Deadly Reunion (19 page)

“You did a great job of shopping,” I said.

He beamed, closing his bag almost reverently. “They’re my joy.”

“I understand. We can love them and send them home without all of the responsibility we had when their parents were little.”

He nodded and glanced around. “Have you seen Tetter? Or Jane?”

“I guess they’re watching the performance unless they decided to see it later.”

His brow creased. He took on a pensive look, like he was trying to decide where to go. And search for Tetter, I imagined.

“I was heading for the Lido Deck,” I said, slipping my left fingernails into my right palm and pinching. Lies like this came too easily. I had no idea where I’d been heading. “How about joining me?”

His creases deepened, definitely not a sign that he wanted to come with me.

But I wanted to question him. What in the hell was he doing with Tetter during this trip? Had he created her major problem?

“I could use some help getting around up there.” My lie slipped out as effortlessly as hair spray from an aerosol can. The only positive about these fibs was I was sorry I told them. Darn, I wished I could be flawless.

Randy appeared deeper in thought. He needed a nudge to keep him with me.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Tetter was up there.” I pinched the hell out of my palm for that downright lie. The Lido Deck was the last place she might be. “Jane, too,” I added so he wouldn’t surmise I suspected him of having the hots for Tetter.

“I guess I could go with you.” He glanced at the boot on my foot and clasped my elbow in an old-lady grip.

Gritting my teeth, I allowed his assistance as we walked.

“Oh, but we forgot Sue.” He peered backward. “You think she’s all right?”

I was not going to spit out another lie. “She wanted to go somewhere else. I’m not sure where, but she was anxious to go.” She definitely was anxious to get away from my grilling.

But here was someone else I wanted to question. Tetter needed help with a problem. The man leading me like a guard dog could be its cause.

We waited for the elevator, exchanging pleasantries with people gathering to wait. Randy avoided looking at me. He gave pleasant smiles, like I did, to people riding up with us.

We stepped out into brisk air, much colder than earlier in the day. The late evening wasn’t dark but carried in a hazy dusk. Snow-dappled mountains in the distance made me breathless from their beauty.

“It’s cold out here. Would you mind going inside near the pool? We can look at sights through the glass,” I said.

“Sure. I guess it’s colder since we’re heading toward Glacier Bay.” He turned his head in a circular motion as though wanting to check out every person on this open deck. Many lined the sides of the ship, staring into the sea and at gorgeous terrain. Most people wore fleece or heavy jackets. Many men snuggled against their women.

I wanted to snuggle with Gil.

“I’m going to catch a drink,” Randy said, glancing at the pool bar. “You’re having frozen margaritas, right?”

“Right.” I took the opportunity to stare at passengers in this area, hoping I’d find one I really wanted to see.

Gil.

But maybe I didn’t only want to see him. Maybe I
wanted
him.

Yep, that’s what it was, I decided, finishing off my second drink. Or was it my third? Or…well, those frozen things added to my chill and need for warmth.

Randy returned with a frosty glass for me and a beer for himself. “Wine probably would have warmed you up more,” he said, glancing at my shaking arms.

“So would sex.”

His eyes brightened. His mouth formed the slightest grin.

“Oh. I don’t mean with you.”

He chuckled. “It might not be so bad. At least that’s what they tell me.” He pulled the door open, and we stepped inside a humid room with the fantastic swimming pool. The odor of bleach permeated the air. Children’s laughter rang out from the water.

“Tell me about those people,” I said, brushing a section of thick salt aside on my glass’s rim. I swallowed a sip.

Randy laughed self-consciously. “What do you want me to say—I’m good in bed? That would be kind of bragging.” He sipped his beer.

“Okay.” I located a spot to stand near the window. “Who would tell me how good you are in bed?”

He choked on his beer. “What’s the deal, Cealie? Are you going to write a column for the school paper? Why do you want to know about that?”

“You and sex?” I swallowed a sip of my margarita. Thoughts swam around my head. Exactly how would I ask whether he and Tetter were having an affair? Maybe I didn’t need this last drink.

“Are you okay?” Randy said.

Did he think I was going bonkers? Getting early dementia?

“Nope, I am jusst fine.” I slurred a pinch and pressed my finger into his chest to accentuate my statement. “How many people are you having sex with?”

“Huh?” he said, nose wrinkled.

“I didn’t exactly mean people. I don’t think you’re messing around with any guys, but how about our friend?”

He chugged half of his beer. I drank from my glass, getting a mouthful of bitter coarse salt along with sweet tequila. He stared out of the glass wall. I did, too, noticing we passed more white-tipped mountains. Lovely.

“Are you asking me about anyone in particular? Or do you think I’m taking advantage of all the women with us? Or maybe you’re thinking of some back home? There were a lot of girls in our class.”

“Nope. I mean besides your wife, who you’ve said you’re happy with. How about one of the women with us for our little reunion?”

He turned away. Randy placed his empty hand and the one holding his beer glass against the window. He stared outside. I did not think he noticed the water or mountains.

I watched and waited, angry with him, sympathy shoving that emotion aside. This was a husband, a father, a grandpa. He appeared lost. Empty. Wanting.

Wanting who? Or
whom
? I thought, unwillingly correcting my own grammar.

I couldn’t hold my tongue any longer. “I know what I see. You want Tetter.”

He drew his head back, arms stiff toward the window where his eyes continued to aim, although they gazed lower than before.

“You want her. Or maybe you’ve already had her.” Words bubbling across my tongue as fast as tequila could slide into my mouth. “I saw you trying to get her attention ever since we came onboard,” I blurted, adding a chuckle. “All of the pictures of our group together are so funny, or horrible actually, with you frowning at me because I stuck myself between you and her.”

“You have no idea.” He spoke in a quiet tone.

“Sure, I do. You had a crush on her in junior high and then she started going out with Ted Engle, and he was five years older and you thought you didn’t stand a chance so you never asked her to go out.”

Clattering silverware drew our attention. A steward dumped used silverware onto a cart.

“Let’s go back outside,” Randy suggested. He indicated we should go to the opposite side of the ship, where there was only a slim outer walkway. He opened the door, and we stepped into icy air.

Empty tables and chairs stood along the shiny teak floor. Beyond lifeboats farther along, a young man polished windows. A naturalist spoke over the loudspeaker, telling about sights. He mentioned whales breeching on the starboard, where we stood. I peered into the distance and spied a small waterspout. A tail flipped atop the water. Without binoculars, I could have sworn I looked at a porpoise instead of a whale. But I had seen many of both. Besides, my friend Tetter was much more important.

Standing near the outer rail, I nudged Randy’s arm, shivered, and took a small sip of my drink. “At first on this ship, Tetter seemed unhappy about your advances,” I said, picking up on what I was determined to pry out of him. “But lately she seems to enjoy the attraction. I believe it’s just now that she’s gotten older, she likes the attention of a man. But that’s it. She’s flattered because a guy still finds her attractive.”

Randy’s face tensed. He stared beyond me.

The naturalist announced puffins and sea lions in view on icebergs close by.

Ooos and ahs carried from people on higher decks.

I peered at white chunks far below, able to see only small brownish figures. With a strange feeling of apprehension, I set down my glass, reached into my purse, and slid on my bifocals. I stared at nearby water and grinned at three sea lions lying on their backs on ice with their chins up, as though they slept on pillows. I also spied colorful sea birds with thick beaks and felt my eyeglasses slipping. They reached the tip of my nose. I grabbed them before they fell into the water.

“You almost had a tragedy there,” Randy said. “It seems like you really need those glasses.”

“You don’t wear any?”

“I have contacts.”

Was he still so concerned about his looks? A moment after I considered that question, I envisioned my sexy outfits. Touché.

Without bending over the side this time, I glanced at receding icebergs, tiny since this massive ship whizzed past them. I spied a puffin sliding off one and wished I could see the bird up close. But the main thing I needed to do was keep Randy involved in conversation. I had to find out if he had created Tetter’s problem, and if he had, I’d do everything in my power to keep him away from her.

“It seems like we’re rushing to Glacier Bay, I guess because of the change of schedule,” I said. “We must have picked up whatever parts were needed from Sitka.” I considered what they needed to fix—mainly the morgue—and hoped they did it immediately. Jonathan was probably still in there.

Randy peered into the distance ahead, apparently not concerned about ship repairs or puffins or whales. “I love my kids and grandkids.”

“I love mine, too.” Tommy’s face sprang to mind, along with others in my family. I wanted to say how much I’d screwed up by not spending time with my son when I had the chance. Instead, I’d judged him and the man he was with. I could have tried to accept what my son told me—he was with someone else now—and then I could have spent time with them and also scheduled time later to visit my daughter-in-law and their children.

I was ready to pour out those woes and glanced at Randy.

Eyes harsh, he gave me an angry stare. “You just don’t know.”

“Then tell me. You’re in love with Tetter. Or in lust with her. She has this major problem I’d hoped to help her with, but she won’t tell any of us about her trouble, so we can’t help until she does. I imagine it could be gambling or maybe drinking. Or you.”

“Me?” he asked with a snicker.

“Yes. You’re a happily married man, and she’s a happily married woman, and now you’re pressing her to have an affair.”

He snorted. “Where do you get your information?”

“From you. Or her. I don’t know.” I realized my mind was fuzzy, maybe from eyeing ice-crested waves. With help from salt-crusted margaritas.

Randy jabbed a finger toward my face.

I drew my head back, thinking he might strike me.

A man’s voice grew in volume but didn’t sound like anyone on the sound system. Cigarette smoke carried from one of two tall men walking toward us. The person speaking and smoking wore all white.

Executive Chef Sandkeep.

He was speaking with Gil.

Chapter 16

“Hello.” Gil lifted his hand in a small wave to me. His gaze shifted toward the man I stood alone with on this area of the deck. His smile gave way to a somber expression, eyes unhappy, chin jutting like a man preparing for a fight.

When Gil became jealous, it told me he thought I might be attractive enough in some way to get another man’s attention. Funny.

I did not like it a bit when he brought out my jealousy of him around a woman.

Chef Sandkeep smoked beside Gil. Should I thank him now for the champagne?

I’d want to ask who he thought I should drink it with, and what did he mean on that card,
For Cealie Gunther and blank.
Could he have been thinking of himself?

Glancing at the harshness in Gil’s eyes, I decided now wasn’t the time to ask those questions. Gil appeared to take sharper breaths in fast succession, as though getting pumped up for something not nice.

The chef ran his gaze over Randy and me with no change in expression. He didn’t appear to recognize either of us and seemed more interested in his cigarette.

“Hello,” Randy told them. “I need to go,” he said to me and took off.

“Wait,” I said, but he rushed away.

What an awkward situation. If I ran after him, he probably wouldn’t talk anymore now. And I’d also be thinking about Gil, knowing how I’d feel if the situation were reversed. I decided since I’d gotten Randy to start talking about him and Tetter, I should easily get him to continue once I had him alone again.

Chef Sandkeep sucked in a long drag from his cigarette, blew out smoke, and tapped the butt in an ashtray on a plastic table. He tossed the butt over the rail.

“No! You’re not supposed to throw a cigarette out there,” I said, hands flailing in his face.

“I put the thing out.”

“You just stubbed it in the ashtray. It wasn’t all the way out. Suppose your cigarette starts a fire on this ship? What’ll we do?”

“It won’t start a fire.”

Gil stepped between me and the chef. He lifted his hands as though trying to intercept my hands that had balled into fists. “It’s okay, Cealie. Let it go.”

“It’s not okay. The literature tells people not to throw anything from the ship, especially cigarettes. They can start fires. And then what?”

“And then people would put them out.” Gil gripped my fists.

I smiled at him. “That would be nice.”

“Yes, and so are you, now be nice to this gentleman. He makes sure all of your food tastes good.”

“And
your
food? Your wonderful Cajun dishes?”

I eyed the Executive Chef, who could stop Gil’s chef from preparing meals in his galley. I was ready to turn on that white-hatted dude. Maybe he was big, but I could kick. And pinch. And stomp on his feet.

Gil nodded, slowly backing me up. “All of the food’s good. And I believe someone enjoyed a few drinks today.” He gave me a wider smile.