He nodded and shoved a sketchpad I’d never seen before into the pack. He’d always enjoyed drawing, but this trip had sent his love of art into overdrive.
We set off for the main dining room.
“So when we get back to port, Miss Nina will be coming home with us?” Noah asked as he skipped beside me. His tone was excited—louder than I’d like it to be.
I cleared my throat and glanced around the hall even though I knew there was no chance anyone was near. Still, I had to find a way to redirect Noah’s questions without adding fuel to the marriage fire.
“Noey,” I began. “Remember what we just talked about? That this is just between the three of us?”
I was inching closer to telling him to keep secrets.
“Uh-huh!”
“Well, that means we need to, uh, not talk about it outside of our cabin. We can say everything we want when we’re in our rooms, but once we step outside, we shouldn’t talk about that, okay? It’s private—just for us.”
“Okay!”
I had a feeling that he wasn’t processing what I was telling him, and my stomach tensed. Loose lips sunk ships, and in this case, Noah spilling the news about our accidental marriage could sink our entire fleet. The future of Ashford Cruises rested on my son’s tiny shoulders.
We arrived at the busy dining room, and as usual, I was greeted by smiles, handshakes, and compliments from our cruisers. Being very present was part of the deal on launch cruises. My introverted nature had to take a backseat while Showman Logan took over.
Having Noah along was an added benefit today, now that he seemed to be back to the previous version of himself—the sunny, happy-go-lucky boy who was delighted to welcome adventures.
I had a feeling I knew exactly why his mood was so bubbly, and it made me preemptively worried.
He’d dealt with so much change over the last few months, and now this Nina-shaped monkey wrench was yet another hurdle I’d have to help him get past. I just hoped he wouldn’t be brought low again when the inevitable dissolution of marriage camethrough. I was counting on Nina giving me some talking points to help soften the blow.
But I could already tell he wasn’t going to take it well.
Noah hopped into his seat at our table. “Let’s eat fast! I wanna get to the Kids’ Club so I can talk to Miss Nina about,” he stopped talking to glance around, then lowered his voice, “thethingy. You know what I mean, right?”
Noah wiggled his eyebrows at me, and I would’ve laughed if I hadn’t been so worried about him accidentally spilling the news.
I took my seat beside him. “Yes, I do know what you mean. But remember what we just talked about, on the way down to breakfast? About our cabin?”
We were interrupted when a server came over to deliver Noah’s usual orange juice. Noah grinned up at him. “I want strawberry Danish, please! And chocolate babka!”
The server chuckled and shot a look at me. “Is that okay with you, Mr. Ashford?”
“That’s a lot of sugar, buddy,” I cautioned.
“But it’svacation,” he whined. “You said the rules are different, and I can have as much fun as I want, no matter what.”
Ihadsaid that, in a moment of desperation when he was breaking down the night before the trip. It was hard to pump the brakes now that we were in the middle of it, even though I could already hear my housekeeper, Josie, scolding me for encouraging bad eating habits.
“Fine, but once we get home, you’re going back to healthy stuff, okay? You’ll have to eat whatever Josie makes.”
The server gave a nod. “Good compromise. Strawberry Danish and babka, coming right up! And for you, sir?”
My stomach was macramé at this point. “Just coffee, thank you.”
“You can have some of mine,” Noah offered.
I smiled at my son.Thiswas the child I knew. Sweet, generous, loving.
Deep down I knew that I had Nina to thank for a lot of the shift.
An older couple I recognized from the opening night party stopped by our table. They’d brought their son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter along, and they were the exact type of passengers I knew I could make repeat cruisers on our other vessels, so I mustered up my brightest smile.
