Page 18 of Cruising for Christmas
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Ian had a surprisingly good day in St. Maarten. He hadn’t expected to come across Ryan, Shay, and Norah, but once he saw them, he couldn’t stop his feet from moving forward. Somehow he spent the entire time with Norah, as Shay and Ryan were off in their own love-induced world. And he definitely didn’t mind it.
He only regretted his comment about her swimsuit exposing her. Once she walked away, he realized how psycho he sounded, but Norah did something to him. She was like a magnet, pulling him in, and he was helpless to stop it. And he couldn’t figure out why.
Once they boarded the ship, they took turns getting ready for dinner. Ian relaxed on the balcony while Norah showered, watching the trail of people coming back to their ship before it left for their next port. Once she finished, he hopped in. When he stepped out of the bathroom, Norah was nowhere to be found.
Frowning, he got dressed quickly and made his way down to the dining room. He went to their assigned table, only to find his parents seated there. The rest of the spots remained empty.
He kissed his mom’s cheek quickly before taking his seat and pushing down the disappointment of not finding Norah seated next to him.
“Where is everyone?”
“Shay and Ryan got reservations at the Italian place. I’m not sure about Norah. She didn’t say anything to you?” Linda asked.
Ian shook his head. “No, I haven’t spoken to her since we got back onto the ship. She wasn’t in our room when I got out of the shower.”
“How is that going? Sharing a room with her,” James asked.
Ian shrugged as their server came around and took their orders from the few options on tonight’s menu. He had to tamp down the urge to tell them all about his day, like some teenage girl who had a crush.
Once the server walked away, Ian answered, “It’s going well enough for rooming with a stranger. She’s nice.”
“But she isn’t Kelly,” Linda said.
Ian sighed. Despite not telling Shay about his relationship with Kelly, he had mentioned it to his parents so they wouldn’t be surprised to find him with a girlfriend on their family cruise. Only now he wished he hadn’t said anything since the ten-month relationship ended shortly after he told them.
“Kelly and I weren’t right for each other.”
Linda raised an eyebrow and propped her elbows on the table before resting her chin on her hands, a move that was unlike her as elbows on the dinner table weren’t proper.
“You weren’t right for each other, but you invited her on the cruise? I’m sorry, Ian, but you never invite girlfriends home.”
Ian scoffed. “This is hardly home.”
“You know what I mean. It’s rare when you invite someone to meet your family, so she must have been someone special.”
He knew exactly what his mom meant. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had invited a girl home to meet his parents, let alone bring her home for a holiday. The truth was, he invited Kelly because she wanted to go, not becausehewanted her to go. It was only now he realized how messed up that was—that perhaps she wasn’t that special to him and that’s why he wasn’t ready to settle down with her.
“Mom, I promise it’s for the best it ended, and before you ask, I’m fine.” And he had only just realized the truth of that statement. His eyes flickered to Norah’s empty seat beside him. She hadn’t said anything to him about not eating dinner in the dining room, and he wondered where she was instead of there.
Their server came by with salads and set them on the table in front of them before walking away again.
“I just want you to be happy,” Linda said.
“I am happy.”
“But are you? You travel so much. How are you going to start a family?”
Ian sighed and forked a tomato from his salad. “Mom, I will start a family if and when I choose. I’m not going to pick some random person and settle down. Kelly certainly wasn’t that person.”
Linda raised her hands in the air in defeat. “Okay. Okay. I won’t push it.”
“Thank you.”
They ate their salads in silence before Linda spoke up again.
“So what do you think of Norah?”
