Page 11 of Key Lime Kisses
“You could…” she said slowly. “But there are definitely a couple of things we would need to go over before you do that.”
I wanted to ask what things, but held my tongue to see if Shea would. It was surprisingly pleasant having someone share the load. Bernard would have sat back and let me deal with it. In fact, he probably wouldn’t have even left the cabin at all; he would have considered the travel arrangements to be purely an alpha’s concerns. Then again, I reminded myself, Shea wasn’t my boyfriend.
“Such as?” Shea asked.
He may not have been my boyfriend, but he certainly was an independent omega and I liked that.
“Well,” the woman continued, “we have a form you'd need to fill out and hand in so that we know not to expect you back. Otherwise we wouldn't know where you were and we’d have to assume the worst and deal with the police and all that fun stuff. So definitely have the form filled out. You’d also need your IDs changed to reflect a new disembarkation date. And then two more things. The first is that if you do cut your trip short, there are no refunds.”
We both nodded in agreement.
“Second,” she went on, “You need to be absolutely positive you’re not coming back. Once you’ve handed in the forms and disembarked, you will not be permitted to board again under any circumstances.”
We both nodded again.
“Thank you,” I said.
“Yes, thank you,” Shea echoed. “Where can we get those forms?”
“Right here. I’ve already got them printing.” She got up and returned in a moment with some papers for us.
We both thanked her again and headed back toward the room.
“That doesn't sound so bad,” I said. “Some paperwork and then we're free.”
Shea laughed. “Yeah, as long as you don’t mind not having a refund.”
“My sister won the tickets at a company thing,” I said. “So, I’m not out of pocket anyway.”
He grinned. “Well, I’m on that jerk alphas dime and I had to admit, I don’t feel bad about it at all.”
“From what I’ve heard, he deserves to pay up a bit,” I said. “So, I guess that settles it. We’ll escape tomorrow?”
“Sounds good.”
“I'm tempted to explore the ship,” I said. “Did you want to come along?”
Shea grimaced. “I'd really rather avoid that alpha.”
“Do you mind if I go?” I asked. Boyfriend or not, I’d feel bad ditching him if he wasn’t comfortable roaming the ship.
“Not at all, I’ve got a couple of books I’d like to read.”
“That works.”
I lingered for a moment as we reached the room. It felt somewhat awkward to just walk away. Then again, it wasn’t as if we were dating. He wasn’t even supposed to be my blind date anyway, we were both originally here with different people. There was no reason to feel weird just leaving him.
I nodded in parting and kept going down the corridor, pausing long enough to make sure his key card unlocked the door.
The boat seemed bigger than I would have expected for a vessel that sailed around the Great Lakes. It was like being on a real cruise ship. I had done a cruise with Bernard once and the experience was miserable. I was honestly surprised I hadn't turned down the idea when my sister presented it; I really hadn't wanted to go on another cruise ever again. Of course, I hadn't wanted to date again either. And yet here I was on a blind date. I snorted, not that it had worked out.
As I walked, I wondered just what would have happened if my date had shown up. Would we have hit it off? Would we be the ones sharing the room together? Perhaps not planning on getting off the ship tomorrow. Maybe I'd actually have myself a new boyfriend. Or maybe it would have been terrible and I'd be stuck in the room with someone whose company I enjoyed significantly less than Shea’s.
I found myself smiling at the thought of him. He had actually made the second part of brunch quite enjoyable. It really was too bad he wasn’t supposed to be my date. Although itwasfortunate that I had been able to rescue him from that jerk.
After I had thoroughly explored the entire ship and taken a lengthy, leisurely stroll around and around the deck, my stomach was rumbling and I realized that it was late in the afternoon. I headed to the dining the cafe and discovered that lunch was already packed up and they were cleaning for dinner.
Fortunately, there was someone working there who directed me to the room service menu, which was fairly extensive. Just as I got ready to place my order, hoping that I'd be able to beat it to the room, it occurred to me that Shea may not have eaten either. So, I went ahead and doubled everything. I was delighted to find out that even room service was covered under the all meals included part of my ticket. It was a shame my sister didn't like cruises, this would have made a great vacation for her and her wife.
