. He’s wondering when he’ll have the results of the MRI on patient Watson.”

  “Tell him— No, just put him through.”

  He rifled on his desk for a file and picked up the phone when it rang.

  “Hello, James. We just finished with Ms. Watson and her son. I can get the write-up done tomorrow morning and fax it to you. Do you want preliminary findings now, or do you want to wait?”

  Jeremy opened the file and gave James Carter the preliminary findings. It refocused him, and when he put the phone down, he was centered and cool.

  He was also a bit pissed off. Safire was on his mind again, and once again, he couldn’t see her reasons for ditching him the last day of the cruise, when they were to have had breakfast and exchanged information. He understood her being a bit miffed for a little while, maybe an evening, but to cut him out of her life completely over some kidding that he wasn’t even participating in—it was too much.

  He replaced the file and took off his lab coat. He pulled out his shorts and jersey to get ready to meet Alistair for racquetball.

  He also had plans to meet some friends that evening for dinner and a club, but he was thinking about calling to beg off. It meant trying to show interest in other women when he couldn’t muster the energy, and it meant pretending to be at ease when he couldn’t stop thinking about Safire.

  He stopped and sat down at his desk. He’d started to do it earlier in the day but hadn’t had time between clients. He logged onto his computer and did an online search for Safire Lewis. Her name popped up just like that. Safire Lewis. She was a paralegal in the law offices of Benson and Hines. What? No, he needed Safire Lewis the history teacher.

  He clicked on the paralegal’s name, and once he found the right page, there she was. It was another small picture, but it was Safire, looking just as she did in the singles brochure. She had on a wide straw hat and a sundress, and she was standing on a dock in front of a motorboat, waving.

  He flipped through the other images. Everyone else had on a business suit, and all the men wore ties. Why would she put a vacation picture next to her job profile? It seemed unlike Safire. But then, she seemed to be a history teacher; she had even brought history books with her on vacation. It didn’t even make for a plausible lie. Being a history teacher didn’t make her more attractive.

  He was confused, but he wouldn’t be for long. He printed the page and picked up the phone.

  “I’m trying to get in touch with Ms. Safire Lewis.”

  “I’m sorry. She’s gone for the day. Can I take a message?”

  “Is she in tomorrow?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “What would be a good time to catch her?”

  “She may be assisting at court in the morning. Try around three o’clock.”

  “Will do. Thank you.”

  Jeremy hung up the phone. Then, on an impulse, he picked it up again.

  “Hello? Tom?...Yeah. This is Jeremy Bell. I’m glad to catch you. I’m wondering if you can cover for me for a few hours tomorrow. I have one CT scan...That’s great. I’ll owe you one...Actually, I can do that. That’s perfect. It’s a trade. I need to be out at two...Great.”

  He wanted to go out and unwind, but he decided against it. He cancelled clubbing plans for that night, and then he changed to meet Alistair.

  He and Alistair were both pretty athletic, but they had been going at it for a while and were winding down. He didn’t stop, though; he could keep going as long as his friend. They had slowed down enough to start talking, and it was Alistair who brought up the subject.

  “So.” Alistair hit the ball toward the wall. “You’re still thinking about her?”

  Jeremy missed the return. “Yeah, I guess so.”

  Alistair put the ball in play again, and Jeremy returned it.

  “You gonna do anything about it?”

  “I did an online search. I’m going to pay her a visit tomorrow.”

  “All right,” Alistair said, missing the ball and stopping, “a man of action. Is she expecting you?”

  Jeremy retrieved the ball and put it in play again. “No.”

  Alistair made the return. “Ouch. That might not be nice.”

  “I’ll have to see. And it’s not a conversation I want to have by phone.”

  “I understand. Let me know how it goes.”

  Jeremy stopped the ball. “I will.”

  “Reggie and I are going to do Chinese,” Alistair said. “Join us.”

  “No, spend time with your partner.”

  “I always do. It’s not a special occasion. Come with us.”

  “Okay.” Jeremy looked at his watch and handed Alistair the ball. “Let’s go.”

  Dinner that night was among friends who kept him occupied, but work the next day was a test in patience. At two o’clock, though, he was on his way to his car and heading across town to the law offices of Benson and Hines.

  A receptionist pointed him toward a back office, where he found a woman in a short, tight skirt and high heels behind a stack of law books.

  “Hi,” he said.

  When she looked up, he could see that she looked a lot like Safire but that it wasn’t her. She had Safire’s features—her elliptical eyes, her full lips, her puckered cheekbones, her pert nose, her high forehead. Only she wasn’t Safire. She was younger, for one thing, and a bit smaller, for another.

  She eyed him up and down, checking his “package” along the way. “You must be looking for me.”

  She got up and extended her hand.

  “No, I’m looking for Safire Lewis.”

  She smiled and sat down with her legs revealed in his direction.

  “I knew you were looking for me.”

  She smiled sweetly. This one could be as raunchy as she wanted to be and get away with it; an air about her kept her in control and kept her from seeming common. He might have done a double take if he wasn’t used to flirting with the Safires of the world, but he was.

  And she was Safire. She was probably twenty-three, and right down to being “naughty but nice,” everything the singles profile said about Safire resonated as true.

  “You are Safire Lewis, aren’t you? You fit the description you gave the singles cruise. But I’m looking for the woman who went instead of you.”

  She got up and crossed her arms like a blockade. She was protecting her sister or cousin. Or it could have been a friend or a chance doppelgänger.

  “Why would you be looking for her if she wa
nted to be found?”

  Jeremy needed to get that blockade down, and being honest was the only way that he knew how.

  “We spent almost every day together on the ship, and we’d still be seeing each other now if she hadn’t found out...that I’d read your bio before I met her.”

  A light went off in her head and lit up her face with understanding.

  “Uh-oh.”

  He wasn’t sure if she said it because of his situation or because it was clear that her friend now knew about the profile.

  “She was nothing like your bio, but I couldn’t help being attracted to her.”

  She put her finger up. “Wait here a moment.” She crossed the room, took out her purse, flipped open her phone and hit a number. Apparently, she got no answer, and she snapped it shut without leaving a message. Then she stood thinking.

  “Look, Ms. Lewis, you obviously care about her. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t care about her, too. We were together just about all the time. I can’t let it go.”

  “What if you were a cruise ship affair to her, and she doesn’t want to see you again?”

  “She wasn’t like that. It wasn’t like that.”

  “Well, you seem to know something about her. Tell me more.”

  Jeremy took a breath and started with seeing her on the boarding ramp the first day, trying not to give details that his Safire probably wouldn’t want to have known.

  “We shopped and went to Magen’s Bay when we got to St. Thomas. I joined her for the tour in Puerto Rico. She met some of my friends at one of the pools. We...spent time together aboard the ship—one of the gardens, a concert. What else do you need to know?”

  “What did she bring me back?”

  She was just being curious now, but she had the information he needed, so he had to play along.

  “We went to a silver store on St. Thomas. It would be either the bracelet with the hibiscus or the necklace with coral beads, but I’ll guess the bracelet.”

  Safire held out her hand and pulled up the cuff of her sleeve. There it was.

  “And what about...the naughty?”

  She was obviously snooping into her friend’s business now. He gave her a wry look and remained silent. She sat back in her chair and laughed, clearly intrigued by the fact that his Safire had even had any naughty, as she put it. But it was also clear to her that she would get no information on that from him.