“I’m Dotty, and this is Minnie, and that one over there eyeing every single man on the ship is Sookie. Glad to meet you, Ava.”
Ava smiled, but it didn’t reach her emerald-green eyes. “I won’t challenge Sookie for any of the guys on this ship—or in the world for that matter. I’m done with all of them.”
“That’s good,” Sookie said, “because with your looks, I wouldn’t stand a chance if you set your sights on one of them.”
Ava raised her can of beer. “Thank you for that. You’ve made my day. Is this your first cruise?”
“Oh no, honey, we’re snowbirds with green cards,” Dotty answered.
“What’s that?” Ava asked.
“It means we live on cruise ships, and after so many trips, we got a green card saying we are residents,” Minnie told her.
“That’s the short form of it anyway,” Sookie said. “Is this your first cruise?”
Ava nodded. “I’m supposed to be here celebrating my fifth anniversary with my husband, but we’re taking some time apart. I decided to come on the cruise anyway.”
“Getting away from the forest so you can see the trees?” Minnie asked.
“Yep, and I shouldn’t be unloading on y’all,” Ava said.
“Darlin’,” Minnie said with a broad smile, “it’s easier to unload on three old women than anyone else…”
“Oh! My! Goodness!” Ava had to swallow fast to keep from choking on a swallow of beer.
“Are you okay?” Dotty asked.
“I’m not sure,” Ava shook her head and continued to stare across the deck. “That’s my husband over there in the white shorts and blue shirt. I arranged this cruise to celebrate our fifth anniversary. I spent the night of our anniversary alone until about midnight because he had an important business event. He sent roses, but I’m sure he had his secretary call the florist. When I gavehim my gift of this cruise, he said that he couldn’t take a week off work. The next day I moved out of our house into a hotel.” She shook her head. “And yet, here he is. I wonder why he’s even here.”
Dotty, Minnie, and Sookie followed Ava’s gaze. She was nodding toward Mr. Tall, Dark, and Lonesome.
“I still love him even if he has broken my heart,” Ava said with a sigh.
Dotty caught Minnie and Sookie’s eyes. They had helped get lots and lots of relationships started, but not one time had they ever put one that was on the rocks back together. They smiled at one another, without a word, and accepted the challenge. With slight nods, they began to plan their next matchmaking job on this cruise.
Chapter 2
According to the brochures Ava had almost memorized back when she was planning the trip as an anniversary present, there were about three thousand people on the ship. That meant it shouldn’t be all that difficult to avoid Vince for a week. She had managed to avoid him for days on end in their two-story brick home in the suburbs of Dallas, and that house was a whole lot smaller than the big cruise ship. Of course, he had probably been avoiding her, too.
If he would just wake up and think about the dreams and hopes they’d shared in the beginning of their relationship, she’d walk—no, she would run—right back into his arms.
She picked up the phone and started to order breakfast brought to her room but put it down before anyone answered. She would not hide in her cabin or even pass the whole week sitting on the balcony. With a workaholic husband, she was used to eating alone, but she didn’t intend to do so on this cruise. No, sir! She was going to the dining room, loading up her plate with allkinds of wonderful breakfast foods, and sitting among people. Maybe those sweet little old ladies she’d met at the launch party the evening before would be in the dining room, and she could visit with them a little more.
She dressed in white capris and a cute little hot-pink halter top, slipped her feet into a pair of pink-and-white polka-dotted flip-flops, and pulled her red hair up into a messy bun on top of her head. She didn’t bother with makeup because when she finished eating, she planned to claim a chaise on the top deck and get some sun. Within thirty minutes, she would sweat off any makeup and every one of her dozens of freckles would shine forth like stars in a dark sky anyway.
She took the stairs rather than the elevator, since passing Vince going up to the lido deck would be easier than getting stuck with him in a tiny cubicle. Walking into the dining hall, she smiled when she noticed all three ladies waving at her and pointing to the fourth chair at their table. Her mood lifted, and she forgot about the problems she and Vince had for a few seconds as she made her way around other tables full of people and sat down in the empty chair. She loved him too much to put him completely out of her mind. That was just a fact.
“Y’all are so sweet to invite me to join you,” Ava said.
“Anytime, honey,” Sookie answered and then lowered her voice. “You’re doing me a big favor by sitting with us. There’s an elderly gentleman who’s been flirtingwith me—God love his soul—and although I appreciate the fact that he finds me beautiful, I’m just not interested in a relationship with some old guy who I’d have to take care of later in life.”
“And besides all that, if she got all tangled up with Henry, she would be thinking about putting down roots instead of using her wings to fly,” Dotty said. “We made a pact when we left our homes behind that we wouldn’t let a man come between us.”
“Like that old song says about ‘Lord help the mister who comes between me and my sister,’” Sookie said. “We are closer than any blood sisters could ever be. We’ve helped each other through tears, fears, marriages, PMS, menopause, joys, and sorrows.”
Ava thought of her blood sister. They hadn’t done anything but argue and bicker their whole lives. “I see,” she said with a nod. “But what’s all that got to do with me sitting at the table?”
Dotty patted her on the shoulder. “It’s like this on a ship, darlin’. If there’s an empty chair at a table, it’s impolite to tell someone they can’t sit in it, so when you join us, you are really helping us old ladies out.”
