Seven

Two more families crowded into the elevator with them, and Katie had to step closer to Ben to make room. She stood stiffly, trying to make sure no part of her body was touching his, but she felt his proximity all over.

She’d first been worried that sharing a room with Ben would be awkward because they didn’t know each other. But in the short time she’d been around him, she’s started to worry it would be difficult for entirely different reasons. Grant had been gone a long time, after all. Katie was human, and Ben was hot!

“Are you hungry?” he asked, and she jumped, a little startled that perhaps he had read her mind. But then, the more realistic explanation hit her.

“A little,” she said, her cheeks filled with the warmth of embarrassment. “I think staring at that chocolate got my stomach primed, but I can wait if you’re not ready to eat yet or if you wanted to go see your family first.”

“No, we’re good. I told Dad we’d probably get settled and maybe get some lunch, and then meet up.”

“And they’re okay with that?”

The corner of Ben’s mouth lifted in a smirk. “They’re fine with it. They have Brady to keep them entertained. They’re not missing me.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Katie said, and Ben sighed with a look that said he didn’t agree.

She felt a ripple of anxiety when she thought about meeting Ben’s mother. Surely, the woman couldn’t be as awful as he’d made it sound. Maybe his rocky relationship with her had skewed his perception toward the negative, the same way she and Maya saw their mother as terribly annoying while everyone else thought she was sweet as pie.

But even if Lydia was every bit as terrible as Ben said, would she really be rude to someone she just met? Someone she didn’t even know?

It was one thing to have animosity within the dynamics of the family, but why would she extend that to one of Ben’s friends? Would this woman automatically dislike her right from the get-go just because she was with Ben? If so, that was messed up.

Maya had decided to be an obnoxious character because she assumed his family wouldn’t like her and wouldn’t be nice to her. She’d planned to stand her ground and give it back to them as good as she got. And that probably would have worked for Maya. She didn’t typically care what people thought of her anyway.

Katie, on the other hand, had always been more of a people pleaser—the perpetual nice girl. The one all her friends’ parents told them to be like. The teacher’s pet. The boss’s go-to.

And now she was about to meet people who had likely already made up their minds about her before they even met.

It doesn’t matter whether Ben’s family likes me, Katie told herself. I will never see them again after this week.

But wouldn’t the week go much better for everyone involved if they did like her?

Surely, she could find a way to charm this woman. Maybe if she went with the opposite approach to Maya, she could find Lydia’s good side and get on it. Katie’s grandmother had always told her you have to catch bees with honey not vinegar, and though she’d thought that was ridiculously obvious as a child, she understood it on a different level as an adult.

From what she’d been told so far, it seemed to be important to Lydia for Ben to be in a relationship, and Katie wanted to think that was because any mother would want to see their child in a good place.

Perhaps if his mom thought he was happily attached, she might let up on him a bit. She might even welcome Katie if it seemed Ben was content with her.

Would they show her—and Ben—more respect if they believed he cared for her, and she for him? And could the two of them pull off pretending that they did?

She felt a familiar surge of adrenaline at the thought of conquering a challenge—of setting a goal and achieving it. It felt good to have a mission again. And as she’d done with every other mountain she’d decided to climb, she began to look for any hazards to be addressed and ways to improve her ascent.

Once they were off the elevator and alone, she asked, “What did you tell them about Maya? Like, did they know she was the one coming? Will they think it’s weird that I’m not her?”

“No. In the initial conversation with my mother, I had no idea who I was bringing, just that I needed to find someone so she didn’t invite Allison.”

“My grandmother used to get us confused all the time, so I could probably answer to Maya if I needed to.”

“That would just be weird, and I wouldn’t ask you to do that. But they don’t know anything about Maya, so it won’t be necessary.”

“Did you tell your mom you were bringing a friend or a girlfriend?”

“I know I wouldn’t have said it was a girlfriend since I didn’t have one at the time. So, I’m fairly certain I said I was bringing a friend. But maybe I said someone and didn’t specify any status. Can I ask why the word choice is so important?”

“Because if you didn’t say friend specifically, your mom probably assumed you meant a romantic someone, right? I mean, isn’t that why Maya opted to play that role instead of just coming as herself? As your friend?”

“You of all people should know there’s no telling why Maya does what she does.” Ben laughed as he rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. “She just announced she was coming along and that she would play the part of my girlfriend, as if there had been auditions and she’d won the role or something. And I can’t speak to what my mother would assume. What I can tell you is it’s not something you need to worry about. Really. It’ll be fine.”

He turned and continued down the passageway., but Katie wasn’t finished. “But if you had to guess, your family is likely expecting me to be more of a girlfriend than a friend. Wouldn’t you say?”

“Not necessarily. I’ve gone on trips with friends before.”

“I’m sure. But how many cruises have you been on with one single female friend where the two of you shared a room? You don’t have to answer that, by the way. It’s none of my business. I mention it only to prove my point.”

Ben stopped again, fixing his gaze on hers as he crossed his arms and grinned. “I’m beginning to wonder that point is. I assume you’ll be getting to it soon?”

“Your mom wanted you to bring someone, right? When she thought you didn’t have anyone lined up, she saw that as an opportunity to invite Allison. But then you said you were bringing someone after all. Don’t you think she’d expect that person to be a romantic interest?”

“It’s possible.” His eyes narrowed beneath his furrowed brow. “I’m still not following why it matters.”

“From what you’ve told me, your mom obviously wants you to be in a relationship. If you’d said you were involved with someone and would be bringing them right off the bat, she probably wouldn’t have mentioned inviting Allison. Am I right?”

He titled his head from side to side, his lips twisted as he considered his answer. “I, uh, maybe. Probably. So, what are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I think Maya had the wrong approach. Well, maybe it was the right approach for Maya, but for me…for us…maybe we should go in the opposite direction. What if we try to convince your mom that you’re dating someone and that you’re happy? That might give her hope that you’ve finally settled down, which might, in turn, allow her to enjoy her cruise more, and then you and I can both enjoy our cruise as well.”

Ben blinked a couple of times as he processed her words. “Wait a minute. Are you saying you’ve decided that now you want to pretend to be my girlfriend?”

Katie crossed her arms as well. “Well, I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily something I want to do, but if there’s a chance it would help make the trip a better experience for everyone, I’m willing to try it.”

He stood staring at her without speaking, and the awkward silence made her rush to fill in the void.

“Unless you’re just not feeling it, and that’s fine. I know it was different with Maya since you guys are friends, and you don’t know me from Adam, so you might not be able to pretend that we’re, you know, close.”

“That’s not it. Not at all. I want to be clear when I tell you that I would be honored to have you as my girlfriend.”

Pretend girlfriend,” Katie said with an exaggerated emphasis.

“Yes, of course. Pretend girlfriend. It’s not that I have any issue with you, not at all. I’m just not sure it would have the effect on my mom that you think it would. Plus, you already told me you weren’t comfortable with it, and you told Maya the same thing. You even just said it’s not something you want to do, and I would never ask you to do something that made you uncomfortable. So why are we even having this conversation?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but Ben had turned to hold the key card against the lock pad on the door next to them, which meant this was their door to their room. With that realization, her curiosity shoved any response to the back of her mind, and the conversation was momentarily forgotten as she tried to see through the open door past Ben.

Her first thought was that the room seemed smaller than it had looked in the website pictures, but she wondered if maybe that was because Ben’s large frame was filling the narrow entryway, and his head almost reached the ceiling.

Once he moved forward enough for her to get a good look at the entire room, her concern about its size paled in comparison to her alarm about the king-sized bed that dominated the space.

“I thought you said there would be separate beds.”

“It was supposed to be two twins. That’s what I requested. I’ll talk to the room steward. Maybe this is one of those rooms where the king converts into two twins. Or there’s probably a sofa bed or a bunk that comes out of the ceiling or something. We’ll work it out, somehow. I promise.”

Nodding, she moved further into the room, setting her purse on the small table in front of the sofa. Pushing the sleeping arrangements aside for the moment, she continued her exploration of the room. Her excitement returned as she checked out the bathroom vanity and shower and opened each of the closet doors and the drawers inside the closet.

She was back to grinning from ear to ear as she ran to the sliding glass door and pulled it open to step out onto the balcony.

“Oh, wow. This is great.”

Ben stepped out beside her, his gaze scanning the port. “This is nothing. Wait until the view is the sun setting over the water. Or the white caps frothing up in the midnight sea under the reflection of the moon.”

A chill ran over Katie at the prospect of either, and she hugged herself, once again tickled beyond belief at her good fortune in landing this trip. “If we leave the door open at night, can we hear the waves?”

“Yes, but the AC system is designed to shut off when the door’s open so the ship isn’t working to cool the entire atmosphere. It might get stuffy, but we can certainly try it.”

She grinned, hugging herself tighter. “When Maya and I were little, my parents would take us to the beach for a week every summer, and I always loved falling asleep to the sound of the waves through the open balcony door.”

“You’ll hear the water, for sure, but it’s not the same as waves crashing onto the beach. It’s still soothing though, and the boat will rock you to sleep.”

“That sounds wonderful.”

“Ready to go see more of the ship and get something to eat?”

She nodded, her grin as wide as could be as she looked up at him. In that moment, she could understand why Maya urged her to focus on the present.

Beyond that balcony, all the problems of the world and the uncertainty of her future still existed, and beyond the door of their stateroom, the issues with his family awaited.

But right then, right there, everything was beautiful. A handsome and kind man was staring down at her with a smile so big his chocolate brown eyes were alight with it. The sky was the most brilliant blue imaginable, without a cloud in sight. Tidbits of laughter and joyful conversations drifted through the air from somewhere above them on the ship, and a pair of seagulls flew by, cawing to one another in a language all their own.

Having found such happiness in that one moment, Katie thought perhaps she could believe there was more of it to come.