Celia and Jeff were heading along the hallway, too, showered and ready to join the others in the little group they had formed.
“Hey, hungry?” Jeff asked, reaching them as the elevator arrived. “I know I’m starving!”
“I must admit, yes, starving,” Wes agreed.
“Men are pathetic!” Celia said. “We’ve barely missed a single meal! And, may I remind you that the brochure about the excursions warned that the dive trip was straight there after breakfast, but back a little late for lunch.”
“A little late!” Wes groaned.
“It’s almost dinner,” Jeff said.
“I think it is dinner, except maybe later we can have a late-night snack. But not too late. I think this is going to be another early night for me. I mean tomorrow, we’re at sea allday. We can sleep late, eat breakfast late, lie around all day—and dance and explore the casino again at night!” Celia said. “And, wow, Chloe, you did so great at that Buffalo game the other night! You could play all night if you wanted!”
Chloe laughed. “Well, as you said, that will be tomorrow night! Being in the water the way we were...” She shrugged. “It tires me out!”
“Physical activity. It will do it every time,” Jeff said. “Hey! Have you heard anything more about Amelia Swenson?”
“No,” Wes lied. “But I did talk to George briefly. Can’t help it, I feel the need to check on Edward and Sally, so... I gave him a call. He just said that they were heading to the restaurant and hung up quickly, so I figured we’ll find out more when we see them.”
“I can’t imagine what Edward is going through. I mean, on the one hand, he’s so crazy about Sally so he must be furious. But he’s also the one who arranged for Amelia to be one of the instructors, speakers, teachers, or whatever we are on this, so...” Jeff murmured, looking at Celia and breaking off.
“He’s got to be upset all around,” Celia said.
“So, the captain questioned her,” Jeff murmured. “Well, I guess we’ll find out!”
They were about to find out, as Jeff said, because when they arrived at the casual restaurant, Edward, George and Sally were already at a table along with Daniel and Broderick and Gina—and Darlene and her father, Bryan, as well. While the tables usually seated ten, Edward had apparently asked for an extra chair so that there was space for them all.
“And I thought we were fast!” Wes said.
They headed over to the table where four seats waited for them.
“Thought you’d never get here!” Broderick said.
“And we thought we were faster than rockets!” Wes told him.
“Don’t let him give you any grief—they’ve been seated for about all of thirty seconds!” Edward told them. He smiled. “But it’s nice, really nice! We’re back together here. Okay, in my mind, the hot dogs are just hot dogs, but the pizza is pretty good.”
“Pizza will work for me,” Chloe offered.
“We can get a bunch of them for the table!” Sally suggested. “Try a few, like the vegetable pizza, the pepperoni pizza... or whatever anyone wants!”
“Sally, you’re doing well?” Celia asked.
“Good as gold, thank you!” Sally assured her. “Though we heard that there was excitement on the dive trip.”
“My fault!” Celia said. “I mean, I meant to be good! But it’s a wreck, it’s fascinating and I don’t get that kind of excitement often! Anyway, I’m pretty sure that Darlene’s hose got compromised while everyone was trying to help me!”
“But it’s all good,” Daniel said. “And... okay, there’s an elephant in this room, or at this table, anyway. Edward—”
“She’s in the brig,” Edward said. “If you’re asking about Amelia, she’s in the brig. She’s screaming and ranting and threatening all kinds of lawsuits—against the ship, the captain, me, you name it! On the one hand, she could be totally innocent, just a nice person trying to do a nice thing. Of course, she claims that she had no idea the chocolate had nuts in it and that she didn’t think she could hurt anyone with a goodwill gesture to a new friend. But! Thankfully, our captain is no fool!”
“True, but... wow. I am stunned, still,” Celia said. “I mean, not really well, but I’ve known Amelia for years. I find it so hard to think that... to think that she would really want to hurt someone!”
“Possibly kill them!” Edward said angrily.
“Eddie!” Sally murmured.
He shook his head. “I could swear she knew that Sally was allergic. And I’m willing to bet she knew that the chocolate had been made with ground nuts.”
