to get her to pack her bags and go, all the while reminding her it would have been a sad waste of money not to. Though now Sophie was thinking that if Sierra didn’t have any fun it would still be just as sad a waste of money.
Once everyone had their champagne, the captain made his toast. “We welcome you all aboard,” he said. “Here is to making good friends and good memories.”
“I like that,” Sophie said, and gave her sister a shoulder bump. Sierra smiled at her, a good sign, and that made Sophie smile, too.
She shared it with Rudy and he smiled back. His daughter, the sour lemon, frowned. What was her problem, anyway? Maybe she needed a nap.
Oh, well. Everyone else was nice. “Catherine reminds me of Grandma Wilson,” Sophie said as the sisters left the lounge after the toasting ceremony.
Grandma Wilson had been their favorite grandma. She’d never come to visit without bringing goodies from her little garden or homemade divinity, and she’d taught the girls how to play canasta. She’d been a soft-spoken woman with a ready smile and a listening ear. They’d lost her three years earlier and Sophie still missed her. Grandma Wilson had been her buddy.
“She does,” Sierra agreed. “And I like her friend Denise. I want to look like her when I get old.”
Denise did know how to rock that whole aging-lady thing. Frumpy was obviously not a word in her vocabulary. Her white blouse had been simple but expensive. Yet not as expensive as the designer jeans she’d been wearing or the heels under them. Or the emerald ring on her right hand. The scarf, Sophie was sure, was Hermès.
“Do we want to try and sit with them at dinner?” Sierra asked as they stopped at the hand sanitizer station on their way back to their room.
“For sure. And Rudy,” Sophie added as she stepped into the bathroom to check her makeup.
Sierra followed her and stood in the doorway. “Rudy. The man old enough to be your father? That Rudy?”
Sophie didn’t have to look her way to see the disapproving frown. She knew it was there. “What does age matter if you’re soul mates?” She dug some mascara out of her makeup bag.
“You are not soul mates,” Sierra said firmly.
“How do you know?” Sophie shot back. Sierra’s marriage didn’t exactly indicate she was an expert on soul mates. Saying that out loud would have been unkind, but that didn’t mean Sophie couldn’t think it.
Sierra made an exasperated sound. “Just because he’s a doctor.”
“‘A doctor would be the perfect husband for you,’” Sophie quoted. “Isn’t that what you told me when you first invited me on this cruise?”
“I didn’t mean an old doctor.”
“He’s not that old, and he’s very attractive.”
“I don’t care how attractive he is, he’s too old for you.”
“Women get together with older men all the time, you know,” Sophie said. “Anyway, I like Rudy. He’s friendly and a good conversationalist. And there’s something to be said for older men. They’re mature and responsible. Half the men our age are nothing more than little boys in big bodies—all about having fun and running away from commitment.” Like her last boyfriend. “They don’t think of anything but themselves.” Rather like Mark. She kept that thought to herself also.
“Tell all that to his daughter. I’m sure his daughter will be delighted to see you getting together with her dad.”
Sophie put away her mascara and turned to her sister. “What’s with her, anyway? She ought to be wearing a T-shirt that says Grinch Girl.”
“I don’t know. Maybe she doesn’t like women younger than her hitting on her dad.”
“I wasn’t hitting,” Sophie insisted. “I was just visiting with him.”
“You were hitting,” Sierra said, trying to imitate Sophie’s hair flip.
“Your hair’s not long enough to make that work,” Sophie teased.
“Lady Godiva wouldn’t have enough hair to get this man. His daughter is going to make sure of that.”
“We’ll see,” Sophie said.
“You’d better watch yourself. Athena’s liable to push you right off the ship.”
“Don’t even say things like that,” Sophie said, horrified. “If I fell in the river this time of year I’d catch pneumonia.”
* * *
Due to the size of the ship there was only one dining room and one dinner seating time and that was at seven. The dining room offered open seating, and an array of tables fanned out before Athena and Rudy, all of them elegant with white linen tablecloths, fine china and silver and wine goblets sparkling in the light