Page 7 of Cruising with You

3

Gage

“Did you see the article?” Justin lifts his chin to my computer.

With a deep chuckle, I twist my swivel chair toward him to give him my full attention. “About my proposal before it went sour? Yeah, I saw it. Where the hell did you even find that?”

Justin shrugs before leaning against the edge of my desk. “It was in the school’s newspaper. Sorry, she was already taken.”

I grunt but cover my disappointment by pulling up Excel and continuing to work on a report that’s due later this month. “She’s a dime a dozen.”

“I dunno about that,” Justin argues. “But I do think we need a vacation.” A magazine appears under my nose, followed by Justin’s finger as he points at an advertisement on the page.

Flinching back a few inches, I try to read it, but his sausage finger gets in the way. “What am I looking at here?”

“A cruise to the Bahamas with a free drinks card, as well as a free upgrade to a balcony room. We could get Ben and Conner to go with us too.”

“The new guy, Conner?” I ask.

“Yeah. He seems pretty cool. Just moved down from New York.”

“Alright, but I’m getting my own room. Send out a text or something to see if they’re interested. It says it leaves in…”––I look closer––“two weeks? That’s a lot of employees asking for the same week off in a short amount of time.”

“It’s the slow part of the season, Gage. Besides, you’re working on a report that isn’t due for a month.”

My eyes shift to the opened Excel spreadsheet that’ll be finished by the end of the week. The bastard has a point. Gripping the back of my neck, I squeeze it. “Fine. I’ll talk with our boss and get his two cents.”

“Deal. But come on…free drinks. Women in bikinis. A casino on board. Sounds like a party to me.”

Scanning the advertisement, I point to a small disclaimer at the bottom. “What’s this part?”

“I already did the research. It’s a singles’ cruise for some eclipse or something. All I know is that the whole thing is being put on by that chick magazine,Polishedor something like that? Yeah, I think that was it.Polished Magazine. It’s the one that’s all about relationships and shit. From what I could gather, there will be plenty of desperate women on board who are looking for their soulmates. Sounds like a wet dream to me, man.”

I meet his gaze and grin. “Then it looks like I’ll be getting the okay from our boss. Book it.”

4

Nora

The next couple of weeks go by in a blur of chaos. The ship is huge and luxurious, and because Gem and I are heading up the entire cruise, we were able to board early to set everything up in a massive room with stadium seating. There’s a smaller room on the opposite side of the ship that will be used for more intimate get-togethers, but this will be used for the keynote speakers. As I take in the giantWritten in The Starsbanner splattered with gold, black, and white, I shake my head.

“What are you staring at?” Gem interrupts.

“I’m just impressed you pulled this off.”

“Wepulled this off,” she corrects me.

“Meh. I was definitely your sidekick in this little endeavor, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. No one knows this stuff like you do, Gem. Seriously. I’m so proud of you.”

With a sheepish smile, she tosses her arm around my shoulders and pulls me into a side hug while staring at the same banner that brought this topic up in the first place.

“I’m proud of both of us. I can feel it in my bones, Nora. This is going to be amazing.”

“Me too, Gem. I think it’s going to be a real hit.”

“Captain Ron wanted to let us know that they’re going to start letting passengers on board. Do you want to go freshen up, then we’ll meet for a celebratory drink by the pool?”

“I dunno, I feel guilty drinking while on the job––”

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