Page 35 of Wait for Me

Marie put away her phone. “Is it possible for you to take Jonas to the activity center? I have some work to do. I need to get back to the ship.”

“No.” Logan didn’t know why that came out of his mouth.

“No?”

“No, please. You’re going back to work next week. You’ll be working the rest of the year. Let’s save this time for our son.”

“Says the person who tried to work through the salmon bake on Monday. Remember Juneau?” Marie said.

“Well… I learned my lesson. And now we’re having family time—or what’s left of it. He will never be five again. This is our time.”

“This is our time,” Marie echoed him. “All right. Work can wait.”

“Thank you.”

“No. Thank you.” Marie reached across the small table and put her hand in his.

It was a small gesture, but it filled Logan’s heart to overflowing.

Chapter Eighteen

Handing Jonas over to Mrs. Ping at their stateroom door was the best thing Marie felt they could do for themselves this afternoon. A bona fide Junior Ranger now, Jonas himself wanted to spend the afternoon with Mrs. Ping—who had gotten herself a haircut and a perm while they had been in Skagway.

Mrs. Ping seemed happy to get Jonas back. “I missed you so much.”

“I’ve only been gone a little bit.” Jonas returned the hug. “What did you do all morning?”

“Well…” Mrs. Ping gently touched her hair with her hand.

“You got a haircut!” Jonas said.

“And a perm.”

Everyone, except Logan, complimented Mrs. Ping on her new hair color. Logan didn’t even bother to play along.

One of the things that Marie liked about Logan was how he’d tell it like it is. If he didn’t like something, he would say it. No embellishment.

A dish you cooked tastes bad. That color is ugly on you.And so forth.

Rude as might be at times, Logan meant well, and that was how Marie chose to view it.

“I think we need alone time,” he had said on their walk back to the ship for lunch. “We need to talk.”

“What about the t-r-a-i-n?” Marie spelled it out for him.

“Train?” Jonas interjected their conversation. “I told you, next time.”

Like father, like son.

In this particular case, Marie decided to tell Logan that she could not spend the afternoon with him. She couldn’t tell him that she had to get back to her laptop, connect to her secure account at INTERPOL, and find out who Aliyah really was.

Marie had a feeling something wasn’t right. Aliyah seemed to be a prisoner of some sort.

On the other hand, Marie might be wrong altogether.

She had to know.

And she couldn’t know if Logan was around her all the time. He had no idea what Marie did for a living, and that secret had been the downfall of their marriage.

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