Page 39 of Fire and Ice Cruise

“So how did you and Ransom make it work so fast?” Marina asks me. “You got married after knowing each other for what, a few months?”

“Six months,” I correct. “Which sounds insane when I say it out loud.”

“It is insane,” Bess says. “The rest of the world told her not to do it. Nettie and I were in the minority and pushed her in his direction.”

“And I did it because when you know, you know.” I shrug. “Also, I’d just ended a twenty-five-year marriage to a serial cheater. I figured I’d earned the right to make impulsive decisions.”

“How’s that cheating ex doing?” Marina asks.

“More or less broke and bitter,” I say cheerfully. “I took him for everything in the divorce. Best decision I ever made.”

Bess raises her coffee cup. “I’ll drink to that. My ex is funding my entire retirement on this ship, and I couldn’t be happier about it.”

“What about you, Nettie?” Marina asks. “Any ex-husbands funding your lifestyle?”

“My last husband died twenty years ago,” Nettie says, and there’s genuine warmth in her voice. “He was a good man. Terrible with money, couldn’t cook to save his life, snored like a chainsaw, but he loved me exactly as I was. I miss him every day that ends in W.”

We all share a laugh at that one as the wind whips around us and the ocean stretches endless and gray.

“I miss David, too,” Marina says quietly. “In days that end in Y,” she adds. “That was the husband I lost way back when. Even after all this time, I miss him.”

Nettie drapes an arm over Marina’s shoulders. “It sounds like he was a good one. And with the good ones, you don’t stop missing them,” she says. “You just learn to live around the missing.”

Marina nods, blinking back tears, and I reach over to squeeze her hand.

“What about new relationships?” Bess asks gently. “Are you open to that?”

She hesitates. “I don’t know. Maybe? The thought terrifies me.”

“Because of David?” I ask.

“Because of everything.” She takes a shaky breath. “When you lose someone you love, you remember how much it hurts. And the idea of going through that again⁠—”

“So you avoid it entirely,” Bess finishes.

“Exactly.”

“That’s not living,” Nettie says bluntly. “That’s just existing.”

“Says the woman who flirts with every man on this ship,” Bess mutters.

“I’m living my best life.”

“You’re living a life that will get you arrested in some countries,” Bess counters.

Marina laughs through her tears. “You two are a riot.”

“We prefer underappreciated geniuses,” Nettie says.

“What about Wes?” I ask Marina because subtlety has never been my strong suit. “He seems interested.”

Marina’s cheeks flush pink. “He’s just being friendly.”

“Honey, men don’t offer private tours to people they’re just being friendly with,” Nettie says. “Trust me. I’ve been around long enough to know the signs.”

Marina blows out a breath. “I don’t know if I’m ready.”

“Nobody’s ever ready,” I tell her. “You just jump and hope the water’s warm.”