Chapter 4 #2
Martin had kindly offered to check on Darling and take him for a midmorning walk in Louise and Zona’s absence, which helped, but Darling was young enough to want to move constantly and Zona knew they would be doing early morning and evening walks in addition to what Martin had offered.
In an ideal world, Zona would leave Darling in the backyard, with plenty of water, but she wasn’t sure how well that would work.
Would the heat be too much for him? Would he bark and howl and make all the neighbors mad?
Zona wouldn’t be able to be as attentive as her mother, and Darling was a little on the needy side.
Zona preferred cats. They knew how to entertain themselves without chewing up sofa pillows. So far, Darling, part poodle, part who knew what else, and entirely spoiled, had shredded two of Louise’s.
When Zona was a child, the family had only had one dog.
Poor Buster had gotten hit by a car, and she still remembered how confused and then crushed she’d been when she came home from school and learned that Buster had crossed the rainbow bridge.
He’d been her dog in name only. He’d really been Louise’s baby, and Louise had gone into mourning after losing him.
That had been the end of owning dogs. They’d switched to cats.
Inside cats. Zona had gotten her own cat when Bree was in grade school.
But Pitty-Paws died a year ago and Zona had decided she was done with pets.
Losing an animal on top of everything else awful happening in her life had been the cherry on top of the poop cupcake.
Louise, on the other hand, had decided she needed companionship. With Dad not around to raise objections and remind her about Buster, she’d gone to the local animal shelter a few months earlier and fallen in love. So now Darling was a part of their lives.
It smelled like someone nearby was barbecuing as they made their way back down their street. Was that someone Alec James? He was probably grilling steaks, drinking an IPA beer. Maybe his guest was putting together a salad to go with what was on the grill.
Who cared what the neighbors were doing? Zona had a life of her own. Her book and Cary and Audrey were waiting.
THE SHIP’S LIDO deck was buzzing with happy people and the band was playing “Sea Cruise” for the throng enjoying the sail-away party.
One of the happiest buzzing people at that party was Louise, who was enjoying her second pina colada.
This was the life. Why had she waited so long to do something fun?
“Cruises and pina coladas just go together, don’t they?” she said to her fellow cruisers, George Winston and Wayne Champagne. (“Yep, darlin’, that’s my real name.”)
She’d already met George online. He was short and stocky with a baby beer belly.
He owned a tire franchise, and, like Louise, he was widowed.
They’d enjoyed several online chats. Like Louise, he loved a good mystery and had said more than once how much he was looking forward to talking books with her.
He had plenty of time to read now that he was retired, and homes in both California and Idaho to read in.
George was not hurting for money. Not that Louise needed a fortune.
Harold had left enough so that she could be comfortable, and she had enough extra to help a little with her granddaughter’s schooling.
What she wanted was a man who had a wealth of smiles and good humor, and who loved dogs. George had checked a lot of the boxes.
But George paled in comparison to newcomer Wayne, who was a tall, fit Texan with gray hair and a face like George Clooney. And a Southern drawl. And he could dish out enough flattery to swell a woman’s head and keep it swelled for the whole cruise. He was pumping Louise’s up pretty fast, for sure.
He smiled at her from across the table where the three of them were sitting not far from the table tennis action. “Pina coladas and a beautiful woman.”
He raised his glass to Louise, and she could feel George, next to her, frowning.
Louise hadn’t dated since college, certainly hadn’t flirted since she’d been married or enjoyed this kind of flattery.
Her deceased husband had been a good and kind man, but never much for flattery.
Sucking so much up now was almost more intoxicating than her drink.
A fifty-something woman with long black hair and brown eyes slid into the one remaining empty seat at their table, which was next to Wayne, smiled at everyone, and asked in a throaty voice, “Is this seat taken?”
“No, join us,” said Wayne, and the woman smiled at him.
Louise could tell the woman was plumper than her, but the black sundress hid the thickening waist, and its low-cut neckline accentuated a hefty serving of boobage. She had eyelash extensions and was wearing lipstick as red as Louise’s. She’d overloaded on the perfume.
Louise sneezed.
“Bless you,” said George, but he was looking at the newcomer.
He was also sucking in his stomach. Why did men do that? It was impossible to hold back a beer belly forever. And why was he tummy tightening for this woman? She wasn’t all that great.
“I’m Ursula,” the woman said. She had a slight accent, which Louise couldn’t help envying. There was something so sexy about a foreign accent.
Okay, maybe the woman was all that great.
“Well, now, where are ya from, Ursula?” Wayne asked after they’d all introduced themselves.
“I’m from Germany.”
“An import,” Wayne said, and grinned.
Louise forced herself not to frown. “You came all the way from Germany to do a Hawaiian island cruise?”
“Why not?” the woman retorted. “Anyway, I live in Washington now. I’m divorced,” she added.
“I’m sorry,” said Louise. And in a way she was. Divorce was hard on the heart. She’d seen just how hard close up and had ached for her daughter both times she’d gone through it.
Ursula shrugged. “He was verbally abusive. I was glad to be done with him.”
“Now, I’m really sorry,” Louise said. “I had a wonderful husband.” Harold may not have majored in flattery, but he had been loyal and kind, the bedrock she’d lived her life on.
“You were lucky,” Ursula informed her.
“I was,” Louise agreed. “He was one of a kind. But I think there are still a lot of good men out there,” she amended, sharing her smile with both George and Wayne.
“Hear, hear,” said Wayne, and grinned at Ursula.
And Ursula smiled back. The woman was almost licking her over-plumped lips. She gave her hair a little shake, making it dance like waves. The hair hula.
But Louise was not threatened. Really.
Okay, maybe a little. She’d been enjoying being the center of attention at this table, feeling like the queen bee of the cruise.
Ursula was after her throne. And her drones.
Well, that wasn’t happening. Younger women didn’t have a monopoly on sexy.
People who looked at older women like they were all washed up and their lives were over needed glasses.
Louise had lots of life left in her, and she was feeling pretty sexy herself in her cute little skirt and pink top.
The band started playing “YMCA.” Party time!
“Oh, let’s go dance to this, everyone,” she said, jumping up.
Wayne laughed and got up. So did George, and they followed her into the dancing throng. Ursula was in the process of ordering a drink and wouldn’t be joining them. Gee, what a shame.
Louise threw herself into the song and movements, grinning alternately at the men on either side of her.
The band should have been playing “It’s Raining Men” because it certainly was.
She was sure she was going to find romance on this boat.
Let the Ursulas onboard beware. They had competition. Hehe.
After “YMCA,” the band started in on the “Cupid Shuffle.” Louise knew the dance to this one. She’d done it at line dancing at the senior center and she had the moves.
She was happily displaying them when Ursula arrived and sandwiched herself in between Louise and Wayne. So rude. Well, Louise could dance circles around the woman. So what if Louise was older? Age was just a state of mind. And she was of a mind to outdance this middle-aged import.
Oh, yes, moving in that little quarter turn, she showed off her hip action big-time.
How fun was this! And shuffling to the right and the left, she still had the moves for that, too.
She’d probably pay for showing off later when her bursitis kicked in, but a nice massage would take care of that, so she kept right on showing off.
The early-evening sun was still on hand and the sky was blue.
She felt thirty again, joyful and in love with life.
Until her dancing went as south as the ship was heading.
Whether it was that second drink or gremlins that caused her to stumble, who knew.
But stumble she did, pitching forward and knocking poor George off-kilter in the process.
He at least stayed upright and tried to catch her, but she was beyond catching.
She fell over a nearby deck chair and landed on her leg in a way no leg should ever be landed on.
She wasn’t sure what was worse, the sudden excruciating pain or her embarrassment. Old lady goes down doing the “Cupid Shuffle.” She was sure people had their phones out and were recording the whole mortifying fall.
One of the staff rushed up to her, right along with George and Wayne, and all three helped her up. She’d sprained an ankle a couple of different times, but this wasn’t her ankle, and it was the worst sprain she’d ever had. She couldn’t put weight on her leg without crying out in pain.
“I think I sprained something,” she said.
“I think you did worse than that,” said Wayne, pointing to the bit of bone poking out.
That was the last thing Louise heard before little bells started ringing in her ears and the world went black.