“Sue has a bruise and maybe a cut under her eye. She wouldn’t tell me what caused it,” he said.
“She said she ran into the stand holding the TV in her room.”
“Which is possible.” He studied my face. “But you don’t believe her.”
“I want to. But I had the feeling she did it on purpose so she could see the doctor to find out how Jonathan was.”
“Did she see him?”
“Yes. After we saw Jonathan down, we were worried about the extent of his injuries. Sue insisted we go to the medical center.”
“That seems like extra concern if she and Jonathan had only met,” Gil said, voicing my thoughts.
“A security guard turned us back. They’d only let Jonathan’s family members inside or someone with an emergency. Sue and I went up to our rooms. The next time I saw her, she was hurt.”
“And she’d been to see the doctor,” Gil determined. “She was hurt near enough to her eye so that her wound constituted an emergency. If she’d hit any closer, she could have lost her eye.”
“That’s what your uncle told her.”
“Are you guessing what I am—that she led Jonathan on? He convinced her to come to his stateroom under the impression that she was all woman—but then discovered she wasn’t?”
“I don’t know what to believe. That’s why I wanted to talk to you. Help me sort out what happened and maybe ask your uncle about that type of surgery.”
He rubbed his chin. “After Sue went down there, she learned the injured man was dead, is that correct?” he asked, and I nodded. “Maybe Jonathan had discovered she was still part man and really put her down, crushing her feelings.”
I cringed, determining he would voice the final thing I feared about what had happened between Sue and the man who’d died.
“There you are, Cealie,” said a voice I knew.
I pushed up to my feet. “Sue,” I said with an involuntary shudder.
Chapter 6
I sounded high-pitched to my own ears, saying Sue’s name. I worked to get my tone deeper. “Where are the others? Are we gone from the glaciers?”
“Why? Would I be doing something bad if I stopped watching them?” Sue asked.
Not nearly as bad as what Gil just suggested you might have done.
“Not at all. There will always be glaciers. We hope,” Gil said.
“We’ve moved away from them,” Sue said. “Oh, the rest of the gang is way over there, looking around for us. Let me go get them.” Taller than most, she marched off, waving her hand above the crowds in the hallway.
“I’m going to leave so you can be with your friends,” Gil told me, adding a brief kiss. “I don’t imagine you’d want to come over for a nap after lunch?”
My stern eyes gave the reply.
“Got it. Maybe you’ll feel better this evening. I’ll be in my room before midnight.”
Midnight? Where would he be until then? I wouldn’t ask him, just like I wasn’t going to inquire more about who he’d taken this journey with before.
Sue caught up with the others from my class and pointed toward us, leading the group our way, a huge smile across her face.
Gil leaned closer to me and spoke with a guarded look toward her. “Just be careful. You could be fooling with someone who’s dangerous.”
“Why? What do you think happened?”
“She got thoroughly pissed at that man for making derogatory comments about her sex change and later saw him coming toward the dining hall. With no one else around, she shoved him down the stairs.”
I drew back. Maybe I’d entertained similar thoughts but had nudged them out of my mind. After all, she was my blood relative. She wouldn’t do anything so sinister.
“Talk to your uncle,” I told Gil.
He gave my classmates a wave and strode in the direction opposite from their approach.
Sue stopped. “He didn’t want to be with us?”
“He had an appointment.”
“On a ship?”
“Maybe at the spa, just like you did yesterday,” Jane said.
Sue appeared puzzled. Seconds later her eyes brightened as a realization seemed to dawn. “Right, for my massage.”
“You had a massage? Already?” Randy asked. “Did you come on the ship tense?”
“Doesn’t everybody live with tension?” Sue asked in a snippy tone.
“I don’t. I have a terrific life.” Jane’s smile spread toward her ears. “How about you, Tetter?”
“It’s okay,” she said with a shrug.
“And you seem really happy, Cealie, especially when you and your boyfriend are alone.” Randy cocked up his chin, the idea of what he suggested seeming to appeal to him. He slid his gaze toward Tetter.
She took a step away from him.
“I normally keep a positive attitude,” I said.
“Good. Okay, gang, so what’ll we do now?” Jane asked as though speaking to teens instead of people whose hair was graying beneath the colors. She yanked the ship’s newsletter out of her purse. Unfolding it, she ran a slim finger down the wide sheet. “Let’s see, right now there are golf lessons and a lecture on photography and a line dance class and some other stuff. Let’s go to line dancing. I love to learn new steps.”
“I’m a klutz on my feet,” Tetter said.
“Why don’t we go to different things that interest us?” Sue suggested, and I had an idea she only wanted to get away from us. Why, I didn’t know. But I felt creepy around her now. I probably would until Gil learned some things from his uncle. In the meantime, I felt a need to keep her in sight.
Could she harm someone else? Someone with us?
I shook my head. Had I already found her guilty?
I scanned her upswept hairdo and striking face with too much makeup that no longer covered the purplish-yellow bruise, and her low-cut neckline. A plastic surgeon had given her double-D cups. I checked out my own breasts. Maybe sufficient, but making a dash toward my waist. I could possibly speak with her surgeon. Her knit dress was clingy and her heels extra high.
I didn’t look forward to dancing now but did want to stay close to Tetter. Something was definitely troubling her. She was no longer the vivacious teenager, but even if she was much older, she should still display some of the attributes she’d had. Now her eyes appeared haunted. So far during this trip she hadn’t exuded one ounce of cheer.
If I remained around her, she would know I still considered her a good friend and should confide in me once the time was right.
Tetter, Randy, Sue, and I followed Jane to the Broadcast Lounge. The twang of country music filled the room. The stage area was nearly filled with women. Many spectators sat. Most on the dance floor clumsily missed steps to a line dance.
The song ended. Dancers rested a moment, most staying where they were.
“Let’s go,” Jane said and headed for the stage.
Randy smiled, walking behind her.
Sue sat at a small empty table. “I’m not going up there.”
“It’ll be fun. Come on. We’ll all do it,” I said.
Tetter took a chair beside Sue. “Not me. I don’t dance.”
“I’m not much of a dancer, either,” I said, torn between what I should do now.
“But you said it would be fun, so don’t let us stop you. We’ll watch,” Tetter said.
I didn’t need people I knew watching me make a fool out of myself on a dance floor, but I’d put myself in this position. And this would certainly not be the first or last time I’d make a fool of myself.
“Okay, everyone,” said a young man in a ship’s uniform, “now we’re going to do The Tush Push. We’ll show you how first and then we’ll all do the steps together.”
A lively country song played. Three vibrant crewmembers pushed their tushes, along with other clever moves.
“Now y’all are going to do it. This is simple.” The leader had us mimic a couple of fairly easy steps. “And here you’ll put your right foot forward and sway back and forth, pushing your little tushes.”
“
His
tush might be little,” I told Jane. “But he hasn’t checked out mine.”
“Yours isn’t so big.” Randy laid his hand on my butt and squeezed.
“Uh-uh,” I said, twisting away. Maybe he wanted to flatter me, but my instinct was to slap his face.
Instead, I moved away from him, to the opposite side of Jane. I spied Tetter keeping an intent gaze at us.
Our instructor showed steps and had us practice without music. I became doubly ill at ease, not catching on to the steps while trying to avoid Randy, even shifting back when it wasn’t time to so I’d keep him out of my peripheral vision.
Everyone tried The Tush Push with music. I didn’t push my tush in the correct places and missed some steps, but Jane appeared to get the entire dance right.
“How did you like it?” she asked as we left the stage.
“It was okay.” I rushed ahead, not wanting to face Randy. I could only look at him with anger.
Sue stared at me. “One of you should have stayed sitting with us.”
Anger made me want to lash out at her verbally. She was right, but I was already annoyed with Randy. I sucked in a breath and blew out a loud exhale. “I’m going to do something else.” I kept going, out of the room.
In the wide hallway, I breathed easier, less apt to swing at any one of my
friends.
“It’s time for lunch. Let’s do buffet.” Jane caught up with me, followed by the others. She gave me a friendly wink. “I already knew that dance step.”
I responded with all I could give, a smile so tight it made my teeth hurt.
Sue and Randy conversed while Tetter remained silent behind us. We walked the halls, took an elevator, and finally arrived on the Lido Deck.
My mind carried me back to this area during the safety drill. I pictured where Sue and I had stood until I’d seen that bride in her strapless gown. And I’d spoken to her and the groom, congratulating them. It hadn’t seemed long before I returned to my previous spot that Sue had also left. I glanced across the nearly empty pool deck now. Yesterday it had been crowded with people and their life jackets. And I’d searched for Sue and found her with Jonathan. In that short time, they’d appeared taken with each other. If I hadn’t known their encounter was so brief, I would have believed they were a couple.
Soon afterward, Jonathan died.
“Cealie, are you okay?” Sue bumped into my backside. “Sorry, I was looking away and ran into you. You were just standing there.”
“Are you feeling all right, Cealie?” Tetter asked, concern in her eyes.
“I’m great. I was just looking at those young people in their bathing suits,” I said, not wanting to mention the thoughts distracting me. We ambled beside an enticing royal blue enclosed heated pool, each corner guarded by ten-foot gilded seahorses.
“Look, Cajun food.” Jane reached the buffet decorated with fishing nets and plastic crayfish and crabs.
“My gosh, look at all the choices.” Tetter was speaking a little more than she had earlier, maybe starting to feel trustful of us.
With some oohing from Jane, we meandered around, picking up items. Most of us chose at least one type of salmon to go along with other dishes.
“Your friend’s chef probably fixed those Cajun foods,” Jane said. “Those red beans look tempting. And the corn bread. I’m going to get some.”
“I guess they have red beans and sausage because it’s Monday,” I said.
“You know that because of Gil,” Tetter guessed with a brief smile, and I nodded.
Like we had done in school, we all lined up with trays and chose items. I took squash smothered with onions and bell pepper, and red beans over rice.
“Look at this.” Randy used tongs to hold up a sizable length of smoked sausage. “Nice, huh?” With a grin, he held it toward Tetter, who turned away, and Sue, staring at him without a smile.
Yanking my tray backward, I shoved my elbow into Randy’s ribs.
He yowled and dropped the sausage. It rolled behind the counter.
“Sorry,” I said.
He chose a smaller sausage link without comment.
What had he been doing, acting like a young teenage boy with the big sausage thing aimed at Tetter? And when he held it up to Sue, he’d certainly been suggesting that, as Stu, she’d once had a penis. Maybe she still had one.
My anger flared at Randy. And at myself. He had no business hinting to Sue about her surgery, and I’d had no business sharing her personal history.
Sue rushed ahead and set her tray on the table. “Did y’all get lost?” she asked as we neared.
“Randy lost his sausage,” I said. “He needed to find one that was more his size.”
Jane grinned at him. I didn’t look but did not imagine he grinned in return.
My thoughts and discussion about men and their private parts needed to go. There were too many other wonderful things to think about, I considered, using positive self-talk instead of allowing negative vibes to sink in.
All from our group set down their trays. I took drink orders from Sue and Tetter. Jane came with me to get them. “Oh, look who’s over there,” she said.
I knew it had to be Gil.
He sat alone, sipping water, his plate almost emptied.
Jane nudged me. “Go with him.”
“That’s okay. I’m with all of you.”
“You know you want to.”
“I’m not too happy with him,” I said, the eye contact with Gil working away my resolve. “But maybe I’ll go for just a little while.” Actually, we hadn’t left each other long ago, and I doubted he’d learned anything from his uncle yet. But maybe he had.
I again wondered who he had already seen Alaska with.
I carried drinks to my classmates. “I’m going to talk to Gil. I’ll be right back.” I lifted my tray.
“Don’t hurry,” Tetter said. Pink dots colored her cheeks. “I mean you don’t have to. Just do—whatever.”
I strode to Gil’s table without meeting his gaze and sat across from him. He removed my salad dish from my tray and set it at my place. “Hi, how are you?” he asked, making me look at him.
Direct eye contact gave me a shiver of excitement. His magnetism enticed me. But I was woman. I could avoid him.
I can do anything—alone
, I reminded myself, knowing I needed control to keep from making love with him.
He watched my eyes. His eyes smoldered with sensuality, making me want him.
Or wait—was that look in his eye confidence? Gil, knowing what he wanted, and that he’d get it—whether
it
became a business venture, or me.