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“Are you wearing a bathing suit under that gorgeous maxi dress?” Emily demanded.
“Yeah,” Claudia confirmed, glancing down at her dark purple shirred dress.
“Good! I have a swimsuit underneath my dress, too. What do you say we grab a couple of peach bellinis and hit up one of the hot tubs when we get done here?” Emily asked as she examined her reflection in the mirror.
Both women had fresh manicures. Claudia had opted for a pale pink color with a few subtle rhinestone embellishments. Emily had chosen glittery baby blue nail polish, saying it would serve as the “something blue” when she got married. Apparently she was more traditional than she claimed to be.
Emily’s chestnut colored hair had brand new blonde highlights. It was amazing how a well-executed color treatment could completely transform a person’s appearance. The honey-toned highlights softened Emily’s appearance and, perhaps, even made her look more youthful.
Claudia had gone with a simple trim and blow out. Her normally wild crimson waves were now expertly tamed and perfectly smooth - but for how long? If she went hot tubbing, she would have to take extra care not to get her hair wet.
“The first time I got married, I wore my mother’s wedding dress,” Emily said as she stared at her reflection. There was a wistfulness about her, and maybe a touch of sadness as she reminisced about the past. “It was beautiful. I felt like a princess in it.”
“Will you be wearing it this time, too?” Claudia asked.
“No. It’s a very fancy dress, with lots of delicate lace and hand-sewn embellishments. It’s perfect for a formal church wedding, but not really appropriate for a casual cruise ship ceremony. I bought a simple white dress for the occasion,” Emily said. “It couldn’t be more different than my first wedding dress.”
“Everything is going to be different this time around, huh?” Claudia said gently.
Emily bit her lower lip and nodded. She looked as though she wanted to say something, but instead she swallowed hard, as though she was choking back sobs. Tears filled her eyes. She turned on her heel and abruptly exited the beauty salon.
“Emily, wait up!” Claudia called, chasing after her.
The emotional bride-to-be ran through the darkness. She rushed toward an out-of-the-way metal staircase. It led to a quiet, mostly secluded sitting area that overlooked the water. Claudia hurried to catch up.
When Claudia reached the top of the stairs, she saw Emily sitting on a nearby bench.
“Sorry,” Emily sniffled, wiping tears away with the back of her hand. “I didn’t think I would get so sentimental, but I can’t stop thinking about my first wedding. Don’t get me wrong - I’m crazy about Kyle and am so excited to marry him...”
“But?” Claudia prompted gently.
“But I guess in a way I’m still mourning the life I thought I would have with my first husband. Is that dumb? I mean, my first marriage wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. We loved each other, but we had plenty of ups and downs. It’s silly for me to be feeling this way, isn’t it?”
“Not at all,” Claudia said, taking a seat beside her friend.
They sat in silence and stared out at the ocean. The shore was becoming more and more distant as the Mermaid Fantasy drifted out to sea. Soon it would disappear from sight entirely, and they would be surrounded by nothing but the vastness of the wide open water.
Claudia reached out and wordlessly squeezed her best friend’s hand.
Emily had been through a lot. She deserved to be happy. If marrying Kyle was going to make her happy, then so be it. Claudia decided to try to stop worrying and try to trust her best friend’s judgment. If Emily thought Kyle was amazing, then he probably was. Hopefully.
“Emily.”
A solidly-built, muscular man was walking purposefully toward them. When the light hit him, Claudia saw he was wearing a black t-shirt, khaki shorts and grey sandals. His room key card dangled from a lanyard around his neck. His sandy hair was closely cropped in a military-style haircut. He wore dark sunglasses even though it was nighttime. His jaw was clenched and his hands were balled into fists at his sides.
“Kyle!” Emily exclaimed, jumping to her feet.
Claudia stood up, but she didn’t share Emily’s enthusiasm. She could immediately sense that something was amiss. There was something off about Kyle’s body language. He seemed awfully tense for someone who was on a cruise, and his clothing was dishevelled.
Wordlessly, Kyle removed his sunglasses.
He had a black eye. It looked quite painful.
“What happened?!” Emily gasped.
“My cousin’s a good-for-nothing waste of space,” Kyle muttered. “That’s what happened.”
“Your cousin hit you?” Claudia blurted out. What sort of family Emily was about to marry into?
“The coward sucker punched me. But it’s okay.” Kyle said dismissively. “I got him back. I’m pretty sure I broke his nose.” He seemed proud of the fact. Actually, he appeared to be bragging a little, puffing up his chest as he boasted about the injury he had inflicted.
“We should put some ice on that before it swells up even worse,,” Emily recommended, wincing as she examined Kyle’s black eye. She looked over at Claudia apologetically. “Raincheck on the hot tubbing?”
“Of course.”
After Emily and Kyle had left to find ice, Claudia wandered around aimlessly. She enjoyed people watching, and there was certainly no shortage of activity to observe. There was salsa dancing on the third deck and a stand-up comedian was entertaining folks on the fourth deck.
Claudia made her way up to the fifth deck. The ship was swaying slightly, which made walking somewhat challenging. Thankfully, the water was calm; it could have been much worse. She paused to admire the sunset before making her way to the tiki bar. She had a feeling Scott would be there.
Sure enough, she found him reading a newspaper, a partially-consumed beer in front of him.
“You look nice,” Scott told her, setting the newspaper down when he saw her. “You did something different to your hair, didn’t you? I like it.”
“Thanks,” Claudia said with surprise. Scott wasn’t normally one to notice when she changed her hairstyle; he usually didn’t pay attention to that sort of thing. “How is your evening going?” she asked, eager to tell him about what she had witnessed.
“Oh, it’s been interesting. I saw two guys get into a brawl outside the steakhouse,” Scott said. “They were rolling around on the ground throwing punches and just making a huge scene. Can you believe it? Who does that?”
Claudia swallowed hard. “That was Emily’s soon-to-be husband. And his cousin.”
Scott stared at her incredulously. “Are you kidding me?”
“Did one of the guys have sandy blonde hair, a black t-shirt and khaki shorts?”
“Yep, that would be him,” Scott confirmed. “Wow. He seemed really mad.”
“Do you know what the fight was about?”
“Money, I think. I only heard bits and pieces of what they were saying.”
Claudia grimaced. “I hope Emily knows what she’s getting herself into.”
“Me too, but she’s a grown woman. She can make her own decisions.”
“I guess so. I would just hate for her to get hurt.” Claudia took a deep breath and tried to rid her head of negative thoughts. “I walked past a hot tub on my way here and it wasn’t very busy. How about we go check it out?”
Scott glanced down at his blue jeans. “I don’t have swim trunks.”
“That’s okay. We can stop by the room so you can change,” Claudia replied.
“No, I mean I didn’t pack swim trunks.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t pack swim trunks? For a Caribbean cruise?”
“I forgot.”
She chuckled and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. It was typical Scott behavior, as endearing as it was infuriating. “Lucky for you, there are plenty of shops on this ship. I’m sure we can find one that sells swim trunks. C’mon, let’s go have a look.”
