Page 54 of Mister Daddy
“Are you sure? I can stay…”
Mom fixes me with a hard look. “Abigail, you are going on this cruise with your friends. You haven’t done anything for yourself since you found out you were pregnant. And you just passed your scuba certification! It’s time to celebrate.”
I kneel down and kiss Timmy’s head. He’s only three months old, but he’ll be starting daycare as soon as we get back from the cruise. My mom is right. I deserve to spend time with Caitlyn and Jessica. They’ve been so supportive of me over the last year – encouraging me through my pregnancy, being there when Timmy was born, and helping me with my business plan to open my own scuba training company. This trip is for us to spend time together and celebrate.
“I love you, sweet boy,” I whisper. I wipe away the tears that start to fall as I stand. “Thanks for watching him, Mom.”
“Any time, Abby. You know we love our grandson.”
They really do. They were surprised, to say the least, when I’d told them I was pregnant, but once that feeling wore off, they were all in. Timmy is their only grandchild, and they spoil him.
“I’ll see you in a week, Mom. Love you.”
Before I can change my mind about going, I force myself out the door. Jessica and Caitlyn are waiting for me in the car so that we can get to the airport. We’re taking a cruise in Africa this time around. We thought about doing another one out of the Port of Miami, but we decided to switch things up this time. Plus, there is less of a chance of running into Carter since we’ll be on one of his ships again. It has something to do with airline miles and Cait’s credit card points.
“If we go on CJ Cruise Lines, I get half off,” she wheedled. “You know how my dad gifted me all those points during Christmas and I have no other way to use them.”
“You can’t just use the to buy gas and groceries?” I asked weakly. “We have to go on CJ Cruise Lines?”
“Yes,” Cait said emphatically. “This is the only way. The other cruise lines won’t even honor the points, those idiots.”
That’s how we ended up on this Nile Cruise with CJ Cruise Lines. I only hope to god that Carter won’t be there, but honestly, the chances are slim to none that my ex-lover will make an appearance. Sure, he’s technically the boat owner, but he has dozens of ships sailing the high seas at any point in time. He’s not going to be on board during our particular trip.
“Go before I run back inside and take my baby back,” I tell Jessica. She laughs and hits the gas. “Thank you.”
“I know you’re sad to be leaving him, but it’s only for a week, and you really deserve this. Once your business opens, you won’t have much vacation time for a while.”
“You’re right. This will be good. But you better believe I’ll be facetiming my baby every single night.”
Jessica smiles at me in the rearview mirror. “You better let us say hi to him, too!”
The girls are co-godmothers. Timmy doesn’t have a godfather. Or a regular father.
Part of me feels bad that I haven’t put more effort into contacting Carter, but the other part knows it would’ve been pointless. If anything, Carter would have given me some money to keep him off the birth certificate. I don’t need him or his money.
I have perfect little Timmy.
Caitlyn senses the sadness threatening to spill from my eyes again, so she quickly starts up a conversation. “Being on a cruise down the Nile is going to be so weird. I’ve never been on a river cruise before.”
“None of us have. It’ll be a fun, new experience!”
The Nile cruise just opened two months ago. I remember it being part of the proposal Carter was working on when we were together. He wanted to bring the company back to the roots while still expanding, so he arranged for itineraries on the Nile and a few other rivers around the world.
Our flight is long, but we manage to sleep most of the way. We get to Egypt right on time, and a shuttle picks us up to bring us to the cruise dock. The loading process takes longer than it does in the States because of the number of international travelers.
Finally, we make it on board and find our rooms. The cool thing about the smaller river cruise is that the rooms are ready immediately. No need to wait hours like on the huge ship we took last year.
Our room is also bigger, with three beds on the floor instead of one lofted. We splurged to make sure this was the case.
We unpack our things quickly and wander up to the deck to see the sights.
“It’s not as beautiful as the Bahamas,” Caitlyn says, looking out at the deep green forests surrounding us. “But it’s still beautiful.”
“It’s different,” I say. “I like it.”
The deck buffet is open, so we check it out. The food is similar to the last cruise, and I’m starving, so I pile my plate high. Even Jessica and Caitlyn end up with mountains of food. “When on vacation, right?” they say when I eye their plates.
“Exactly,” I say, digging in. The food is just as delicious as I remember, with creamy mashed potatoes, a succulent roast pork, and baby carrots that melt in my mouth.