The woman on the other end of the line cackles out a loud laugh, and Tinley can instantly tell she’s a longtime smoker. As the laughter turns into intense coughing, she pulls her headset away from her ear, having already turned the volume all the way down but still needing relief from the noise. Honestly, she doesn’t even know what the woman finds so hilarious, but she’s been pretty distracted since she got to work this morning. She hasn’t seen Marek yet, but she knows it will be inevitable at some point today.

Smokey Jane stops coughing long enough to ask, “What are the rules about bringing cigarettes onboard the ship? Are these cruises smoker friendly? Because I can’t really be expected to go cruising without my smokes.”

Without her typical smiling voice, Tinley replies with the spiel about smoking, vaporizers, and tobacco products. There’s also an addendum about marijuana and recreational drugs. That part was a recent addition when Colorado legalized pot and a few states started to follow. She’s been here long enough that she doesn’t even have to read the script or think about what she’s saying as the words flow from her mouth, albeit in a monotone voice, but she doesn’t really care.

Satisfied with the response Tinley gives her, the woman spends no time at all booking up a fourteen-day Mediterranean cruise. As they end the call, Tinley should feel elated knowing that she’ll have a generous bonus coming her way from booking that trip alone, but she can’t feel anything else other than numb.

“Tinley, can I please speak to you for a moment?”

Just the sound of his voice sets her on edge. Part of her misses him and wants to put all of this behind them, but the other part of her is beyond hurt that he didn’t trust her enough to tell her about his daughter. She got all of her shifts covered and hasn’t been to work in well over a week, but unfortunately, she has bills to pay and had to come back in. Really, she couldn’t avoid Marek forever.

Dakota clears her throat and Tinley looks over to her roommate. She’s never liked Marek, and especially after recent events; her disdain is written all over her face. All Tinley has to do is say the word and Dakota would make him go away, but Tara was right: Tinley needs to grow up and handle her problems. She can’t continue to ignore the situation. She offers Dakota a small smile and turns around to face Marek. Her gasp catches in her throat just at the sight of him. His normally put-together appearance is slightly rumpled this morning. His hair is wild as if he’s been running his fingers through it constantly and the dark circles under his eyes make it obvious he hasn’t been sleeping well.

Nodding her head, she locks up her computer and takes her phone out of the queue. As she turns around in her computer chair, Marek’s eyes go wide at the sight of the monstrosity on her leg, but he doesn’t say anything. He offers her his hand, and she begrudgingly takes it as he helps pull her up. He leads her toward the front entrance, his hand gravitating to the small of her back. She doesn’t say anything and allows herself to enjoy the feel of him touching even a small part of her body.

The sun is shining, and it takes Tinley back to the day when her world crumbled down around her. She tries pushing those thoughts out of her mind and staying right here in the present. When they reach a vacant bench out front, he helps her sit down, and then Marek starts pacing on the small patch of grass in front of her. He stops briefly, just long enough to look down at the boot on her leg then up at her face before asking, “Are you okay? What happened to your foot? I meant to ask you the day I picked you up from the hospital but you were dead on your feet and I was more concerned with getting you in my car and home than questioning you about your current state.”

She shrugs before telling him the truth. “I’m not a hundred percent sure, to be honest with you. I tried getting a hold of you, but you were pretty MIA. I went out to drinks with Dakota and woke up the next morning with a broken foot. It’s not that big of a deal, but I’m stuck in this boot for a bit.”

“Sorry about that. I had a lot going on that day and I didn’t have my phone on me.”

If there is one thing she does remember from that day, it’s the fact that she saw him there.

“Want to tell me why I saw you at the hospital?”

“You saw me?” he asks as he briefly stops his pacing again, unable to hide the shock on his face.

Nodding, she says, “Yeah, when I was getting my foot x-rayed. I saw you walk by in the hallway. Again, I tried texting you, but you didn’t respond.”

“Giselle had a small fender bender and I was making sure she was okay.”

Just the mention of her name puts Tinley on edge. All of her insecurities and doubts come rushing forward to the front of her mind, and she can’t help but ask the question that’s been eating away at her since she met Luna. “Just tell me this one thing first: is Giselle Luna’s mom?”

Marek stops pacing and his mouth drops open. Tinley can’t decipher the expression on his face. It’s almost a cross between absolute shock and amusement, although she doesn’t know what he could find so funny at a time like this. After a few moments of awkward silence, he finally asks, “Where did that come from?”

“Well she’s gorgeous, for one, and when I met her, she seemed to stake her claim on you pretty quickly. Also, when I asked you about her last time, you kind of brushed off my question, not to mention the fact that she and your daughter share a striking resemblance.”

He releases a slew of curses, half of which she can’t understand. He’s speaking mostly to himself and she partially suspects he’s not completely speaking English. “I’m sorry for not clarifying before. I guess I’m kind of an ass, and I see that now. I can certainly tell you that Giselle was not staking her claim that day in the coffee shop. She was messing around.”

“You can’t know that. I don’t know what your relationship—”

“She’s my sister. The reason Luna looks like her is because Luna looks more like me than her mother, and that day in the coffee shop, Giselle thought you might be interested so she wanted to see if you got jealous. It was a stupid game she decided to play, and it completely backfired.”

Tinley’s mouth falls open. That’s definitely not the response she was expecting to hear from him. She’s completely dumbfounded, and her obvious shock falls right out of her mouth. “Your sister?”

He nods slowly and takes a seat next to her on the bench.

“So if Giselle isn’t Luna’s mother, who is?”

“Do you remember the story I told you about my best friend?”

“Cassie?”

“Shortly before Cassie’s cancer came back, she found out she was pregnant. We were over-the-moon excited and couldn’t wait to start a family together. Although not the most romantic story in the world, I proposed to her in the bathroom as we stood over the sink watching the two lines show up on the pregnancy test. Then her cancer came back. She had two options, and I was so angry with her at the time when she chose not to fight. She was done fighting and wanted to have the baby knowing she wouldn’t be able to watch our child grow up.”

“That had to be an extremely difficult decision for her to make.”

“You’d think, but she was pretty adamant from the moment she found out. Cassie was one of those truly good people. She was completely selfless and also tired…so very tired. Her previous treatment had been rigorous and hard. Most days she couldn’t even get out of bed, and we had no way of knowing what would happen if she put her body through all of that again. One thing was for certain: if she decided to try the treatment, our baby would die. If she opted out of treatment, she would die but our baby would live, and that’s what she chose—to give our child a life in place of her own.”

“I couldn’t even imagine making a decision like that.”

“I’m right there with you. As much as I wish things didn’t have to happen the way they did, I can’t imagine my life without Luna in it. She’s my everything.”

His response shouldn’t hurt her because his daughter should be the center of his world, but knowing that as a fact and hearing him say it causes a tinge of jealousy in the pit of her stomach. It’s been just him and Luna for so long, and she wonders if there’s enough room in his heart or his life for her and their unborn child as well. She doesn’t know if she’s ready to hear his answer to that question.

Rather than stick around any longer, she does the one thing she has become best at—she runs. She gets up from the bench and starts walking away from him before he can realize what she’s doing. She looks over her shoulder and says, “I really should get back to work. I’ve missed enough as it is, and I don’t want to be away from my desk too long and give the higher-ups a reason to let me go.”

When he calls her name, she quickens her pace and makes it back inside before he can catch up to her.