possibilities, but that would likely end up nowhere. Then he remembered he had her business card. And if he ever came this way again, he would definitely look her up for drinks as she had suggested.
Standing, he stretched, then went inside to get into bed. When he finally dozed off to sleep, it wasn’t Simone who flitted through his dreams, the way she usually did, but another woman.
Monica Bennett.
CHAPTER TWO
Eight Months Later
“I WISH I COULD go on that cruise with you, Monica.”
Monica glanced across the dinner table at her sister and smiled. “I wish you could, too, Bree. You’ve been working too many hours at the hospital and need a break.”
Sebrina was a heart specialist at St. Paul General and worked the night shift. Lately she’d been putting in a lot of overtime and had been called in on many of her nights off. They saw each other in passing each morning—Sebrina was usually coming in from work when Monica was on her way out—but they did make a point of sharing dinner as often as they could. A few days ago, they had all been together with their family to celebrate Thanksgiving in Atlanta, but now it was back to the daily grind.
Shortly after graduating from college with a master’s degree in journalism, Monica had landed a job at the St. Paul’s Star Tribune newspaper. Last month, she’d transferred departments, going from being a fashion critic with the Tribune to becoming a travel reporter. This would be her first assignment and she was excited. A new cruise line was doing a twenty-one-day voyage from Sydney to various ports in Australia and surrounding islands. Although it would be a working cruise, she was sure there would be plenty of time for her to enjoy herself. In Australia, December was the first month of summer, while here in St. Paul, the winter was in full swing. She’d definitely welcome the warmer temperatures.
And to make this assignment even more interesting, this was a singles’ cruise. Monica figured there would likely be more women than men onboard, and those men would have their pick of companions. And there would probably be a few players on the cruise as well, guys who just wanted to have a good time, with as many women as possible, for the duration of the trip.
She had no use for those kinds of men. They reminded her too much of her father, retired Atlanta Fire Chief, Lorenzo Perkins.
Taye, Monica and Sebrina’s mom, had become pregnant with Sebrina when she was seventeen and in her first semester at college. Although Gary Stevens’s wealthy parents had forbidden their son to marry Taye, they’d adored their granddaughter and Sebrina had spent every summer with her father and his family in New Jersey.
Three years later, Taye got pregnant again, this time with Monica. For years, Taye would not tell anyone—not even her parents—the identity of Monica’s father. Finally, after years of asking, Taye had finally told Monica the truth about her parentage when she’d turned fourteen.
Lorenzo Perkins had been a rookie fireman when he’d met Taye. At the time, she had been a single mother with a two-year-old. Taye had believed him when he’d told her that he was single and shared an apartment with another fireman. She hadn’t found out he was a married man until she had become pregnant with Monica.
When Taye told him about the baby, he suggested she get an abortion. If she decided to keep the child, it would be all hers. He didn’t want anything to do with a kid.
Taye didn’t get an abortion, and Mr. Perkins kept his word. Although they lived in the same city, she could count the number of times she’d seen her father on one hand. However, she had met his other three kids—Hansen, Pratt and Kelly. Only one of them—another daughter, Kelly—had been born during his marriage. Mr. Perkins’s wife had had the sense to divorce him once she’d found out about his affair with Taye—especially since Monica and Kelly had been born just two days apart.
Although Monica didn’t care about her father, she enjoyed a rather close relationship with her siblings. The one thing the four of them had in common was their belief that their father was a scumbag. He had not earned any of his children’s respect.
“I got a call from Kennedy yesterday. She wanted to know if we were interested in taking on another roommate,” Sebrina said, interrupting Monica’s thoughts.
Growing up in Atlanta, Monica and Sebrina had