“I used to feel the same way,” Drew mused. “Especially when things with Emilia got dicey. But through it all, I knew deep down that my world was better with her in it.”
“And someday I’ll tell you all about how I nearly lost your mother before I even had her,” our father said, wearing a sad smile. “But right now our focus is on you. I don’t know how many different ways we can say it: you need to fix what you broke. It’s the only way you and Noah will ever be truly happy. Yeah, relationships can be a rollercoaster ride, but in the end, love is what makes life worthwhile.”
The three of them stared at me like they were waiting for me to jump up and track Nina down no matter where she was, rom-com style. But that wasn’t me.
At least not yet.
But the intervention sort of worked, because suddenly all I could think about was a breathless reunion at an airport, or on top of a skyscraper.
“Well?” Harrison demanded. “Are you going to say anything?”
I shook my head as I stood up. “Nope. I’m going todosomething.”
29
NINA
“You okay?” Ashley asked me, eyeing the stain on my uniform shirt.
“Another day in paradise,” I laughed as I plucked at it.
I was happy to be back on board, back to work with hordes of sticky little people who made life messy and fun, but the echoes of Noah and Logan were all around me, and the reminders made it hard to stay focused on the work of keeping kids happy.
“Do you want to run and change?” She wrinkled her nose. “Because itreallylooks like someone disemboweled you.”
I glanced down at the red paint splattered on my white golf shirt, a mistake at the intersection of kids on a sugar high plus jugs of poster paint. The little boy had tripped carrying a container with a loose lid, and I was wearing the consequences.
Going back to work was awkward at first since everyone knew about the speed-run love affair and surprise breakup between me and Logan. Or rather, they knew the official version as sanitized by the Ashford PR machine.
The story they were pushing was that it had been a whirlwind romance, followed by a quickie wedding, and then a few months of bliss before the slow realization that we were better off as friends. The PR department had obviously branched out into selling fiction.
Too bad no one seemed to be buying it. I’d been pulled aside during my first few days on board to field my colleagues’ whispered questions about whatreallywent down between us. If nothing else, at least I was getting better at keeping a bland expression plastered on my face as I lied.
Logan’s a great guy! We’re in a good place now!
Noah is making incredible progress!
It’s for the best; we’re still close friends!
But it wasn’t like I could tell the truth and say that Logan Ashford was a selfish, hot-headed asshole who didn’t know how to love.
Wait, that wasn’t true, because he definitely knew how to love his son. It didn’t matter how bumpy things got between them, the love they shared was never in question.
The problem was that he didn’t know how to hand over his heart tome.
Ashley waved her hand in front of my face. “Um, hello? Are you still with us? Your shirt…”
I laughed to cover for the fact that I’d spaced out. I’d been doing it plenty lately.
“Nah, I can keep it on. The day is basically over,” I shrugged. “It’ll make for a good story when the parents arrive for pickup.”
We leaned against the wall and gazed out at the young cruisers who were finally focused on creating their own sea creatures for the mural collage we were creating.
“You okay? First voyage post…everything,” Ashley asked me, frowning.
I nodded quickly and tried to arrange my face in a nonchalant expression. “All good. Why? Do I not seem like myself?”
“You seem perfect, but I know better. You’re an excellent actor.” She studied me with clear concern.
