Sweet Reality by Laura Heffernan (20)

 

 

 

 

Well, it’s been a wonderful week for the cast of Real Ocean: Caribbean, but we’re afraid it’s time to head on back to the good ol’ U.S. of A. The ship will dock at 10:00 PM, with disembarkation beginning first thing in the morning. Passengers who have flights scheduled prior to 11:00 AM should contact the purser’s desk as soon as possible to ensure early disembarkation. See inside for more information and to find out your scheduled meeting time.

 

Meanwhile, we’ve got a full day of activities to ensure your final day at sea is every bit as enjoyable as the rest of this week.

Meet The Fishbowl’s Rachel up on the Lido Deck at 10:00 AM for a poolside calf-roping demonstration. Then head down to the rear deck at 11:00, where her co-star Ed will give a mixology lecture before lunch.

 

The casino closes for the rest of the voyage at 6:00 PM, so this is your last chance to test your luck against Totally ’80s Bake-off winner Tammy Rae. She’ll be playing heads-up Texas Hold ’em with the fans all day.

 

After dinner, join us up on the Lido Deck to watch The Fishbowl’s Ariana Sassani star in Killer Octopuses from Outer Space 2. Stick around after the show while America’s favorite brunette answers questions and signs autographs. Don’t forget to pick up posters and other promotional items in the gift shop.

 

Inside this Edition:

Full schedule of onboard events 2-3

Ship’s Map 4-5

Disembarkation Procedures, U.S citizens 6

Disembarkation Procedures, non-citizens 7

Meet the producers of Real Ocean: Caribbean 8

Going through Customs 9

 

 

Justin and I spent the remainder of the evening exploring each other. We talked and laughed and drank wine and made love before falling asleep in each other’s arms. What a perfect day. We spent the entire next morning in bed, indulging in room service—and each other. Finally, we got to experience the perfect cruise we would’ve been having all along, if Ariana and Dominic hadn’t interfered.

Contented and happy, I snuggled up against Justin after lunch, and his heartbeat lulled me to sleep.

Slanted rays peeked through the slats of the blinds when I woke again. Beside me, I found sheets cool to the touch and a note from Justin that he’d gone to the gym, but he’d see me in time for dinner. Signed with a heart. I held it to my lips with a smile. Finally, things were moving in the right direction. When we got home, we could go back to the way we were, stronger than ever. Not to give Ariana too much credit, but her efforts to drive us apart brought us closer together. I was doubly grateful to Madison for giving me her recipe now that I’d be able to use it.

Most of the day had passed while Justin and I became reacquainted. Not knowing how long he’d be gone, I hurried through a shower so my hair could air dry before dinner. Pulling on a robe, I moved outside to bask in the ocean breeze and enjoy the view from our private patio. We hadn’t made it to the balcony the night before, spilling into the room and barely landing on the bed. Well, landing on the floor, the couch, the shower, and then the bed. The memory sent warm tingly feelings through me.

Two chairs sat on the balcony beside an end table. I expected everything to be bolted down, but they weren’t. Maybe no one expected winds to carry furniture over the four-foot high wall separating the sitting area from the open sea.

On either side of me, walls separated our patio from the guests in the adjacent rooms. The walls stretched to the ceiling on the wall leading inside, but tapered down to the balcony wall, so we theoretically could speak to people staying in those other rooms. Doors in the partitions connected us. That must be what a “semi-private” balcony meant. Good thing Justin and I hadn’t stumbled out here, too caught up in each other to notice if people on either side of us peeked around the low edge of the wall. Or to care.

A door creaked open. I turned to look for Justin, but our door remained firmly shut. Then a voice carried over from the patio next to ours.

“Were you throwing up again?”

My ears perked up. Why was Dominic in the suite next to ours?

“Yeah. God, this sucks.”

Oh, my god. Ariana. Dominic and Ariana were in the suite next to ours. Maybe she’d say something I could use to show Justin she’d set up everything that went wrong all week.

Except Tammy Rae’s cupcakes. I didn’t see her managing to mastermind that disaster. But all the problems between me and Justin? Easy peasy for someone as devious as her to engineer our issues.

Don’t do it, Jen, my inner angel warned me, perched upon my right shoulder.

At least not without proof, argued bad Jennifer from my left shoulder.

Remember how Justin reacted last time you accused her without proof? Good Jen argued.

While we were on The Fishbowl, the producers had taken all our electronics. When I’d overheard Ariana admitting to another contestant that she felt nothing whatsoever for Justin whatsoever and fabricated the love triangle so viewers would keep her around, I couldn’t get any proof. But we weren’t on a TV set anymore. My cell phone sat in my pocket, and while I didn’t have 3G out here at sea, the video camera worked.

Unwilling to go without a fight, bad Jennifer raised her head. What about your promise to Leanna? Confronting Ariana with a video will get you twenty million viewers, easy.

“I’m so tired of feeling like crap,” Ariana said. “When will it end?”

She groaned, and a chair squeaked as if absorbing her weight. Holding my breath that they wouldn’t hear me, I crept to the barrier between the balconies. The seal between the doors left no gaps, and since I wasn’t in a 1950s film noir, no handy-dandy keyhole provided me with a view.

Practically laying against the barrier, I moved toward the far wall. I didn’t dare stick my head over the top, but I pulled out my phone and hit Record on the video camera. Then I turned the lens to peek over the wall, and slowly raised it.

My heart pounded. What if they saw it? But their suite sat on a corner. As the two of them came into view on my phone’s screen, I discovered they sat in beach chairs looking out over the ocean, away from me. Finally, a bit of good luck. Now I could see and hear everything I needed to show Justin once and for all who she really was.

Dominic said quietly, “Do you want it to end so soon?”

Ariana sighed. “No, I guess not. I’m so sick of being miserable. Puking all the time, no energy to do anything, can’t eat anything.”

Why was she puking? Was she seasick? Then a thought hit me like a lightning bolt. I knew one very good reason a woman in otherwise perfect health might find herself throwing up every day.

“We shouldn’t have come,” Dominic said. “I know you thought the sea air would do your appetite some good, but all we’ve done is stress you out. You’ve lost a dangerous amount of weight. Being around these people isn’t good for you right now.”

“I wanted them to like me,” she whined. “I thought if I could get Justin on my side, Jen would get over herself and things would work out.”

Get over myself? She tried to stop me and Justin from getting together. She told everyone in America I tried to steal her boyfriend. She spent the trip monopolizing his attention whenever possible. How was any of this my fault? Who could possibly blame me for not liking her?

Since I couldn’t hear anything over the rage boiling in my blood, I forced myself to take a deep breath and focus on the conversation. Why did she care if I forgave her? Was she doing some kind of twelve-step program? Assholes Anonymous?

“You were half right,” Dominic said. “Justin seems to have forgiven you.”

“Do you think he’ll come to the service?”

They were getting married? My worst enemy was marrying my ex-boyfriend? Then why the hell had they spent all week trying to break me and Justin up? For fun? These people were messed up.

“I don’t know,” Dominic said. “But I’ll talk to him when the time comes. I promise.”

“Thanks. You’re the best.”

On the video screen, Ariana leaned her head on Dominic’s shoulder, and he put his arm around her. If they had been any other couple in the world, the scene would’ve made me smile. The tenderness between them was palpable.

Why was I spying on them? Would showing Justin this video change anything?

I sighed and leaned forward, placing my head against the wall. What was I doing anymore? Time to turn off the camera and go inside. I wasn’t going to find out anything out here, and it didn’t matter if I did. Justin and I were together again. Once we got home, he’d stop feeling like only half of a whole, and everything would be fine again. Better than fine; we could resume being deliriously in love.

The vision I’d had when Connor asked me about marriage swam before my eyes. Ariana almost ruined my dream once. I couldn’t let my desire for revenge against her take it away a second time. Even if the dream might not ever become a reality, I wasn’t about to throw it away. Leanna would have to get over my not staging a confrontation, after all. What was she going to do, sue me?

Just as I’d convinced myself to give up this fool’s errand and go inside, Ariana sighed loudly. With good Jen and bad Jennifer still warring on my shoulders about the wisdom of my actions, I waited.

Ariana said, “I don’t know why I care. Justin’s such a frustrating goody-goody. You know he wants to use his law degree to help people? He turned down a position billing five hundred dollars an hour to work in the firm’s pro bono department, representing poor tenants in housing disputes.”

“Then why do you care what he thinks of you?”

“I don’t, really. I love watching the way it messes with Jen’s head when I talk to him. I guess I don’t like losing. It kills me that he picked someone else over me.”

“Weren’t you sleeping with one of the other contestants?”

“Well, sure, but Justin didn’t know that. Not even when Jen told him.” She cackled, then sighed. “God, I was such an asshole last year.”

“No you weren’t,” Dominic said. “You were doing what you needed to do to win. That’s human nature. Now circumstances have changed. You don’t need public approval, and you don’t have to suck up to people you hate. After this cruise, you’ll never see them again. Who cares what they think?”

“I guess I don’t,” she said. “I just wanted people to have say nice things about me.”

“And they will. Plenty of people love you. You’ve got a caring family and lots of friends. You don’t need these guys.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry. Feeling so crappy all the time must be messing with my head.”

“Here,” Dominic said, his voice low. “I can make you feel better. Lean back and spread your legs.”

Ariana moaned. “You’re the best. I don’t know how I managed before I met you.”

Oh, no. The last thing I needed to hear was my ex-boyfriend performing oral sex on my archenemy. If I hadn’t already decided to confront her, this horrifying moment would’ve cemented it. I’d caught enough on tape already. Squeezing my eyes shut, I stabbed at my phone, praying I’d shut off the video. Then I tiptoed inside with my hands over my ears.

As soon as the door shut safely behind me, I sent a message to Ed.

Attaching the video, I hit Send and waited for his response. He didn’t make me wait long.

The television screen overlooking the pool provided the perfect location for an exposé. Not just because that’s where most people tended to hang out on nice nights, but also because the producers obtained a copy of Killer Octopuses from Outer Space 2, which would start playing at eight o’clock. But no matter how badly I wanted to see Ariana get what she deserved, I couldn’t do it. Revenge fantasies were fun, but I couldn’t sink to her level.

The phone showed that Ed had seen my response, but he hadn’t replied yet. Quickly, I sent a follow-up.

The logo next to Ed’s name turned gray, then vanished, indicating he’d signed off the app. Oh, no. What if he hadn’t seen my last message?

No response. My heart pounded. Oh, this was bad. So, so bad.

Justin would never forgive me if I exposed Ariana to the world, even if she deserved it. Ed had to know that. What the hell was he doing? Why wasn’t he answering me?

Leaning my head back against the door, I forced myself to think rationally. Ed would never screw me. He’d have double and triple and quadruple checked I was sure before doing anything. He probably signed off to spend time with his boyfriend. People sucked at saying good-bye these days.

I’d almost convinced myself when my phone buzzed again. After unlocking the screen, I spotted another message. Not from Ed, from Connor.