Part 10 (2/2)
”How am I doing?”
Her smile dazzled me. ”Just fine, Galahad, just fine.”
I leaned closer and heard her sigh. Her hair smelled of honeysuckle and that rush of giddiness returned.
”So, uhh, what did you think of my book? I a.s.sume you got it from the s.h.i.+p's library.”
”They have all of them, so I picked the very first one.”
”It's my favorite. It was rejected over thirty times before it was published, and I thought if I had to rewrite it one more time, I would jump out my window.”
”I'm glad you didn't.”
”Me, too.”
The music ended and the band struck up a fast ragtime. Since neither one of us knew what to do with that kind of music, we returned to the table and our soup course.
Two hours later, the meal finally wound down. I'd managed to stick to my plan to eat sparingly of each course, savoring it for its unique flavor. The others, excluding Harlan and Maddy who'd followed my lead, appeared dazed and logy.
Harlan broke the momentary silence. ”If you gentlemen would care to join me in the smoking room for cigars and port, I would be honored.” He turned to Maddy. ”Ladies, if you will excuse us.”
Maddy looked at me and I knew what she was thinking.
”Harlan, if you don't mind, Maddy and I are going to take a turn around the deck.”
He smiled, this time without any conspiratorial overtones. ”Of course. I'll see you later.” Then to the others. ”Gentlemen, let us retire.”
Hoyt struggled to his feet and was joined by Gavin Reynolds who looked even thinner standing up. The three of them joined a growing throng of men headed for the smoking room one deck above.
”Are you sure you don't want to join them?” Maddy said.
Though her question was innocent, I could discern the true subtext. I shook my head, helping her on with her wrap. ”No thanks. I never could stand to be in a smoky room. Besides, I'd have to be crazy to leave you alone.”
She laughed, and together we walked out of the Dining Saloon, taking a lift up to the Boat deck.
Outside, the temperature had dropped and she huddled against me, her arm around my waist. We walked the length of the deck at a leisurely pace, pa.s.sing a few of our fellow pa.s.sengers on similar missions.
The moon was a crescent of silver hanging overhead, and the stars stretched from horizon to horizon like a brilliant pointillist tapestry.
”It's beautiful, isn't it?” Maddy said, staring upward, the pale light making the ivory pallor of her skin glow. ”You forget when you live in a city, just how breathtaking the night sky really is. I'll bet it looked just this way a hundred years ago....”
I stared at her until my silence made her turn. ”What is it?” she said, a smile playing across her lips.
”Who are you, Maddy Regehr?”
”Isn't this where you're supposed to say, 'Where have you been all my life?'”
”That was on my mind, too, but I realized, just now actually, that you know all about me, and I know next to nothing about you.”
”You're not trying for one of your interviews.”
”No, I'm not. But so what if I were? Is your life story that bad?”
A troubled look flashed across her face, revealing fine lines I'd never seen, lines that didn't belong on this woman's countenance, lines of unhappiness.
”I really don't want to talk about it, Trevor. Can we change the subject?”
The writer in me, the one who wanted to ferret out the truth, urged me to press on; but I knew to do so would alienate her from me, possibly for good. And I couldn't do that, for I knew whatever it was we felt for each other was still on tenuous ground.
”Isn't that your friend?” she asked, motioning toward the stern with a nod of her head.
I followed her gaze and saw Harlan down on the p.o.o.p Deck striding past the docking bridge on his way toward the aftermost point.
He appeared to be in a hurry. I frowned.
”You mind if we go down there?”
”You're worried about him, aren't you?”
”Is it that obvious?”
She nodded. ”Yes, it is. Are you sure you want to get involved?”
She had my attention now.
”Why would you say that?”
”No reason, except all of us have our secrets, and sometimes it's best if we don't plumb too deep.”
”That go for you, too?”
She remained silent, a beautiful, maddening enigma more enticing by the moment.
”Come on, let's go.”
Except for two men having an argument about sports statistics, the p.o.o.p Deck lay mostly deserted. We found Harlan leaning on the railing looking out over the s.h.i.+p's wake. It took him a few minutes to realize we were there and until he did, he seemed forlorn, an expression I'd never seen on him before.
”Wasn't the food terrific, Trev?” he asked, without turning around. ”Can you believe people really ate like that, and lived long and healthy lives? And now look at us.” He turned and fixed me with an angry glare. ”We're all running scared, worried about every miserable thing we put into our bodies.” He shook his head, and I took it as my cue to voice concerns that had gnawed at me since the voyage began.
”Is everything all right, Harlan?”
He gave me an odd look, then smiled.
”Sure, kiddo, everything's fine. At any rate, it's nothing a sea voyage won't cure.”
I saw a look pa.s.s between him and Maddy, and I felt a flash of white-hot jealousy.
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