in touch,” he said before popping a handful in his mouth.
“For sure,” said Denise. “I don’t have any contact information for you girls,” she said to Sierra and Sophie. “Do you mind sharing?”
“Not at all,” Sierra said.
Sophie had her phone in hand. “Denise, are you on Facebook?”
The next few moments were taken up with friending and sharing other contact information. “Isn’t it funny?” Sophie said when they were done. “You go on one of these things expecting to have a good time, but you don’t necessarily plan to come away with so many good friends.”
“No, you don’t,” agreed Rudy. “I’m sure glad we came,” he added, smiling at Catherine. Oh, yeah, those two would keep what they’d started going.
And so would Trevor and Sophie. He was going to make sure of it. Like Sierra had said, Seattle and Portland weren’t that far from each other, only a little over a three-hour drive apart.
Everyone chatted for a while, and then Elsa made her appearance, ready to oversee the last bit of fun and games. “As you can see,” she said, “our poor tree needs decorating. We have ornaments and we would love each of you to sign your names on them and then hang them on the tree. So please, help yourselves to an ornament and a marker and help us remember this lovely cruise we have all enjoyed together.”
“Fun idea!” enthused Denise, and hopped up.
Charlie was quick to follow her, and they drifted over to the tree. Arnold, who had joined them, stayed behind, visiting with Athena.
Good God, don’t go for him, Trevor thought. What was it with old men and young women, anyway?
“Let’s go sign our ornaments,” Sophie said to her sister. “And take a selfie to remember our time together.”
Sierra agreed, and the two sisters went to the tree and dug out ornaments. Catherine and Rudy followed, and Athena broke away from old Arnold and went after them.
Trevor remained where he was and watched as everyone in the group selected markers, wrote their names and hung their ornaments. He watched as Rudy and Catherine and Athena all passed an ornament back and forth between them, each one signing it. He smiled as he watched Sophie take a selfie of her and her sister in front of the tree. The two sisters were close, obviously good pals, just like his brother and him. What were their parents like? They had to be pretty cool to have raised such nice women.
Sophie hung the ornament, then Sierra said something. A discussion of some sort ensued. Finally, Sophie hugged her sister and Sierra headed for the sliding glass door. Sophie returned to Trevor alone.
“Had all the fun she could stand, huh?” he asked.
“She says she wants to pack. She doesn’t have that much to pack.” Sophie frowned. “I’m sure she’s going to text Mark again.” The frown turned into a sigh. “He’s breaking her heart. It’s so not right.”
“It never is.”
“She’ll get through this,” Sophie said with determination.
“With a little help from her sister?”
“With a lot of help from her sister. And her brother.”
“Whoa, you didn’t tell me you had a brother.”
“I do. He’s great. And really buff. He was a wrestler in college. Scared?” she teased.
“Wrestlers don’t scare me.”
“He’s a cop now. How about cops?”
“No problem. Cops don’t scare me, either. Bring on the whole force. And bring on a fire-breathing dragon, too.” It would take more than that to keep Trevor away.
“And an evil king?”
“The eviler, the better,” he said. “I’ll bribe him with chocolate.”
“Chocolate, huh?”
“Chocolate fixes everything,” he said with a grin.
“Maybe not everything,” she said, then looked wistfully in the direction her sister had gone.
Jacques had settled in at the piano and was playing Savage Garden’s “Truly Madly Deeply.” “Come on,” Trevor said. “Let’s dance.”
He held out his hand and she took it and let him lead her onto the dance floor, and into a nightclub two-step.
But partway through the dance he stopped with the fancy steps, snugged her up against him and whispered in her ear, “Would you like to stand with me on a mountaintop, Sophie? Bathe in the sea?” Her hair was soft against his mouth and her perfume was getting him high. Not to mention the closeness of her body. This woman had to be God’s best creation.
She turned her head and smiled at him. “I think that sounds pretty awesome.”
Her lips were practically touching his. It would have been a waste not to take advantage of that.
So he did.
* * *
Catherine definitely wanted