After lunch Mandy took her two-hour break, while Alice went to a lecture about the ship with Derek. Mandy pushed down the emotion that felt something like jealousy. She wasn’t jealous of Derek, of all people. He’d worked most of the morning after the water aerobics class before lunch. Not that she cared. It was nice to have Alice all to herself. But seeing him smile smugly at her as he and Alice went together without her made her miss her own grandma more. She’d never felt lonely while being someone’s travel companion.

Heat spread across her cheeks as she remembered Derek joining her and Alice in the water aerobics class. He didn’t get all of the moves right, but he’d given it a valiant effort and she’d have been blind not to notice his muscles.

She pulled her hat brim low and settled into her lounge chair on the top deck. She generally spent most of her time sketching during her time off, but before she started she needed some sea breeze to clear her head.

The sun beat down on her, and she sipped her lemonade. She pushed her foot flat on the chair, raising her legs. Relaxing time was over, and she needed to get to work. Pulling out her sketchbook, she rested it against her thigh. In less than a month, she would turn in a portfolio to apply for the lead graphic artist with The Edge—a premier graphic design company specializing in custom work where she did freelance work. With only two hours a day to work on it, she was on a tight schedule. If she didn’t make considerable progress, she’d be drawing during the late and early hours too.

An hour later, she took off her hat and rolled her neck. She completed several sketches and mock-ups for The Edge’s Tropical Line. They were good enough she should send them in for a preliminary approval so she could create larger ones at home. The thought caught hold. She would be swamped with deadlines, but if she could show real progress, maybe the schedule wouldn’t overwhelm her.

She took pictures of each new sketch, zooming in on the details of the larger tropical sketches.

Once finished, she headed inside and skipped down the stairs to deck three to look for Spencer. He would be able to help her.

Spencer looked up from his information desk. “Ah. Miss Jones. I was hoping I’d see you today. A social visit?”

She smiled and slid her camera’s SD card toward him. She couldn’t upload anything to the ship’s computers without signing the waiver and letting them run virus scans through her material. She didn’t mind, much. “Always a social visit,” she said. “How are things?”

He gave her a wan smile. “I’m working, same as you.” He took the card and put it into a reader, then gave her the customary paperwork.

“You know, I wish I could just keep these forms on file, so I don’t have to fill them out every time.” She rolled her eyes playfully.

He nodded and gave her an apologetic smile. “Wish it were easier that way too.” He clicked his mouse a few times and typed quickly on the keyboard. She handed him the completed form, and he filed them in a drawer. She tapped her nails across the edge of the glass top desk. He glanced at her then back to the screen.

“All right, Miss Jones. You know the routine and you’re all set. This card reader is secure. It is checked out for you for this card. It must be returned to me today. You may upload your pictures and other files onto the ship’s computers. Your card will not come out of the reader until it is returned to me. Any other cards you would like to upload must first be checked out at this desk. Any questions?”

She shook her head. He gave her the same speech multiple times each week when she was on this ship. She knew he had to follow protocol. He was required to explain. “Thanks, Spencer. You’re the best.”

“Enjoy the rest of your day, Miss Jones.”

Walking away from Spencer’s desk, Mandy headed toward the ship’s version of an internet café. She had just enough time to upload and send the pictures if there was an open computer. She walked into the bright space and surveyed the room. Every computer was occupied. She looked at the sign-in sheet. A few should be open soon. The clock above the front desk stared at her, continuing to tick her time away as she stared back at it.

A tall man walked away from a computer, and Mandy looked hopefully toward the employee behind the desk. “Sign here,” he said to Mandy. She signed the release form and headed to the vacant computer, plugging in the reader before she sat down.

“Fancy meeting you here,” a deep voice to her right said. She looked over, though she’d be crazy not to know the voice addressing her. Derek’s sideways glance felt like yesterday’s scrutinizing ones.

She straightened and pulled her shoulders back as she sat down. She wouldn’t let him see that he ruffled her feathers.

“Small world,” she said.

“And an even smaller ship.”

“Too small,” she muttered. While she uploaded the photos to her online storage, she typed an e-mail to her designer at The Edge, trying to ignore the man next to her.

“Aren’t you supposed to be back with Grams by now?” His voice cut through the air between them.

She studied the digital clock in the corner of her computer screen. “I still have twenty minutes. What are you doing here? I thought you were spending time with her.”

He gave a sheepish shrug. “I was, but she decided she wanted to rest after the lecture, so I came to get some…work done.”

“More work on your vacation? That’s just sad.” She shook her head playfully, turning back to the screen and checking on the status of her pictures uploading for the millionth time.

“Work doesn’t get to take a vacation.” He kept his eyes on the screen, typing so furiously she expected to see smoke rising from the keyboard at any moment.

“Ah. And what about the people who work? Are they allowed to take a vacation?”

“Not all of us can make money without doing anything on vacation.” His words came out choppy and low.

Her hands hovering over the keyboard stilled in the air. “I’m working during someone else’s vacation.”

He grunted in response.

She wasn’t going to be able to reason with him in a public place, and she didn’t want to attract attention in the quiet room. After typing her e-mail, she pasted a link to her online storage containing the pictures of her sketches. With any luck, there would be enough to approve her for work on the Tropical Line. Work on such a big account would move her career in graphic design to the next level.

“For the record. I like being a companion to others on their vacations, but this is work for me. So don’t delude yourself into thinking I’m getting a vacation for free. These vacations with companions are much more strenuous than what a true vacation would be for me,” she said to him. She pulled out her card reader and logged out of the computer, not waiting for a reply from him and walked straight toward the exit, hoping he’d spend the rest of the day working and away from her.

Mandy sat down by the big porthole and waited for Alice. She tapped her pencil against the paper. Nothing was coming. Nothing at all. The only thing that came to her mind was how bugged she was with Derek and his attitude toward her. What was she going to do about him? Picking up the pencil, she drew harsh lines around the paper.

A stormy sky came to life first, followed by mountainous waves, and finally a tossed ship in the middle of the storm. Drawing a tear in one of the big masts, she shaded and outlined and really made a mess of the entire picture. Pouring her emotions of the whole situation, she drew furiously, and when almost the entire paper was covered in some sort of storm, she looked at it with an objective eye. It was compelling, but it didn’t make her feel any better.

She tapped her pencil again, wondering what else she could put in her drawing. She thought about her roommates and the advice they might give to her if she could text them all right now.

Coco would probably go for a hike. Hardly something Mandy could do on a cruise ship. Jenny would bury herself in work. In fact, Mandy suspected Jenny used work to solve most of her problems. But work was Mandy’s problem—at least it stemmed from that. Derek was her client’s grandson. Burying herself in work wasn’t going to fix the problem with Derek. What would Liz say? She’d probably write out her frustrations with words instead of drawing. Of the three possibilities that one seemed the easiest to implement, so Mandy did.

On the margin of the stormy sea with ship on it, she wrote to sort through her feelings.

Drawing is not getting out my emotions. I’m going to sink. This is the worst experience I’ve had. I can’t stand being with Derek. He drives me crazy.

She paused. She had dealt with difficult people before, but Derek had a huge chip on his shoulder. She rolled her neck trying to come up with a solution as she finished writing.

But if I don’t win him over, his negative outlook could affect Alice’s review of my business. There’s only one thing to do. Pretend that he isn’t who he is. Pretend he is charming and sweet. I hope I can do it. Thankfully I only have to be nice to him for two weeks.

Mandy blew out a breath, her chest loosening as she read through her words. Perspective came through. This was two weeks. She could do this—she was a likeable person and could totally win him over. Alice deserved a phenomenal cruise and that meant ensuring Derek had a phenomenal cruise too. Mandy would figure out how to help Derek have a better attitude on the cruise, and she wouldn’t let him affect her anymore. Be nice no matter what he says. She’d do it all for Alice.

Sunshine seemed to break forth on her stormy picture—just a small ray of hope. She erased a very tiny circle in the sky, and added a small sunshine streak that reached from the sun to the ship. She turned the page and began doodling until her mood lightened and the stormy ship seemed far behind her.