Trevor didn’t say anything, just nodded to show he was listening.
“Do you think that’s the case?” Sophie asked hopefully.
“I dunno.”
“She’s worried he’s going to leave.”
He frowned. “It sucks when people split up. We were kids when my dad left. It felt like a bomb had been dropped right in the middle of our lives. Blew everything to hell.”
“I can’t even begin to imagine how hard that must have been.”
“Let’s just say it didn’t put him on the top of our Christmas list. I don’t want to ever do that to my kids. Or to the woman I promise to love. When I get married it’ll be for keeps and I sure want to find someone who feels the same way and is willing to work through our problems.”
“I think that’s admirable,” she said.
“It’s just the way it has to be, so I won’t rush into anything because I do want it to be for keeps. Good relationships are like making good chocolate. You gotta work at them.”
“I like that analogy.”
“And I like you. What do you say to working at a relationship after the cruise?”
“I say I think that’s a good idea.”
Did she really need to be practical and marry a doctor? Doctors worked long hours. She could wind up marrying one, then go into cardiac arrest when he was in the middle of surgery or with a patient and she’d have no one to drive her to the hospital. So what good would that do? And marrying a man who knew all about the body didn’t guarantee he’d know all about the soul. Trevor March, with his insights and kindness, was a man who knew about the soul. She owed it to her soul to really give him a chance.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s help your sis pick out a clock.”
Yep. Trevor March was no doctor, but he was an expert in a lot of the things that mattered.
15
Back on the ship, Trevor looked in vain for Sophie in the lounge. He concluded she was having a sister shrink session. He didn’t see them in the dining room, either, when he joined his brother at the students’ table. Thank God propinquity had worked. Harriet had glommed on to the kid named Hugh and was happily giving him a pop quiz, making him name various items at the table. The giggler was still giggling, and correcting Hugh’s grammar every once in a while, and two other guys at the table were getting loud and Kurt had to settle them down.
“I think I’m ready to go home,” he said under his breath to Trevor.
“It hasn’t been that bad,” Trevor said.
“For you. You got to escape.” He saw the sisters come in the same time as Trevor and said, “By the way, you gonna keep seeing Sophie when we get back?”
“I am.”
“Good decision.”
“Our mama didn’t raise no fool.”
“I guess not, but I was beginning to wonder,” Kurt teased.
Trevor kept an eye on Sophie’s table, and once it looked like she and Sierra were ready to leave, he said Auf Wiedersehen to the students and went to join them.
“Are you ladies ready to stake our claim on our seats in the lounge?” he asked.
“I think I’ll go back to the room and pack,” Sierra said.
“Oh, come on, join us for a little while,” Sophie urged. “It’s our last night and they’re decorating the tree in the lounge.”
Sierra didn’t look all that enthused about tree decorating, but she nodded and went with them.
Poor kid, Trevor thought. A pretty shitty vacation for her. Seeing Germany while your husband was back in the States.
He was sure glad she hadn’t canceled, though. Otherwise, he’d have never met Sophie.
“It’s hard to believe it’s our last night,” she said as they settled in.
“It may be the last night of the cruise,” Trevor told her, “but it’s not our last night.”
“Portland’s not that far,” Sierra said, and smiled at her sister, then at him. Nice woman. Even though she was worried about her own love life she had enough class to be happy for her sister.
“I know you two are going to want to come down and take a tour of the Cupid’s Chocolates factory.”
“Oh, yes,” Sophie said enthusiastically.
“Sounds fun,” Sierra said. Not enough emotional energy for enthusiasm but she was, at least, smiling.
The others joined them and got busy ordering drinks. Even though they’d just eaten, Charlie dug into the little bowl of cocktail munchies on their table. “We’re going to have to all stay