Alice gave Mandy the first two hours of the next morning off. It wasn’t an ideal time for Mandy to eat her birthday cupcake, but then this trip wasn’t about her. And if she wanted to celebrate her birthday differently, she shouldn’t have booked a companion trip over it. But her birthday fell on the busy time, so four out of the last five birthdays were celebrated like this. She’d celebrate with her roommates when she returned home, but in the meantime, it was an ocean view from top deck aft.

Fire was only allowed on candles when servers lit them. Mandy surveyed the beautiful swirled frosting on top of the marbled cupcake. Spencer had delivered it to her room before breakfast. He’d worked every cruise she’d gone on with this ship. She opened the envelope with her name on it. “Wishing you another great year. Happy Birthday. - Spencer”

On the first birthday she had celebrated on the cruise, she’d mentioned to Spencer how she and her grandma had always made marbled birthday cupcakes. It was her grandma’s way of appeasing those who liked chocolate cake and vanilla cake. Spencer had told her of his own traditions. His birthday was the day after hers. Easy enough to remember.

From then on, her birthday cupcake was in her room when she returned from breakfast on each birthday. The day after she would leave Spencer a note, and smuggle him a soft serve ice cream cone—something the staff couldn’t eat unless a guest offered it to them.

She watched the wake from the back of the ship, the sun already beating down its heat even at eight in the morning. The dark blue of the ocean created a perfect line unbroken by other ships as it touched the lighter blue of the cloudless sky.

She pulled open her bag, setting a small square box wrapped with a bow on the table. A gift from all of her roommates. Jenny knew how to wrap gifts. The perfect bow had even survived being in her suitcase.

Sliding off the bow, she opened the box. It revealed a silver anchor bracelet. The note inside read: Anchors away for your birthday. Have a wonderful day today. Love, Coco, Jenny and Liz

Mandy had the best roommates. They were so thoughtful. She put the bracelet on and it sparkled in the sunlight. Resting her elbows on the table, she lifted the cupcake up in the air, and pretended to blow out the unlit candle.

She’d long given up wishing for things on her birthday. She was in her groove in life. Happy. She didn’t need to wish for things. Sure. It was moments like these when she had her time off that she wished for someone to permanently share her life with. Someone she’d fall in love with, but with her travel schedule the way it was, her relationships didn’t last more than a month or two. She shook her head. You can’t make wishes without the fire anyway.

She pulled out the candle and ceremoniously licked the bottom of it.

“I’ve been looking for you. Alice said you might be up here,” Derek’s familiar voice said as Mandy was about to bite into her cupcake. She put it down on the plate.

They’d been getting along better. But he kept crashing her time off, like she shouldn’t have a break from being someone’s companion. Two hours off on her birthday wasn’t too much to ask. “And now you’ve found me.”

“What are you doing?” He eyed the opened box and cupcake and card on the table.

Just like him to ask a question where the answer is obvious. “What can I help you with? Is Alice asking for me?” She supposed she could take her break later and scooted her chair away from the table to stand up.

“No. She doesn’t need you right now. She’s with her new friend Betty.” He leaned in closer. “It’s your birthday? You should be celebrating with friends.”

Friends? On the cruise ship? She wasn’t going to burden Alice and make her feel like she had to make a big deal about it. “Who? You?”

He cleared his throat. “No, not me, but your friends.” Derek looked uncomfortable, like his foot was just too big to wedge into his mouth any further. The more she thought about him, the more she got used to the idea of thinking of him as a friend, or maybe more.

Over the last couple of days he’d been less antagonistic but this was still a professional business relationship to him. She’d do well to remember that the next time he turned his sea gray eyes on her, or that elusive smoldering smile.

She gestured to the table. She couldn’t hold his non-friendship against him. It was how he worked. The business transactional sort of way that he pushed so hard to show. “I am celebrating with friends, in a manner of speaking.” She fingered the card from her roommates.

He cleared his throat. “I better go. Sorry to interrupt your celebrating. I’ll see you at the end of your break with Grams.” He walked away abruptly before she could respond.

She sat there, her mouth half open like she was about to still say something to the man who made such a hasty exit. She watched him turn the corner, and her stomach knotted. Ten minutes ago she was perfectly capable of celebrating her birthday by herself, but Derek not wanting to stay, to be her friend even, opened up an emptiness she didn’t know she carried around.

What was with her? Sure, she got attached to her companions. But not their grandsons. Never their grandsons. Her relationships didn’t last long because she was gone too much to build them properly. Why any of these thoughts continually ran through her head baffled her. She wasn’t looking for a relationship. At least not with Derek. This whole having a companion’s grandson tagging along to their activities was throwing off her groove. She needed to get her head back where it belonged.

She sat for the remainder of her break, finishing her cupcake and watching the ocean waves, determined not to think of Derek again.

* * *

You’re an idiot. Derek’s mind repeated the phrase as his foot hit every step on the stairs from the top deck down to deck four where he started to wander. When Grams had told him she’d let Mandy have her free time this morning, Derek thought it might be a good time to bury the hatchet as it were and move on.

He should have apologized yesterday during their excursion or at lunch after when they were alone, but he found himself sharing his past with her and then the timing felt off. She was genuine at her job and she enjoyed traveling with elderly women and making them happy.

He knew part of her passion for being a traveling companion stemmed from her lost opportunity with her own grandma, and a wave of guilt took over, almost drowning him with realization. If not for Mandy, he still wouldn’t have made the time to come on a trip with Grams. He’d still be in his office, working deals, and Grams would still be waiting to travel.

Jealousy engulfed him like a salty surf when he thought of Grams preferring the company of a complete stranger to him. But he let that tide recede. Had he spent more time with Grams, she wouldn’t have felt the need to find Mandy as a companion. And that would be a shame.

The more he thought of Mandy, the more he couldn’t stop thinking about her. Her sassy short blonde hair, her intoxicating blue eyes, her full lips. Her curves. Her artistic style. Everything about her.

He wandered aimlessly around the deck, using the walking path. He breathed in the salty air deeper each time he did a lap. His chronically tight shoulders seemed to loosen, and he took in the view of sun and ocean on each side. How had he never done this before?

He focused back on Mandy. He’d been wrong about her and still needed to apologize. He’d made her job harder than it had to be, and had thrown so many barbs, it was no wonder they weren’t on friendly terms, not really.

He grabbed the rail and took in the view from the aft, knowing that six decks above him was Mandy. He’d wanted to tell her all of this. He’d planned to do just that. And then he saw her celebrating, by herself. And a pang of understanding shot through him. Most birthdays he didn’t even celebrate. Life had gotten away from him.

Watching her with her cupcake and her card and empty box he finally believed her when she said that this trip wasn’t a vacation for her. Grams didn’t even know it was her birthday. And Mandy hadn’t bothered to share that. Why? Because this trip wasn’t about Mandy at all. Or maybe it was because of him that she hadn’t told them. Because even after finding out about her background check he’d made a big deal about her punching in and out on her breaks and feeling the need to micromanage the approval of Grams to let Mandy take a break. Grams had switched her time off from the afternoon to the morning and Mandy hadn’t complained, just celebrated her birthday, by herself.

You’re an idiot. He knew that. But what could he do about it? His mind raced. What would his assistant do for a client? Ugh. Forget client. What would he do if Mandy was someone he cared about? He’d surprise her with…something. He wandered through the gift shop. He fingered the price tags of the purses, feeling an irony that he was now willing to spend more than she could have possibly swindled out of his Grams, on Mandy.

“May I help you?” a woman asked him.

He hoped so. He had no idea what Mandy would like, let alone what her style was. Maybe this was a bad idea. He ran his hand through his hair. “I-I need a birthday present. To celebrate a birthday today.” It probably sounded as bad to her ears as it did to his own.

The woman’s eyes widened. “All this time to plan a trip, and you forget what you’re celebrating.” She tsked and showed him the purses and perfume, but nothing looked like Mandy. Though he was hardly an expert.

“Does she like jewelry?” The woman took him over to the lit glass case. “Does anything catch your eye?”

Of course it did. Everything sparkled. But how in the world would he know what was Mandy? She had worn a few things on the cruise, but, this was why he had an assistant.

The woman pulled out a few pieces, and then Derek saw it. “How about that one?” he asked, pointing to an anchor necklace with diamonds encrusted through it. The woman nodded, replacing the other choices back in their glass case, letting Derek focus only on this piece. “It’s perfect.”

Before he knew it, she wrapped it up in a decorative box. His gaze darted around the room, suddenly aware that Grams or Mandy could see him in such a prominent place in the store. Should he buy something else so he’d have a reason to have a bag? He couldn’t fit the box in his pocket.

The woman helping him seemed to sense the shift in his mood. “Would you like the present delivered? Name the date, time and location and we can hold it for you until then.”

A wave of relief washed over him. “At dinner tonight,” he said, writing down the information.

The woman smiled warmly. “I’m sure she’ll love this necklace.”

Derek left the store feeling on top of the world. He’d show Mandy that despite their rough start, the next week could be better.

His steps felt lighter as he went down the stairs. Next stop, he needed to talk to the chef and see if he could arrange a birthday cake to be made with her name on it. Sure there was just the three of them at their table, but they’d share if the cake was too big. He only needed one big enough for a few candles and her name. The cake would lead naturally into the necklace.

Less than an hour later, he walked away from guest services, having arranged not only a birthday cake, but waiters singing around their table, and one of the ship’s photographers to be there. When guest services heard his plans, they added some of their own, among other things, a plate of chocolate covered strawberries to be delivered to Mandy’s room with her turn-down service.

He needed to talk to Adam about being more involved in arranging the gifts he gave for holidays and birthdays. This was fun. He’d get to dinner early and couldn’t wait to see the happiness reflected in Mandy’s face. Her blue eyes would dance at having a big celebration, and her lips would quirk slightly, like she was holding in a laugh. It would be perfect and he only had to wait a few more hours.