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That’s what happens when you don’t see someone for a year after seeing them every day for the six years before.

“Landon!” a screechy voice calls and I jam my key into the lock and twist it.

“Sorry, I’ll see you around the ship.”

I slip into the room just as footsteps approach. Once the door is closed, I sink down next to it. This is not my finest moment. How do I keep ruining things with Rachelle? She probably thinks I’m a coward.

Ducking inside my room isn’t ruining anything. It’s saving her from the showy hug I’d have to figure out how to wriggle out of anyway.

I saw her veiled attempts to look disinterested when Savannah had her hands all over me at dinner, but I didn’t need to relive that in the hallway with no one else as a buffer.

I listen as I hear the conversation play outside.

“Oh, hey. I didn’t catch your name at dinner. You are the one who sat at our table, right?” Savannah asks.

“Uh, yeah. I’m Rachelle.”

“Are you new to the company? I haven’t heard my father talk about a Rachelle before.”

There’s a moment’s pause and then Rachelle says, “No, I actually won this trip from some giveaway I entered. The server—”

“That’s so great,” Savannah says, interrupting her. “Hopefully we’ll be seeing more of each other. I was hoping to drag Landon out for a romantic stroll on deck. I thought he was down this hall, and it looked like he was before I saw you. You don’t know where he’s staying, do you?”

There is nothing, no sound except for my accelerated heart rate as I wonder what Rachelle will do. I can only hope she’ll steer Savannah away. Far, far away. If only it could be in another galaxy.

A knock on the door tells me she gave me up.

“Landon. Come walk with me, will you? It’s such a nice night out.”

Do I pretend to not be here? Do I feign being sick?

Another knock. “Landon, are you in there?”

Seconds tick by and I breathe a sigh of relief once her footsteps move away from the door. The only problem now is why Rachelle directed her to me. Maybe she thinks I’m dating Savannah?

I’ll have to be better about my interactions with my boss’s daughter and maybe even have a heart-to-heart about not being ready for a relationship. With her.

But even then, I don’t think it’s going to be as easy to get Rachelle back as I’d hoped. I might need to call in Dani as a planner just to have a chance with her.

CHAPTER12

Landon

Ifinally emerge from the room a bit later, knowing I need to face up to the problems in my life, even if I didn’t create them all, i.e. Savannah.

After knocking several times on Rachelle’s door, I turn toward the deck, thinking I might find her there. She said something about checking out what the nightlife was like.

I sigh, running both hands through my hair as I walk through the hall and out into the night. I’ve put off a haircut for too long as it is. That needs to go on my schedule once I get back.

Lights brighten the deck and music plays, with couples swaying back and forth, the crescent moon an amazing backdrop.

Rachelle is nowhere in sight. She deserves so many explanations from me and I need to start that process. Whether she’ll believe me is something I can’t think about too much.

After proposing to Rachelle, I’d begun planning the honeymoon, doing so as secretly as possible. We’d never been on a cruise before, and I saved up right after buying the ring. Well, after helping my mother out with many of the expenses around the house. I just didn’t picture my first cruise not having Rachelle by my side at all times.

Nostalgia hits hard when life doesn’t turn out how you want it to.

I wander around for several minutes, looking for the familiar brown hair and figure I'm ready to spill all my secrets to. But she isn’t here.