“It seems as if you all get along okay,” he said.
“The entire Holmes family is close-knit. Honestly, I don’t know why they’re even calling this a reunion at all. It’s not as if we all don’t see each other on a regular basis. We’re together for every holiday, and if there’s too much time between holidays, someone will throw a picnic in their backyard for no reason other than getting the family together.”
“Sounds pretty great to me,” Griffin said. There was a note of longing in his voice. She’d go so far as to call it envy. It sparked Indina’s curiosity.
“What about your family?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Much smaller than yours. It’s just me, my parents and my older brother. They’re all still in Milwaukee.”
“Any extended family?”
“Yeah, but they’re mostly scattered around the country. I haven’t seen my cousins in years.”
Indina frowned. It occurred to her that in the year she’d known him, Griffin had never visited his family or, as far as she knew, had them down to visit him. An entire year without seeing his family?
So much of her time—outside of the hours she spent at work and hanging out with a few close friends—was cannibalized by one Holmes gathering after another, but Indina couldn’t imagine life any other way. As much as she complained about her family’s clinginess, she would hate it if she didn’t get to see them on a regular basis. Hearing Griffin talk about his made her appreciate her rambunctious, sometimes annoying, often too nosy clan.
She and Griffin continued down the cruise ship’s broad main corridor, with its floors that were so polished they looked wet, and its dozens of shops. There was a high-end boutique with formalwear for the cruise’s dress-up night, several souvenir gift shops, even a coffee bar and a salon. The most crowded room looked to be the duty-free liquor store.
“You can live on this cruise ship if you wanted to,” Griffin said. “They have everything.”
“I hear that’s becoming a thing.”
“Living on a cruise ship?”
She nodded. “Especially for retirees. Just think about it. You don’t have to worry about cooking or cleaning, and you get to travel the world. Sounds like a pretty sweet life to me.”
Amusement brightened his deep brown eyes. “Not sure I can handle being on the water that long, but I can be persuaded,” he said with a wink.
Okay, exactly what was going on here? This wasn’t the first time he’d hit her with that sexy wink, but for some reason it spawned a new, unfamiliar flutter in her belly.
Indina pushed the odd feeling out of her head with the promise to revisit it later, when she had time to unpack and fully examine the inexplicable awareness Griffin’s single wink had elicited.
She pointed to the sliding doors leading to the outside deck. “I think there’s a stairway that leads to the upper deck,” she said.
They went outside and walked up a set of wooden stairs. It brought them directly to one of the pools where they encountered another gaggle of Holmeses. All of the kids were there, along with Harrison and Alexander. Indina made introductions.
“Alex here is my grandparents’ eldest grandchild,” Indina said. “He’s the reason Eli and Toby both had such a hard time living up to their big brother’s example.”
“They did okay,” Alex said, reaching over to shake Griffin’s hand.
She tried pointing out the kids in the pool, but gave up.
“You’ll meet them eventually,” she said. “And then promptly forget their names because there’s just too many of them these days.” She turned to her brother. “Have you seen Ezra? I need to talk to him.”
“Last I heard, he and Reid were going down to the concierge to book a Jet Ski excursion for our afternoon in Progresso.”
“I thought we were all going out to see the Mayan ruins?”
“We are, but they went down to see if there’s a way for them to fit in the Jet Skis on the same day.” Harrison shook his head. “They won’t be able to, but I’ll let the people at the excursion desk break it to them. Knowing those two, they’ll waste their money on the second excursion anyway.”
Griffin turned to her. “I didn’t realize the excursions were extra. Who do I pay for that?”
“It’s included with the price of the cruise,” Indina said.
“No, it isn’t,” Harrison said. Indina turned to him and gave him an annoyed look. “What?” her brother asked.
She turned her attention back to Griffin. “Don’t worry about the excursion. I’ve got you covered.”
“Wait a minute—” Griffin started, but Alex cut him off.
Clamping a hand on Griffin’s back, he said, “I don’t even know you, but you’re already my hero. You’ve acquired what many a man could only hope to find: a sugar mama.”
“Oh, shut up,” Indina said with a laugh. “It’s not like that. I invited Griffin to come along. He shouldn’t have to pay for anything.”
“But I will,” Griffin said. He turned to Harrison, as if her brother was the one he was most afraid of offending. “I’m paying my own way.”
Harrison held his hands up. “It’s not my business.”
Indina rolled her eyes. “We’ll catch up with you all later,” she said. “We still have to visit the forward and midship areas of this deck.”
“Check out the ice cream shop,” Alex called.
As soon as they stepped away from the pool area, Griffin turned to her.
“Okay, that wasn’t cool,” he said.
“What?”
“First of all, you’re not paying for my cruise. Let’s establish that right here and right now.” Indina folded her arms across her chest but remained silent. “Secondly, why would you even say those things in front of your brother and cousin? They probably think I’m some kind of mooch living off of you or something.”
She shrugged. “They think I’m your sugar mama. Alex is impressed, and it takes a lot to impressed that one.”
“Indina—”
“Come on,” she said, capturing his wrist and tugging. “We still have a lot of boat to see.”
A few
