Somehow they made it through the night, though considering how well the evening banquet had gone, it was doubtful they would be doing that again, it was doubtful she would be putting herself into that situation again anyway.
She couldn’t say it was all bad though, despite the deathly glare, Rachel’s grandmother didn’t contribute to the incineration and her father, despite his aloofness, could potentially be reasoned with.
Besides that, the food was delicious, one of if not the best meal she had ever had; three tantalising appetisers of honey garlic shrimps, a light seasoned butternut squash soup and chicken and yellow corn Vol-au-Vent with tarragon, followed by an entrée of braised, confit and roasted Herdwick lamb with gently honey glazed summer vegetables and finally for dessert a mouth watering Pistachio Soufflé.
Of course she had a glass of red wine to wash it all down with and by the time it was over, she was well and truly stuffed, it took a great deal to even convince herself to have the dessert, since it was all inclusive. That night she slept like a baby.
Today was a new day however, on a cruise ship to boot, so it only seemed natural to make the most of it, of course by lying on a deck chair doing absolutely nothing. Nothing was something too, so she had no reason to feel guilty about it, besides, most of her life consisted of endless somethings, so doing nothing for a change was a welcome departure from the norm.
It wasn’t particularly warm, at least not yet, something she’d come to expect as they drew closer to the Caribbean, but only fantasize about in these chillier seas. Still, the very idea of hotter climates and the hot latte she sipped slowly, trying not to burn her lips, was enough to warm her soul, even if the dreary clouds overhead sought to ruin that dream.
Admittedly, this was Lori’s first time out of the country; she had always wanted to travel, work and studying had always just taken first priority. It always felt as though everyone but her had spanned the vast expanse of the world and returned with stories to tell and yet the furthest she was proud up to this point to say she had travelled to was Brighton, pathetic really, for someone her age with dreams of travelling around the world. Mind you, it wasn’t a particularly attainable dream at the time, she had other rather more pressing concerns to occupy her mind with.
Lori’s father, a profound man with ambitions to be a great police officer, was heartlessly gunned down in what was supposed to be a routine disorderly conduct call. Arriving at a bar and finding two groups of angry drunkards merely threatening each other, what should have ended with a calm resolution, turned into two people being shot, one of which was her father who died in hospital later, his wife, Lori’s mother at his side screaming out his name. Lori was only five at the time, but even then she suspected that her father would probably never return home again, despite her mother’s best efforts to lessen the blow.
Lori had a little sister, at the time only two months old, who flourished into a bright and wonderful little girl, but became dependent on Lori when their mother began to show signs of dementia, resulting in confused anger much of the time and forgetting the both of them.
At this point, it felt as though if God did exist, he was most certainly punishing them for something and naturally in her immature naivety, Lori assumed it was because of her sinful lust for the same sex, something she noticed in her adolescence, but pushed to the back of her mind.
Even with maturity kicking in, those tragedies, losing her father, her mother put into care, the two siblings fostered, were more than enough to overshadow any of her own confused feelings and so her reluctance to express who she was, fear of being happy with who she was, resulted in her constant suppressed feelings and overall introversion. Honestly, meeting Rachel was the first time she could say she felt like her true self, pride and certainty in who she was. Rachel wasn’t the first relationship Lori had had, but she is by far the best.
Despite her past being replete in misery, Lori was trying her best to be optimistic about the future; if she had learned anything in this life, it was that the tides could change from good to bad and back again just like that and that her sexuality was not indicative of something she or anyone in her family had done wrong. Her self confidence was slowly improving and she could safely say she was a great deal more confident than she was all those years ago, heck even than she was when she first met Rachel in university. She even had a sense of pride now that she could have only wished to have come five years ago.
Her attention was averted to a little ginger haired boy walking by with a somewhat sour expression on his face and a seemingly severe case of the sniffles. Instinctively, Lori covered her mouth and nose, the last thing she wanted was to catch whatever he had and spend what enjoyment she should be having on her first time out of England locked up in her cabin. She didn’t even have any medicine to hand, so that would be an utter fucking disaster if there ever was one.
As the boy and his parents disappeared from sight, Lori glanced out towards the ocean. To think something as simple as seeing the ocean could be deemed a luxury for some; Brighton was the
