Cruise to Destiny (Contemporary Romance Novella) Read online

Cruise to Destiny

  A Summer Loving Novella

  Jerrica Knight-Catania

  This book is a work of fiction.

  Names, characters, locations and events are either a product of the

  author’s imagination, fictitious or used fictitiously.

  Any resemblance to any event, locale or person,

  living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Cruise to Destiny

  Copyright 2011 by Jerrica Knight-Catania

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or part in any format.

  Cover design by Jerrica Knight-Catania

  For Eric—

  In memory of our Bermuda engagement and our honeymoon cruise!

  One

  “Hold on to your panties!”

  Melanie looked up from the cash register where she was making change for her customers, to find her best friend, Lisa, standing before her with a ridiculous smile on her face. “Lis, you made me lose count!”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Lisa grabbed Melanie by the hands and swung her around. “This is way more important.”

  “More important than getting a good tip?”

  “God, Melanie, will you just listen to me?”

  Melanie glanced over her shoulder to make sure her customers weren’t trying to flag her down, and then turned back to Lisa. “You have thirty seconds.”

  “Okay, well, pack your bags.”

  Melanie’s eyes widened. “Any reason?”

  “You, me and Shauna. Five days, six nights…on a cruise!”

  Melanie wanted to be excited. No one needed a vacation more than she did at that moment, but it was usually the people who needed the vacations that couldn’t afford to take them. “Thanks, Lis, but I highly doubt I could pay for a cruise right now. And I certainly couldn’t pay for it and still feel good about taking six days off of work.”

  “Oh, come on, Mel!”

  “Excuse me! Miss!”

  Melanie looked over at her shoulder and smiled at the couple waiting for her to bring their change. “I gotta go, Lis.”

  “Can we talk about this later?”

  “We can, but unless some aunt I don’t know about dies and leaves me ten thousand dollars, I’m not going.”

  Melanie took off toward her table, feeling worse about her life than she usually did. She had come to New York three years ago with wide eyes and big dreams. None of which had worked out. Instead of starring on Broadway, she was stuck in holding rooms all day, waiting to sing her sixteen bars, and waiting tables at a diner at night. Not the glamorous life she had dreamed of.

  “Is there something else I can get you?”

  “Just the check, please.”

  “Sure.” Melanie made her way back to the register, dodging her fellow waiters as she did. Lisa was still there, waiting for her. “Lis, I’m gonna get in trouble.”

  “Won’t you hear me out, Mel? Come on. It would be so great! All three of us, relaxing by the pool, soaking up the sun for six days!”

  “Melanie, your table is waiting on their check.” Her boss eyed Lisa, and Melanie wanted to crawl into a hole. She knew Cliff would be on her tail if Lisa hung around too long.

  “I’m on it, Boss,” she said as the ticket rolled out from the little printer. Without even sparing a glance for Lisa, she ran the check back to the table, then greeted the new customers that had just sat down in her section. As she took their order, she prayed Lisa would be gone by the time she returned to the register. It wasn’t so much that she was worried about what her boss would do, but she didn’t want to hear anymore about the fabulous cruise that she couldn’t afford to take. It was hard enough to say no without Lisa badgering her about it.

  “Melanie,” Cliff said as she approached the register. “This is a busy restaurant. You can’t have your friends dropping in for a chat, is that understood?”

  “Absolutely,” Melanie agreed. “Won’t happen again. I promise.”

  Cliff moved on and Melanie entered the new order before retrieving the check from her last table. Great. Ten percent tip on a meager meal.

  Melanie stuffed the buck fifty into her apron and cleared away the table. It was going to take a lot of ten percent tips to get her on that cruise. At this rate, she’d get to go on vacation when she turned fifty-two.