“I hope you’re right.”She gave her husband a quick peck on the cheek, then turned to us, shooing with one hand.“You guys go, get ready, shower, have fun...whatever.I don’t want to be the party pooper.”
I smiled.“There’s no party you could ever poop.”
Pippa poked her head out of her sliding glass door, her eyes wide and eager.“We could properly explore the upper decks before dinner.”
“Good plan,” I agreed.
“I’m up for it,” Ezra said.
“Great!”Pippa clapped her hands.“Jordy and I will meet you guys out in the hall.”
“I can’t believeI’m on a cruise,” Jordy said as we walked along the rail of the Lido deck.“I honestly never had it on my bucket list, but until a few years ago, my only bucket list item was to never get high again.”I knew he was only semi-joking.The man worked hard on his sobriety.He even held NA meetings after hours in his coffee shop.
“I’ve always wanted to try one,” Ezra told him.“A cruise, not getting high.”He chuckled.“But I’ve never had a reason to do it.”He glanced at me.“Glad I have one now.”
Jordy grinned as his eyes lit up.“This is like a second honeymoon for us.
Pippa flashed him with a dazzling smile.“Every day with you is a honeymoon.”
He laughed.“Oh, yeah.I’m a real picnic.”His long hair was up in a double-braided man bun.It made him look like a Viking preparing for battle.He had the height and the muscle to go with the hair.Although I’d noticed since baby number two, Jordy had started to get a little bit of a dad bod.Pippa had told me the extra girth made her husband even more handsome.
Pippa elbowed him.“I’m happy.”
He gave her a crooked smile.“That’s all I ever want.”
Ezra’s hand slipped into mine.“I’m happy, too.”
The wind whipped my hair into my face before I could respond, and a noise of surprise squeaked out of my throat at the powerful gust.Ezra tugged me against him and held me until my feet were steady beneath me.“Wow, that was something else.”
“Do you think a storm is blowing in?”Pippa asked.
“There’s a few dark clouds out,” Ezra said, pointing at the horizon.“Hopefully, it won’t amount to anything.”
“They weren’t calling for storms when we left port,” Jordy added.“We are moving fast through the ocean.I’m sure the wind kicks up everything now and then.”
“You’re probably right.”We continued on our way, weaving in and out of other passenger’s paths as we passed the pool area.I recognized a familiar face lounging on a deck chair.“Hey, that’s our neighbor, Callie.”I looked around and didn’t see her husband.“I guess Sebastian stayed in the room.”
“What are you talking about,” Pippa whispered.“That’s him right there in the deck chair next to her.”
I glanced over, trying not to gawk at the older man in the straw hat, wearing zinc sunscreen on his nose.His skin was a jaundiced orange, his legs skinny, and his stomach had the tale-tell pooch of someone who’d pickled his liver.
I shook my head.“That’s not her husband.”
“It’s Sebastian Caldwell,” Pippa argued.“I watched Callie’s entire season after we listened to the podcast.I’d recognize his bad spray tan anywhere.”
I gave Ezra a pointed look.“Am I crazy?”
“Nope.”He arched a brow.“Definitely not the guy she was hanging out with in the perfume shop.”
“She was with another man?”Pippa’s eyes went wide.“Why am I just hearing about this now?”
“Because until now, I thought it was her husband,” I replied.“I didn’t know there was anything to tell.”
“Holy crap,” she rasped.“She’s cheating on her husband.”
Jordy added, “The way he was talking to her, you can hardly blame her.”
Pippa rubbed her hands eagerly.“Do you think she met the man today, or did her lover book a trip to be with her?”
