Rebel(65)

He laughs. “I think we’d get along a lot better if we weren’t so damned alike, Son.” He pauses for a moment, weighing his words. “Thanks. Not for fucking up, but for letting me know. It sounds like I have some groveling to do.”

Yeah. Me too.

He hangs up without saying goodbye.

Are we really that alike? Suspicious, judgmental, quick to anger. Fuck. Guess I’ve learned from the best. I’ve spent so long running from what my father wants me to be that I didn’t even notice I was turning into him.

I don’t want to be that guy, but I’m not sure I know how to be anyone else.

Angie would tell it to me straight. She’d laugh and poke fun, but I’ve seen her talk about the people she cares about. She’s fucking loyal, and I could’ve had that. Instead I spit on it because I was too weak to deal with what it would mean if she was what she seemed to be.

Perfect. In a bitchy, sarcastic sort of way, but I’d get sick of anything else. I grin.

Perfect for me.

I drove her away, and I wasn’t lying. She probably hates me, but I have one thing working in my favor. The last of my scotch slides smoothly down my throat, and this time I don’t motion for another. I know where she is, and she’s not going anywhere until this cruise is over.

Time for plan B. Whatever the fuck that is.





Chapter 34: Angie


A loud thrum that doesn’t sound like typical engine noise invades the room. Is that a helicopter? Every time we heard one when I was little, my mother used to point it out and tell me to wave because it might be Daddy. I stopped waving long before he crashed, but I never stopped looking. Except now I look up and say a little prayer for the pilot when I see one.

I go out onto the balcony to look, just barely catching the blur of rotors from around the back of the ship. If I lean a bit over the rail I can see the tail as it swings around to land. I guess there’s a pad back there. Hopefully nobody’s sick.

The weather’s gorgeous though, so I push aside my melancholy thoughts and duck inside to put on my bikini and cover myself in sunblock. I haven’t run into Gavin yet since my talk with Joyce, but I’m hoping to get a chance to talk to him. I got a call from Mom last night letting me know everything was alright with her and Herbie again. Gavin must have talked to his dad, and no matter what happens with the two of us, I’m glad he manned up and fixed things with our parents.

I’m such a chicken. I should do the mature thing and find him, but I went to him last time. If he cared at all, he’d come to me this time, right? I refuse to chase him around the ship like I’m desperate for his attention.

Because I’m not. My life was just fine before he exploded into it and I’ll pick up the pieces again if I have to, but some wounds take longer to heal than others. I don’t know how he managed it, but the ache in my heart goes deep.

I’ve only barely gotten back outside on my balcony and settled on a lounge chair when the helicopter takes off again. This time I get a decent look. It’s totally black and looks like something out of a James Bond movie, except the logo on the body looks awfully familiar. Caldwell? My stomach twists. Did Gavin leave? Did he tell his father about the tickets and I’m about to get in huge trouble?

Oh shit.

I sit up and start to panic, not sure which situation is worse. That Gavin is so mad, or cares so little that he’d actually just leave, or that I’m about to be put in ship jail. Do ships have jails? The room phone rings and just about stops my heart.

OhGodOhGodOhGod.

“Hello?” My fingers barely touch the receiver, as if it might turn around and bite me.

“Mrs. Caldwell? Marie?” That name is haunting me, but if they are still calling me Marie, then they don’t know I’m faking it, right? Please be right.

“Yes, who’s this?”

The man on the other end laughs briefly. “It’s me, Captain Chuck. Don’t you recognize me? I’m hurt, well and truly, dear lady.”

I giggle nervously. “Of course, Chuck. I’m sorry. The sound is pretty fuzzy on my end, and I didn’t expect anyone to call. I’m sorry.”

“Not at all, Marie. I’ll have someone check the lines later.”

Great, now I feel guilty about giving someone extra work. “What’s going on?”

He hesitates. “We have... a bit of a situation down here.”

“Situation?” Panic pokes up its ugly head again.

“One that requires your presence immediately.”

Is this another one of the things that Gavin’s dad set up? Like the wedding wasn’t bad enough? “Are you sure I need to be there? I have no idea what this is about.”