Jingle All the Way - Debbie Macomber Page 0,32

games. If he wanted to avoid her, then so be it. She was a big girl and could accept his decision with grace.

Larry gave his presentation, and even with effort, Everly doubted that she heard a single word. The screen was filled with a variety of pictures. From the sounds of appreciation coming from the audience, they must have been breathtaking. Everly barely noticed.

Following the two lectures was lunch. Everly got in line with the others and chose an empty table after she got her food. A couple she hadn’t spoken with before joined her. It shouldn’t have surprised her that they were full of questions about her adventures from the day before. She assured them it had been a rather exciting experience once she learned the warriors were looking out for her best interest.

With her back to the entrance, she sensed immediately when Asher entered the dining room. He collected his plate and came into view. He glanced around the room and seemed to briefly notice that there was an empty space at her table before pointedly moving on and taking a seat elsewhere.

Everly felt her heart trip over the slight and made a determined effort to smile and pretend she hadn’t noticed. She finished her lunch and enjoyed her conversation with the couple, who delighted in reliving their adventures from their trip to Egypt. Their enthusiasm was contagious and Everly asked several questions, determined to make the trip one day herself.

The afternoon sped by quickly. The Zodiacs were lowered for a river ride, as they were most days. She purposely chose to board the one without Asher. No need to make it uncomfortable for them both. Alex did an excellent job of pointing out the highlights along the waterway, and the beauty and her fascination with what she saw thankfully distracted her a bit. Everly would always remember when they happened upon a family of capybaras. She was amazed at how large the rodents were, and delighted in watching them interact with one another.

When they returned, she washed her face and hands before joining everyone for the social hour before dinner. Asher was decidedly absent, and when Alex asked if she’d mind playing the piano again, she readily agreed, providing musical entertainment before they went in for dinner. A Christmas tree had been set up and there were boughs strung up along the windows. A wreath had been added to the door of her stateroom. Christmas was definitely in the air.

At the meal she sat with Professor Kotz and his wife, Miriam. The two were quite the world travelers. She enjoyed learning about their trips to all seven continents. This was their fourth trip to South America. Hearing about all there was to see and do in the world, both from the Kotzes and the couple from lunch, whet her appetite to explore and learn from different cultures herself.

Asher did make a showing for dinner. It came as no surprise that he sat elsewhere. After the meal, tired from the day’s activities, Everly returned to her stateroom, determined to remain alone for the rest of the evening.

She read for an hour, and by nine-thirty she yawned and decided to make it an early night and readied for bed. As she walked toward her tiny bathroom, she noticed that someone had slipped an envelope under her door. For a long minute all she did was stare at it. Finally overcome by curiosity, she reached down and grabbed hold of it. Inside, in slanting cursive handwriting that could belong only to Asher, he’d written:

Meet me at midnight in the alcove.

CHAPTER NINE

One character trait in Everly’s life that was in abundant supply was pride. After the way Asher had blatantly ignored her all day, now out of the blue he wanted a clandestine meeting? Not happening. As far as she was concerned, he could sit in the dark and wait all by his lonesome self. Since he’d seen fit to pretend she didn’t exist, she would do the same when it came to him. That seemed fair to her.

Her decision made, she threw back the covers and climbed into bed. Ideally, she would instantly fall asleep and wake refreshed in the morning. By all rights, that’s exactly what should have happened, especially since she’d been nearly sleepless the night before. Instead, she found herself glancing at the clock every fifteen minutes and cursing under her breath, angry when she found it impossible to sleep. She squeezed her