Chapter Nine
Rum and food were popular. So much so that the tour Mari was going on was completely sold out. James cursed his luck. At the same time, he acknowledged that jumping into daily involvement with a woman who had told him that she wasn’t interested in a relationship was a bad idea.
That didn’t mean he wanted her to think he was standing her up. And assuring that happened required a conversation with Summer.
Or at least a text message or two.
Instead of intercepting Summer in the dining room, he sent a message, hoping she had her phone on her.
Hey.
What a lame way to start a conversation.
James watched the screen on his phone for nearly a minute before three dots appeared.
Hello Mr. I’m not interested in finding a date.
Fine. He had to own that. About that . . . Do you know which room Mari and Rosa are in?
He could practically see Summer’s Cheshire-cat smile.
Mari and Rosa?
Yes.
Three dots lingered, and he could almost taste the sarcasm that was bound to come next.
I don’t think Mari plays that way, James. She seems too reserved for that.
Pitch and hit.
James rolled his eyes.
Ha ha. Do you have the room number or not?
An emoji of Summer laughing flashed and then four digits.
Thank you.
James moved to the edge of his bed and picked up the phone in his room. The second the phone rang, he remembered that Mari was going to try and get some rest.
Damn.
Too late now.
Thankfully, Mari didn’t sound asleep when she answered the call. “Hello?”
“Hello, Mari. I didn’t wake you, did I?”
“James?”
He smiled, felt an extra beat in his chest that she knew it was him.
Good God, how old was he? “Yeah.”
“No, I, ah . . . I thought I’d be able to sleep. I think I just needed some alone time.”
James toed his shoes off and sat against the headboard of the bed. “I understand that. It’s hard to get that on this ship unless you’re in your own room.”
“Having a roommate as energetic as Rosa has been making it difficult.”
James wanted to keep her on the phone but also be sensitive to her need for solitude. “I bet. Listen, I wanted to let you know that I couldn’t get tickets for tomorrow.”
“Oh?”
“They’re sold out.”
“That’s unfortunate. You sounded excited about it.”
James couldn’t determine if there was disappointment in her voice or if it was just his wishful thinking. “Maybe I’ll see you after? Singles night in the casino?”
There was definitely a little giggle from her end of the line. “Do you gamble?”
James eased back against the bed and made himself comfortable. “I played poker in college. Mainly because girls were involved, and clothing was optional.”
He heard her soft chuckle. “College indiscretions aside?”
“If tossing a few dollars on red is gambling, then yes. Blowing my mortgage payment on black . . . then no.” He sighed. “I’ve never been in a California casino, and I’ve only been to Vegas twice. Once at twenty-one because . . . turning twenty-one. And again, for a friend’s bachelor party.”
“Oh . . . That can be dangerous.”
“A bachelor party?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve been to a bachelor party?”
“No,” she said with amusement. “Luca, my oldest, and Brooke had a bachelor-bachelorette weekend in Vegas. All the kids jumped on a plane to celebrate, and when they got home, Chloe and Dante were married.”
“Wait . . . what?”
“You heard me. Dante flew in from Italy for Luca’s wedding and ended up marrying my daughter at some cheesy chapel on the Vegas Strip.”
James had heard of that kind of thing in the movies, but in real life . . . no.
“Were they dating?”
“Not at all. Dante had been living in Positano for quite some time. I knew Chloe had a crush on him growing up, but after he moved away, Rosa and I scrubbed the idea of them getting together.”
“Oh, that’s right, Dante is Rosa’s son.” James was starting to piece together Mari’s family in his head. A family she always talked about.
“Yes.”
“You showed me pictures of Chloe and Dante at their wedding. Did they get married twice?”
“Yes . . . well . . . They didn’t tell anyone about Vegas. They’d been drinking—”
“Ohhh,” he interrupted.
“Hangovers with unexpected wedding rings are not a great combination.”
That made him laugh.
Mari was laughing, too.
“Chloe and Dante kept the entire Vegas debacle to themselves. When they came home, they were set on getting an annulment before anyone found out what they’d done.”
“That makes sense. After their annulment, they married again,” James concluded.
“No,” Mari said. “They never got to that point. When they decided they wanted to stay married, I made them go to the church. My only daughter was not going to miss out on a proper wedding because of a few too many with her childhood crush.”
James let that soak in for a second. “That’s quite a Vegas bachelor party story.”
“It took a while for Luca and Gio to accept what happened. Especially when Chloe and Dante were working out if they wanted to stay married. It was touch and go there.”
“They didn’t approve?” James asked.
Mari hesitated. “I don’t think they saw Dante beyond their days of clothing-optional poker. Dante is an attractive young man and certainly commanded the attention of women.”
James laughed. “That was a very elegant way of saying he was a player.”
“Ehh . . . he was young. They all were at one point. Once the fists were thrown and everyone calmed down, it all worked out.”
“Fists?” James asked.
“Gio was protecting Chloe’s virtue. I don’t condone violence, but sometimes . . .”
That, James understood. “I have daughters. I get it.”
“They’re all inseparable again. Like I said, it all worked out.”
“You know, Mari . . . I don’t consider myself a romantic. Hard to be when I haven’t dated in years, but that’s one hell of a romantic story.”
James heard her sigh and imagined the smile she had on her face.
“It is,” she said.
“I should let you go. You were looking for a quiet evening, and here I am keeping you on the phone.”
“It’s okay.”
“What do you say? Casino night? I promise not to give you one too many and find a chaplain.”
Mari coughed. “How thoughtful of you. Considering I don’t know your last name, a chaplain shouldn’t register in your head when thinking of me.”
“I’m teasing. And it’s Russell. I’ll see you at the casino.”
“Did I say yes?” she asked.
“You didn’t say no.” James waited long enough to give her time to say no . . .
She didn’t.
“Enjoy your day tomorrow.”
“I will. Good night.”
When was the last time a woman said those words to him? “Good night, Mari.”
James stared at the phone receiver and nodded.
Maybe he had some game after all.
“Is someone sitting here?”
Mari glanced up at a man standing over her. A drink in his hand, a smile on his face.
“Yes, actually. There is.” She pointed toward the bar. “He just went to get us a drink.”
The stranger tilted his head to the side, then said, “Lucky guy.” And turned and walked away.
James had talked her into the nickel slot machines. “How much damage can you do with a nickel slot?” he’d asked.
Twenty minutes into playing, she was up twenty dollars and decided to accept James’s offer of a drink. Avoiding one too many was the agenda.
There was a chapel on the ship, which Mari noted on her way to meet James at the casino. Recalling their conversation put a perpetual smile on her face. She’d truly forgotten what it felt like for a man to flirt with her.
There was a tiny voice way in the back of her head asking if she should be allowing it. Paulo may have been gone for a decade, but he was still a part of her.
“You’re not dishonoring Paulo,” Rosa had told her.
Which Mari knew was true.
So, here she was, in a casino, waiting for James to return with their drinks.
She put another nickel into the slot and pressed the button.
“That took a while,” James announced when he returned.
Mari accepted the martini and pointed at the screen. “I won another ten.”
“Next round is on you.”
“We both have the alcohol package. The drinks are free.”
“Oh, that’s right,” he teased.
James resumed his spot, set his drink down. “Where did Rosa run off to?”
“She said roulette, but I don’t see her standing over there.”
James glanced over Mari’s shoulder. “Oh, well.”
“She mentioned a dance party in the observation lounge.” Rosa truly was making up for lost time.
“I’m guessing her divorce is recent,” James said.
“Why do you think that?”
He pressed a button on the slot machine and had the bells ringing. “Because she’s bouncing from one thing to the next, trying to see where she fits.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah. I’ve seen it in both my male friends and my female friends after their divorces.”
Mari lost twenty cents and pressed the button again. “Is that what you did?”
“Not really. I knew who I was before I got married.”
Another twenty cents down. “In my culture, it’s normal for women to marry young and start a family. Seems young people today are more interested in their careers.”
“They have to be,” he said. “It’s expensive to have children.”
“Not if family is close enough to help raise them.”
“Did you have help?”
“When the children were small, yes. Not always family, but a community that helped. And I’m there for Luca and Brooke. It helps that we live above the restaurant.”
“You do?”
“I thought I mentioned that.”
He shook his head.
She shrugged. “My apartment is on the second floor. Luca and Brooke are on the third, and there’s a guest flat on the fourth, along with a terrace.”
“Does that ever feel crowded?”
“No. I would rather feel my family crawling all around me than so far away I have to fly to see them.”
“I’m sure there is something in between those extremes.”
“Eh.” She threw up her hands. “It’s all I’ve ever known.”
James’s slot machine started to flash, and bells rang.
They both looked at the display.
“Four thousand nickels.”
“Two hundred dollars. We should quit while we’re ahead,” Mari said.
“Let’s finish our drinks first.”
She turned back to her game. “Suit yourself. Don’t blame me if you lose it all.”