of the candles on the tables.
A feeling of foreboding crept over Athena when her father led her to a table for six not far from the restaurant entrance and seated them facing the door. As if it had all been rehearsed, Catherine and Denise, the two older women they’d met in the lounge, entered, looking around.
Denise was the first to spot them, said something to her friend and waved, and Daddy motioned them over. Oh, boy. Was this how it was going to be for the whole cruise?
Of course it was. This was exactly what Athena had suspected would happen, which was why she’d come along in the first place.
And not only Catherine and Denise, but here came the sisters, as well. “Do you have room for two more?” asked the one called Sophie.
Hard to say no since there were still two seats left.
“Certainly,” Daddy said. “Join us, please.”
Oh, boy. What to do?
Subtlety was required. Her father wouldn’t be pleased if Athena rebuffed their new acquaintances. He’d want to know why. And she didn’t dare tell him. He would pull father rank on her and inform her that he was well able to take care of his own social life and certainly didn’t need his daughter running interference. She’d once heard a radio finance guru call it powdered-butt syndrome. Parents, the ones who changed your diapers and raised you, often didn’t take kindly to a role reversal and weren’t prone to taking advice. She’d have to find ways of discouraging fortune hunters without her father ever realizing she was doing it.
She smiled politely. She could, after all, be polite. Polite but discouraging.
So now they were six: Sophie and her sister, Catherine sitting on Daddy’s other side and Denise. A regular harem.
The waiter handed Athena a menu. Suddenly nothing looked good.
“Everything sounds so delicious I don’t know how I’ll choose,” Catherine said.
“You don’t have to,” Daddy told her. “If you want two appetizers or two main courses you may request both.”
“How about two desserts?” asked Sierra. “I don’t think I can choose between almond cake and chocolate mousse.”
“Have two desserts,” Denise advised her. “Life’s uncertain, eat dessert first and make it worth your while.”
Sierra smiled at that, and Sophie said, “Do what makes you happy, Sissy.”
The two were obviously close and Athena envied that. Being an only child, she’d never enjoyed the camaraderie of a sibling. She’d settled for girlfriends, but she and her best friend, Mel, had been friends since third grade. Practically sisters.
Mel had wholeheartedly approved of Athena’s plan to go on the cruise as her father’s bodyguard. “Men are too trusting,” she’d said. “I read about one retired doctor who found someone online and wound up paying for a house for her. Then, when it was time to meet in person, he bought her a plane ticket to France and they planned to meet at the Eiffel Tower but she never showed up. He had a limo and champagne and everything.”
Athena could picture her own generous, trusting father doing the very same thing. Daddy was a romantic at heart. He’d never forgotten an anniversary, often brought home flowers for Mom for no reason and, once they became empty nesters, frequently drove her to beachside towns on the California coast for weekend getaways. He’d spoiled Athena, too, buying her jewelry for her birthdays—everything from birthstone rings to pearls—taking pictures of her in all her finery before every high school dance. Getting all teary-eyed when he walked her down the aisle. Getting teary-eyed again when she got divorced and insisting on sending her and her friend Mel to Hawaii to help Athena heal her broken heart. Her mother had confided that he’d hoped she’d meet someone while walking on the beach. As if meeting someone, on the beach or otherwise, was a good idea when she was newly divorced.
He’d been just as happy to spoil Nicole, indulging her every whim. A new car? Sure. Blue to match her eyes. She did have spectacular eyes. Botox? She didn’t need it but if it would make her feel better, okay. Trips to Tahiti and Fiji, a cruise in the Greek isles. A Caribbean cruise, which included getting some expensive new jewelry in Grand Cayman. It was only money. Money that was quickly evaporating.
Not that Athena minded seeing her father spend money. She just minded seeing him spend it on someone who didn’t love him and was only using him.
And then, along came the heart surgeon with the summer house in the San