Since Amy’s parents’ divorce, the holidays were stressful, what with trying to balance out how much time she would spend with each one. She wasn’t fond of her mother’s new boyfriend, and her father was always traveling on business, which was what had led to their divorce. At least that’s what her mother used as an excuse. For the past few years, their marriage had been hit-or-miss, mostly miss, but that was fine with Amy.
Normally, she would be spending the holidays with friends or helping out at the local animal shelter so the staff could spend time with their families. She felt a little guilty that she would not be there this year, but she offered to work during Thanksgiving weekend to make up for it. She enjoyed preparing a special meal for the pooches and purrs. It was a tradition at the shelter. In spite of the dogs’ yapping, it was still a serene place to spend a holiday, especially since Amy had no other place to be.
After the animals were fed and the dishes removed, she would sit in the cattery and visit with the cats. The cattery was a large, twenty-by-twenty-four-foot sun-filled room with perches, scratching posts, and toys. There were always at least two dozen cats and kittens lounging about. Amy would sit in the middle of the floor and play with the cats, using a small fishing rod with a funny-looking toy attached. The cats would jump and somersault and chase their tails.
Amy felt great comfort knowing that these kitties were safe from harm, even if they were never adopted. It was a no-kill shelter, one of the largest in the country. The good news was that they had an 85 percent adoption rate, which meant most would get a forever home. The rest would live out their lives at the shelter. It was hard to resist taking a dozen of them home, but Amy stopped herself and picked two: Blinky, who was blind in one eye, and Hop-Along, who had a clubfoot. Amy knew they had little chance of getting adopted, so she adopted them. Now she had to figure out who was going to take care of them when she was on the boyfriend-hunting voyage. When she brought Blinky and Hop-Along to the vet for their annual check-up, she asked Molly, one of the veterinary assistants, if she could recommend a kitty sitter. Much to her delight, Molly was available and would be able to check on them twice a day. Having that taken care of, Amy moved on to her next challenge: a new wardrobe. She laughed to herself. Rachael was right. The fashion police would get her sooner or later.
Chapter Three
August
New York
Frankie was on a mission. She was gathering information for the singles cruise. She printed out pages from cruise-ship websites and requested brochures from travel agents. She was surprised at the number of options. So many more than she had expected. There were several to the Bahamas for three nights, as well as more exotic trips to Belize City, Cozumel, and Grand Cayman for a total of seven nights. The ship for the seven-night luxury cruise could accommodate eight hundred passengers with almost four hundred crew members. She typed out a quick e-mail to the women:
Exotic for 7 nights? Or routine Bahamas for 4?
Within minutes, everyone responded. Nina chimed in with:
Exotic! Why pack for only 4 nights?
Amy sent back:
I’m in!
And Rachael replied:
I’m not sure yet. Jimmy said he wanted to take me to New England but he didn’t say when.
Amy countered her with:
Jimmy who?
Frankie typed:
It’s cold in New England!
And Nina added:
You’ll be on to someone else by then! LOL.
Nina wasn’t far from wrong. At this rate, Rachael would certainly be on boyfriend number seven by the holidays.
Rachael, always hoping for Mr. Right, responded:
He’s different. He’s warm and sincere.
Whatever you say.
Nina clicked away at her keyboard, knowing she had heard that story before.
Frankie typed back:
Can we have a Zoom call? It will make things much easier.
Everyone agreed, and Frankie sent out the invitation for the women to dial in.
Within seconds, all four faces appeared on each other’s computer screens. Lots of “hello”s and blown kisses went around.
“Hey, girls!” Frankie was the first to speak. “I have to make the reservations soon. Apparently we’re not the only people looking for love.” She chuckled. “I’ll book four staterooms and get cancellation insurance. We said we each had a two-thousand-dollar budget, not including airfare.”
Murmurs of agreement came through. Frankie continued and held up a handful of brochures. “It’s a new ship. Launched two years ago. We’ll have luxury staterooms with balconies. First stop is Key West, on to Cozumel, Belize City, then Grand Cayman.” She paused as she watched her friends’ faces light up in delight.
“Sounds pretty fab to me,” Nina hooted.
“I’m in,” Amy added.
Rachael was silent for a moment. “It sure sounds like a lot more fun than shivering on the side of a ski mountain.”
The women shouted words of delight. “Finally coming to your senses, eh?” Nina teased.
“If things work out with Jimmy, I’ll have him take me somewhere after New Year’s.”
Amy snickered. “If you don’t meet someone on the cruise.”
Frankie howled. “More than one, I’m sure.”
Rachael rolled her eyes. “OK. OK. I know. I know.” Then she put on a mischievous grin. “Jimmy who?”
A roar of laughter came through everyone’s computer. Rachael knew she couldn’t fool her friends, even after all these years.
“OK. We have a plan.” Frankie was pleased she could get the ball rolling. Things at work were busy, what with the Christmas season in front of her and the release of the big books for the holidays. After a quiet summer, pandemonium was upon the publishing community. Thankfully, this year it was more about cookbooks, pets, and do-it-yourself books instead of the flood of books about political shenanigans. “I’ll put the deposit on my credit card and you guys can send me a check. When I make the reservation, I’ll have the cruise line put the staterooms in each of your names, and you can pay the balance on your own.”
“Perfect,” Amy said.
“Sounds good,” Nina added.
“Maravillosa.” Rachael was already brushing up on her Spanish.
“Oh right,” Amy remarked. “You speak fluent espagñol.”
“Sí, señorita.” Rachael laughed.
Rachael checked her watch. She and Frankie were on Eastern time while Nina and Amy were in the Pacific time zone. “I’ve gotta run and pick up Ryan from camp. Hasta la vista, chicas!”
“Bye, babe. See you soon,” Nina replied.
“Ciao for now!” Frankie added.
“See ya later,” Amy chimed in.
As Rachael’s face disappeared from the screen, the three other women said their good-byes and planned another Zoom call in two weeks.