Caribbean Cruising Read online

  CARIBBEAN CRUISING

  Rachel Hawthorne

  FOR THERESA

  THANKS FOR ALWAYS BEING THERE

  Contents

  CHAPTER 1

  “I can’t believe it! Everything is totally amazing!”

  CHAPTER 2

  Leaving Julie at the pool, I headed for the ship’s…

  CHAPTER 3

  After my French manicure dried, I gave Mom a quick…

  CHAPTER 4

  “Miss Darnell?”

  CHAPTER 5

  “More champagne?”

  CHAPTER 6

  The next morning was supposed to be the beginning of…

  CHAPTER 7

  After slathering on suntan lotion, I settled back into the…

  CHAPTER 8

  It was called a “Four Hands Muscle Melt.”

  CHAPTER 9

  The Eiffel Tower was an upscale, swank restaurant where I…

  CHAPTER 10

  Cruisin’ was a happening place. Colored spotlights roamed over the…

  CHAPTER 11

  I’d spent my life sleeping in bed alone in a…

  CHAPTER 12

  We docked at Charlotte Amalie in the Virgin Islands. From…

  CHAPTER 13

  Ryan kissed me.

  CHAPTER 14

  Our walk along the shoreline left a lot to be.

  CHAPTER 15

  Brooke had said that she liked to bring the party…

  CHAPTER 16

  I wasn’t what I’d call nervous. The butterflies fluttering beneath…

  CHAPTER 17

  Tonight isn’t a date.

  CHAPTER 18

  I woke up the next morning, and contemplated the wisdom…

  CHAPTER 19

  We stood on the sandy beach, looking at the breathtaking…

  CHAPTER 20

  It was cold, cold, cold!

  CHAPTER 21

  “I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m new on this…

  CHAPTER 22

  The next morning I began my day by blading along…

  CHAPTER 23

  Jake’s excursion group was the same group that he’d had…

  CHAPTER 24

  Like so many tourists, we all went to Hell simply…

  CHAPTER 25

  I was pacing in my cabin, trying not to be…

  CHAPTER 26

  The sparkling emerald water of Cozumel was exactly what I…

  CHAPTER 27

  It could get worse. Or at least that’s what I…

  CHAPTER 28

  There was something old-fashioned and leisurely about riding horseback through…

  CHAPTER 29

  Wearing swim trunks and a muscle shirt, Ryan showed up…

  CHAPTER 30

  The last day and night of the cruise were insane,…

  CHAPTER 31

  The next morning I went down to the pool. Brooke…

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  COPYRIGHT

  ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

  CHAPTER 1

  The Enchantment

  Night One

  “I can’t believe it! Everything is totally amazing!”

  I couldn’t believe it either as Julie Barnes and I gazed around one of the atriums of The Enchantment. The name suited this ship. I was definitely enchanted. It was huge and luxurious. I figured it would take all ten nights of the cruise simply to walk from one end of the ship to the other.

  “Come on,” I said, nudging Julie’s arm. “Let’s check out my cabin.”

  Julie was my best friend. Like me, she had blond hair. But her eyes were blue, while mine were green. And she was a little shorter than me, which meant she had a difficult time keeping pace when I was in a hurry like I was in now. I just wanted to see everything as quickly as possible. There was so much to take in. My time here would be short, and I didn’t want to waste a single minute.

  “Slow down, Lindsay,” Julie ordered. “Your cabin’s not going anywhere.”

  No, it wasn’t, but I was anxious to see it, to get settled in. Still, I did slow down as we walked along a wide corridor, which closely resembled a boulevard. Stores and restaurants lined both sides. Plants, statuettes, artwork, festive lights, and a domed ceiling created an openness that I hadn’t expected within a ship. It was like touring a gigantic mall—one of my favorite places to hang out. With so many people mingling around, it was like a bustling city floating on the ocean. I was a little overwhelmed by the crowds and the vastness of the ship.

  “It’s just not fair that I have to work and can’t go on this cruise with you,” Julie lamented.

  Those words had become Julie’s mantra ever since I’d told her that I was going on my trip.

  “I’d give anything if you could come,” I said. We’d shared everything since kindergarten. I couldn’t imagine not sharing this too.

  “I know. You have to send me a postcard from every port,” she commanded.

  “I will. I promise.”

  “And since you are so into making lists, I expect a report listing all the yummy details about every guy you meet.”

  I laughed. I was a little obsessed with lists. I liked organization and had compiled several different lists as soon as I found out I was going on a cruise—everything I needed to buy before I came onboard, all the items I needed to pack, and everything I planned to do while I was on this cruise.

  “Maybe I’ll just send you a list of their names. I’m hoping there will be so many that I won’t have room on the postcards to tell you about all of them.”

  “That’s a definite possibility,” she said. “Have you ever seen so many cuties in one place?”

  “Nope.” From the moment I’d checked in and we’d started our quick tour of the ship, I’d seen at least a dozen guys who I thought I’d like to get to know better. Each one was smiling, laughing, or talking with someone.

  “I think it is so romantic that Walter is going to marry your mom on a cruise ship,” Julie said.

  “He’s definitely gone all out.”

  Walter Hunt was quiet and reserved, but when he spoke, people listened and did as he asked. Mostly because his name appeared on a famous list of the top one hundred wealthiest people in the world.

  Hence the cruise. A special honeymoon for him and his new bride—who just happened to be my mom—and anyone else who wanted to tag along. Of which I was undeniably one.

  They say that most people are introduced by a friend to the person they’ll marry. That’s how Mom met Walter. She was attending a friend’s funeral. Her friend had worked for Walter’s company so Walter had gone to the funeral as well. He and Mom met, hit it off, and now my life was on the verge of changing forever in ways that I’d never really anticipated. And truthfully, it’s something I was having a hard time comprehending. For as long as I could remember, it had always been just me and Mom. Now it would be me, Mom, and Walter.

  Still, Walter was nice and I liked him. I thought he’d be good for my mom. I was heading off to the University of Texas in the fall, and I’d been a little worried about Mom dealing with the empty nest. So I was definitely in favor of her marrying Walter.

  And I was going to be a bridesmaid for the first time in my life. I had no doubt that I was embarking on a summer of firsts. And I planned for most of them to take place on this cruise.

  I didn’t think most cruise ships allowed wedding guests onboard, but Walter had made special arrangements so he and Mom could have their friends and family attend the wedding. He’d reserved the top deck for the ceremony. At midnight we’d have our official bon voyage and prepare to leave the port of Galveston. The guests would depart, and the ship would sail away into the night toward the Caribbean.

  “I can’t believe yo
u are going to spend ten nights on this ship. Did you see all the stores we just passed on that boulevard?” Julie asked.

  “I know. It’s like a fancy mall or something. Plus there are lots of little shops on the islands. They’re supposed to have some great bargains. Good thing I’ve been saving all my paychecks.”

  While Julie tore ticket stubs at our mall’s movie theater, I worked in the concession stand. Sometimes I thought I’d never eat another bag of buttered popcorn in my entire life. Just the aroma of buttered popcorn made me lose my appetite.

  Julie glanced over at me. “If you run out of money, I’m sure Wealthy Walter will buy you anything you want.”

  “Yeah, but I’m not totally cool with that,” I confessed. “I mean I know he’s marrying my mom, and after tonight, he’ll be like…my dad, but I’m a little old to be needing a dad now.”

  My real dad had been killed in a car accident when I was three. I was too young to really have any memories of him, which makes me sad sometimes. I know it seems strange to miss someone I’d barely known, but I often did.

  “I don’t know why you’re bothered about spending Walter’s money,” Julie said. “I’d spend it in a flash.”

  I couldn’t explain the reason I wasn’t comfortable asking Walter for money. He was paying for the cruise. He’d given me a special credit card to use whenever I purchased anything onboard the ship: food, drinks, souvenirs, whatever I wanted. He was paying the bill when the trip was over. Even though I knew he could afford it, I didn’t want to take advantage of him.

  Julie and I stepped onto the glass-enclosed elevator. Before the door closed, three guys about our age joined us. They grinned at us, we smiled at them. I punched the button for the floor—correction, for the deck—where my cabin was.

  “The fancy deck,” one of the guys said as he leaned over and punched a button for a deck two below mine. “First cruise?”

  I cast a glance over at Julie, then nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Us too.” He broadened his grin and winked.

  “So far, so good.”

  The elevator stopped. “See you around,” he said as he and his friends got off.

  As soon as the door closed, Julie squeezed my arm. “He was flirting with you!”

  I shook my head. “No way! He was just being nice.”

  She groaned. “No, he wasn’t. Lindsay, you should have given him your name, shown more interest. If you want this to be the best time ever, you’ve got to stop being so shy around guys.”

  “I will. As soon as we leave port,” I insisted. I’d dated a few boys in high school, but I’d never been serious about anyone. I’d spent most of my time studying, and I’d been rewarded by graduating in the top of my class.

  Julie, on the other hand, had always been comfortable around guys. Probably because she had three brothers. She also had a steady boyfriend—Ben.

  I saw this cruise as my opportunity to break out of my shell, to meet guys and flirt and prepare myself for dating in college.

  I wanted to go places I’d never gone. And I didn’t simply mean traveling to islands. I wanted to explore all the different facets of myself…and boys. I wanted to cut loose and do things that I’d never done.

  The cruise seemed the perfect place to try new things, because even if I made a fool of myself, I’d never see any of these people again so it didn’t really matter if I made mistakes. I could be wild and crazy. I could be uninhibited, stretching the limits, taking chances, completing my list of firsts. And no one would know that wild and crazy wasn’t the real Lindsay Darnell.

  The elevator stopped. As I stepped out, I shifted my backpack on my shoulder and pulled one of my small wheeled suitcases behind me while Julie dragged the other along with her duffle bag.

  With plans to meet up later, Mom and I had parted ways right after we came onboard and checked in. Mom and Walter were staying in a honeymoon suite. I had their cabin number and could find them if I needed to, but I certainly had no plans to go searching for them. It creeped me out a little to think of my mom on her honeymoon.

  “It is too cool that you’re going to have a cabin all to yourself,” Julie said. “You can do anything you want and your mom will never know!”

  Those were my thoughts exactly. I had a feeling this new Cruising Lindsay was going to do some things that Mom definitely wouldn’t approve of.

  “I think Walter made special arrangements,” I explained. More examples of his power to pull strings. From the research that I’d done on cruise ships, Walter and Mom were supposed to stay in a cabin beside mine since I was eighteen. Twenty-one was the magical age for solo cruising.

  I wasn’t really certain how Walter bypassed that totally old-school “not without adult supervision” restriction. He probably pulled some strings or something. For all I knew, he owned this cruise line. Whatever it was Walter did, I was glad he had done it.

  Since Mom had always worked, I’d grown up fast and had acted responsibly for as long as I could remember. I never got into trouble, always did my homework, and as soon as I’d gotten a driver’s license, I’d taken on a part-time job at the movie theater. So I really didn’t think I needed anyone to watch over me on the cruise ship.

  Walter apparently felt the same way. He had managed to accomplish the impossible, and that was all that mattered to me. With the ship being as large as it was, once my obligations regarding tonight were over, I might never see Mom or Walter again. It was all going to be perfect. Except I did wish Julie was coming with me.

  I reached the door to my cabin and pulled my keycard out of my pocket. I slipped it into the slot, cranked down the handle, and swung open the door.

  My first thought was that I’d somehow mistakenly gotten the key to Mom’s suite. My second thought was that Walter had spared no expense to see that I was comfortable. My cabin had a king-sized bed, a large sitting area, and an awesome ocean view. Or at least it would be, once we were surrounded by nothing but ocean.

  I pulled my suitcase into the cabin. “Julie, is this cabin not absolutely incredible?”

  “A small family could live in here,” she said.

  “I thought rooms onboard ships were supposed to be tiny.”

  “I’m sure there are some tiny rooms somewhere,” I admitted. “Mine simply isn’t one of them.”

  “I bet this room cost a fortune.”

  “You know, Walter is more than money,” I reminded her.

  “I know, but geez, Lindsay, it’s like you’re moving into a totally different world.”

  I heard in her voice that she thought maybe it was a world away from her. As soon as we returned from the cruise, Mom and I would live at Walter’s house. I’d have a big bedroom there too.

  “You’ll always be my best friend, Julie,” I said softly.

  “I know. I just wish I was going with you.” She laughed. “I keep saying that, don’t I?”

  “Yeah, you do. And I keep saying that I wish you were coming too.”

  “But I’m not, and I need to accept that. Although I will totally take advantage of the few hours I’ll be onboard. I’m going to hit the pool as soon as possible. Hey! Look at this! You’ve got a minibar. Can we have one of these tiny bottles of wine?”

  “Sure. Have anything that you want. Drinking age is eighteen on the ship.”

  “Cool! What about gambling?”

  “Nope. You have to be twenty-one to get into the casinos.”

  “That’s weird—they’d lower the drinking age but not the gambling age?”

  “Maybe they think kids will get into more trouble gambling than drinking.” Although I didn’t know if that was possible. It seemed to me that drinking was the more dangerous vice.

  I shrugged off my backpack and walked across the cabin. I unlocked the glass door, slid it open, and stepped onto the balcony. I felt the breeze and smelled the ocean.

  I glanced around. Apparently no one was above me. Around me all the cabins on this level had balconies, each separated from one another by a
waist-high wall that offered a little privacy. I could sit out here with a good book and be alone in my little world.

  No! I chastised myself. That’s what I’d do if I were at home. Here, I needed to be hanging around the pool, meeting guys, being completely different from my normal boring self.

  Julie joined me on the balcony.

  “Is this not great?” I asked.

  “Absolutely.” Julie handed me a tiny bottle of wine. “I want to make a toast.”

  “There’s probably glasses somewhere in there.”

  “Nah, this’ll do,” she said. She lifted her bottle. “Here’s hoping you have the best time of your life!”

  “I’ll drink to that!”

  I clinked my bottle against hers. This vacation was going to be perfect. I knew it without a doubt, because I was leaving nothing to chance. I’d made a list of all the things I needed to do in order to have a great time:

  + Soak up the rays.

  + Shop until I drop.

  + Drink margaritas by the pitcher.

  + Dance all night.

  + Climb a waterfall.

  + Snorkel.

  + Kiss a lot of cute guys.

  + Sleep with a guy for the first time.

  CHAPTER 2

  Leaving Julie at the pool, I headed for the ship’s salon where Mom and I had agreed to meet. We were going all out: manicure, pedicure, facial, makeup, hair. Why not start the cruise being as beautiful as possible? Especially since tonight would be so momentous for Mom, and the start of an incredible adventure for me.

  With my list of things to accomplish while I was on this cruise, I knew I was being ambitious by trying to cram a lot of excitement into a few days. But I just felt like this cruise was the chance of a lifetime, arriving at the most perfect moment. I’d just graduated from high school and closed the door on that part of life.