Chapter Twenty-Four CASEY
Chapter Twenty-Four
CASEY
It’s our last night on board Aurelia , and Sienna has claimed me. We’ve been getting ready in her suite and blasting music. She took a picture of me puckering my lips at her phone, and when she showed it to me, my jaw dropped. It looked so cool and professional, like an ad you’d see in Vogue . She has such a good eye for photography. Of course when I told her that, she barked out a laugh and said, “Uh, no, you’re just a smokeshow!”
Now, I’m standing in her bathroom, leaning over the sink to carefully apply black winged liner just the way my grandmother taught me.
Sienna appears in the doorway and snorts. “ Good god . It looks like you nicked everything they have at Chanel.”
She’s referring to my makeup spread. Les Beiges eye shadow palette, Noir Allure mascara, Les Cha?nes de Chanel blush ...
I smile down at it all. “My grandmother worked as a beauty consultant at the Chanel counter for over three decades. It’s the only makeup I’ve ever used, and when I go into Saks to buy a replacement of something, the ladies my grandmother worked with always send me away with bags full of samples and gifts.”
She walks in and toys with the row of lipsticks I have lined up, eventually twisting up Rouge Coco in the Mademoiselle shade, and I can hear my grandmother’s description of it in my head: “A perfect neutral pink that pairs well with any skin tone.”
“Is she the one who taught you how to do makeup? You’re really good at it.”
I nod and look at my reflection in the mirror, studying my favorite features—the ones I got from Jean Hughes. “Is it weird to feel connected to her this way? With eyeliner and lipstick?”
She shakes her head. “I think it’s sweet. Makes me miss my gran too.”
I bump my hip against her and offer a sympathetic smile. “Are we going to be down in the dumps, or should we kick things into gear for our last night?”
She grins, and I know I made the right choice in keeping my plans with her. I won’t lie and say it was easy to leave Phillip. I mean, we’ve only been apart for an hour or two, and I’m already dying to see him. But I shove that feeling aside because I won’t back out on Sienna now. She’s really been there for me these last few days, and I feel like I’ve made a lifelong friend. We’ve promised we’re going to stay in touch and visit each other—we’re going to come up with some kind of concrete plan over dinner. We just have to finish getting ready and head out the door.
“Yes, right. Only ...” She frowns and turns to me. “Are you sure about this? You absolutely can ditch me for dinner with your man.”
I pause applying my makeup and scowl at her. “Sienna, I’m not ditching you!”
“Fine, fine,” she says coolly. “Only I want you to know you can if you really want to. I’m not so desperate for company that I want to steal you away from him.”
“I want to be here,” I say. “Now, I think we should get as glitzy and glam as possible, okay? All the stuff we haven’t had an excuse to wear yet.”
Sienna’s eyes alight with possibilities, and she’s already hurrying to her closet. “I have this silver gown that’s absurd and gorgeous, and I’m breaking it out! Oh! And you have to wear this red dress. It’ll look heavenly on you. Want to see it?”
I agree to try it on, already knowing that if it’s coming from her wardrobe, it’ll be stylish and designer, no doubt.
She carries it into the bathroom, and it’s the most vibrant shade of red. Already, I know I’ll have to swap my lipstick to match it, which works well because I’ve kept the rest of my makeup neutral and relatively simple (for me, at least).
She hands it over. “And before you even start, I refuse to be sad about it.”
She’s talking about Javier.
He apparently broke things off with her this afternoon, saying it was better in the long run. “No need to drag out some long goodbye,” he said, which I thought sounded a little bit cruel. Sienna disagreed with me, though I couldn’t tell if she really believed it or if she was just trying to defend him.
“My only regret is that I didn’t beat him to it! I mean, get real. It wasn’t a breakup. We both knew the end was looming. And the thing is, I wasn’t even tempted to keep it going. Don’t get me wrong, he was bloody good looking. I mean, you saw him that time with his towel. I’ve never seen anything like him, but there’s nothing beneath it, you know? No real chemistry with us. He seemed to like things one way—always wanting to go, go, go. Like today, I wanted to have a lazy day by the pool, but he insisted we book it into town for a horse ride. Turns out it was this really dodgy setup. They were trying to get away with putting us on a bunch of donkeys. I laughed and thought we’d turn right round, but Javier insisted it was fine. ‘More authentic,’” she adds in a macho accent. “I told him I didn’t want to go, and we had a little row about it. So ridiculous because the guides and everyone were just watching on! Anyway, it’s done, and I’m glad for it. What about you and Phillip? God, I don’t envy you still having to cut ties and all. There’s no sense in making it this dramatic thing. Believe me, I regret getting carried away like that ...”
“Right, yeah. We’ll do it the simple way,” I insist, feeling defensive.
“Will you even see each other again before you depart?”
He made me promise—swear, actually—that I would come to his suite once I was finished with Sienna, no matter the time.
“What if it’s two a.m.?”
“I don’t care,” he said in a no-nonsense tone.
“Three a.m.?” I teased.
He leveled an unamused glower at me.
“ Three thirty ?”
I kept right on going until he sealed his lips to mine and then told me with a succinct, finite finish, “Come to me no matter the time, Casey. Swear it.”
I smiled against his lips. “I swear it.”
Now, as Sienna and I walk to dinner, my stomach squeezes tight again. It’s ached all day. Maybe something was off with my breakfast ... or maybe that picnic lunch by the waterfall was spoiled ... or maybe it’s because you’re leaving Phillip tomorrow, and the doom of it all is making your tummy hurt!
I press the button for the elevator and rearrange my clutch.
Sienna glances toward me with a curious expression, and I force a smile.
“I’m starving,” she groans. “I bet you are, too, after that hike.”
Hike = waterfall = Phillip’s face between my legs.
I gulp and nod, choosing to keep my mouth shut so she doesn’t look over and notice the flush creeping up my neck. That’s good, red dress, red lips, red skin. At least I match.
Tonight in the dining room, they’re doing something special called the Flavors of Aurelia . All the chefs on board have banded together to work alongside Executive Chef Thomas Keller to create a multicourse tasting menu similar to what they offer at Michelin Star restaurants. Each course is paired with a wine offering, and as far as I know, the reservations for the evening booked up months ago. We only got in because Sienna sweet-talked the host, flirting shamelessly with him over the phone until he promised he’d work us into the schedule.
I’m sure I could have pulled strings with Phillip, but this seems to have worked out just fine. When we show up, our names are on the reservation list, and we’re immediately whisked toward a table for two near the bank of floor-to-ceiling windows.
Almost as soon as I walk into the dining room, I feel tingles run the length of my spine, and I turn to look over my shoulder. Phillip sits at a secluded table in the far corner alongside Captain Neal and Devin, the chief engineer. As he reaches for his drink, he lifts his gaze, and our eyes meet across the crowded space.
We were just together, intimate only a few hours ago, and yet it feels all new again—tight, hot, heavy. It’s like my lungs don’t want to fully expand; my heart doesn’t want to slow its pace; my hands can’t seem to stop trembling.
It’s adrenaline, nothing more.
Oh, really?
God, his eyes eat me alive. There’s no smile or arched brow. Nothing too obvious, but his gaze still consumes me as I trek across the dining room behind Sienna and take my seat, my back to him.
It’s hard to keep my attention focused straight ahead. I want to look back and see him again.
After I leave the ship tomorrow, I won’t have another chance like this.
“Okay, you have to be honest with me. You’re sad about Phillip, aren’t you?”
I blink and shake my head, trying to push, push, push everything down. I don’t want to be a shitty friend to Sienna. It’s not fair to her.
“It’s almost insulting if you try and cover it up, you know. Just tell me.”
“Yes,” I say hurriedly. “It’s complicated between us. All the advice you gave earlier concerning Javier just doesn’t seem to apply. You kept your wits about you, and I’ve apparently lost all of mine. I feel weird and strange, and I’ve been trying to ignore it, but well ... I guess I’m not doing such a great job.”
I peer up to find she’s not annoyed with me. She has a soft smile and sympathetic eyes as she listens to me try and explain it. “You’ve really done it, haven’t you? Broken all the cardinal rules. You weren’t supposed to fall for him.”
“I haven’t!” I rush out, though at this point, maybe even I don’t believe it.
She laughs with a shake of her head. “ Okay .”
I look down, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in my stomach.
“What should we eat?” I say, quickly changing the subject.
“We don’t get to choose, remember?” Sienna says with a laugh. “It’s a tasting menu. They’ll just start bringing the courses.”
Right.
As a waiter comes around to give us wine, I ask Sienna about her family and friends back home. She tells me all about her gran. While she didn’t raise Sienna, like my grandmother raised me, they’re extremely close.
“She’s the one who encouraged me to start taking my social media career seriously. Funny, considering she doesn’t even have a smartphone, but yeah, she really believed in me when everyone else was telling me that it’d be much better in the long run if I just settled down and got a normal job, or better yet, married and changed nappies all day!”
I can’t reconcile that mental image. Sienna working a desk job? Laughable.
“Where are you off to once you finish up here? You mentioned it was your gran’s birthday?”
“Yes, her big eightieth shindig. I’ve been planning it for ages. I’m hosting it at a swanky nightclub in downtown Bristol. I’ve managed to book the whole place out. She’ll love it.”
“God, I want to be in a nightclub when I’m eighty.”
Sienna winks. “Me too, babe. Me too.”
“What about after that?”
She picks up her wine and takes a sip, mentally scrolling through her schedule. “I head to Sweden for a brand trip with Volvo, and then from there, I’m off to Dubai.”
“For work?”
“For pleasure ,” she says with a coy smile.
“Amazing,” I laugh. “I can’t wait to see pictures.”
“And what about you, Casey Hughes?” She hums. “What are you thinking you’re going to do now?”
That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?
I study the side of my wineglass. “I thought at first that I might go back home just to get things sorted—”
Sienna makes a blaring sound like she’s a game show buzzer, and I’ve just provided the wrong answer.
“ But ...,” I continue pointedly. “There’s no real reason I have to do that.”
“Right!”
“I mean, yes, it’s practical and all. But being practical has not exactly served me well thus far.”
Sienna grins. “So throw caution to the wind. Shake things up.”
I can’t help but smile as a zing of excitement has me sitting up straight and talking faster. “Well, I know I want to travel. I’m not completely opposed to working for another large-scale publication, but I’d expect it to be much of the same crap I dealt with at Bon Voyage . So, no, that’s out for right now. I want to do something totally different.”
“And if, perhaps ... I already got the ball rolling for you on your new career, would you absolutely kill me?” she asks gently.
My eyes shoot up to meet hers. “What do you mean? You’ve called someone for me?”
I wouldn’t be surprised. I’m sure she has a lot of contacts in the industry.
She winces. “No, not exactly . I just, I think I need you to promise that you won’t kill me first before I tell you.”
Excitement and dread comingle inside me—warring for the top spot. I force a laugh and shake my head. “I’m not going to kill you. Will you knock it off?”
That seems to settle it for her. She leans forward and props her elbows on the table. She no longer looks worried. Her face is pure delight. “You know all those pictures and videos of us I’ve been taking on the trip?” I nod, encouraging her to go on. “I ended up making a few day-in-the-life videos with all the footage, and you were in most of them, of course.”
“Okay . . .”
“People have been curious about my hot friend , and well ... it felt like such a waste to not be able to tag you.”
I’m blinking fast, trying to keep pace with her. I’ve seen Sienna’s Instagram account. She has millions of followers. She might seem normal, just any other friend sitting across from me at the dinner table, but she’s far from it. On the internet, at least, she’s a real celebrity.
“Oh, right,” I say, not really sure where this is leading. She posted me on her account? So?
“ So , I made you an Instagram account, and ... you already have close to twenty-five thousand followers, and I bet if we check again, you’ll have even more. You’re growing by the second.” She rushes the second half of her sentence out before wincing as if she expects an immediate freak-out, and well, I deliver right on cue.
“WHAT?”
“It’s @TravelWithCaseyHughes,” she rushes out. “I’m @TravelWithSiennaThompson, so it only seemed apropos to have our accounts match. And well, there you go, a popular Instagram account for the taking. I can connect you with my management team, or if you want to fly solo, that’s fine too. I know loads of people who prefer that. Either way, it’s up to you.”
I still haven’t said anything, and I think she’s starting to get worried about me reneging on my promise not to kill her. She leans over the table and squeezes my hand.
“Are you upset with me?” she asks gently.
“ No .”
I’m dumbfounded. Shocked. Utterly taken aback by her gesture.
Her tone gentles as she continues, “I think you could really do this, Casey. You could live out your dream of traveling and writing about it and make real money while you’re at it. I won’t sugarcoat it and say it’s no work at all, but I’ve found it’s different working for yourself. It sounds like you’ve slaved away at Bon Voyage for years now. Why not use that same amount of energy building your own brand instead? I mean, what do you have to lose?” She blanches. “No offense, but from what you’ve told me ... there is absolutely nothing waiting for you at the end of this cruise. Not even your man, from the sounds of the arrangement you two have. Just think about it.”
Without another thought, I’m up and out of my seat, launching myself at her. My arms go around her shoulders as I squeeze her. She makes a choking sound, but I don’t let up. I can’t. “Sienna, this is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”
When I pull back, she’s blushing scarlet red. “Well ... I mean, yeah. No. It’s nothing. Just—”
She clears her throat and fixes her hair, clearly uncomfortable with my overt display of affection.
“Now, listen, sit down. God, just sit down, and I’ll walk you through a real proper tutorial on what you’ll need to do to get started, okay?”
“Okay, but one more hug.”
She tenses like she’s in agony. “Fine. One more.”
I squeeze her again, offering up a million and one thank-yous, and then I wipe tears from my eyes and reclaim my seat. “All right. Fire away. I’m listening.”