One Last Chance (2 page)

“
Hello, Miss Woodward. I’m Susan Claddington. I understand we’re having a problem with your reservation.”

“
Eduardo here tells me I don’t have a reservation,” Claire said. “So, yeah. That’s kind of a problem. Even though I paid for a ticket.”

Her smile intensified. “May I see your confirmation?”

She handed Susan the paper. “Really. At this point, I’ll take the refund and go. So we can avoid anymore hassles.”

“
Well, I’m afraid all refunds take approximately eight to twelve weeks,” Susan said, still studying the confirmation. “And they must be approved by our corporate office.”

Claire’s blood pressure spiked. “Find me a room or give me cash. Those are your options.”

Eduardo shrank a little, but Susan continued to smile. “I understand your frustration, Miss Woodward. I really do. And I’m happy to process a refund request for you. But please keep in mind, it’s only a request and it will take eight to twelve weeks to process.”

There was no way she was waiting two to three months for a refund on a trip that she’d already paid for. No. Possible. Way.

“
Then find me a room,” Claire said. “Or I’ll go find the goddamn captain and tell him I’m sleeping in his room.”

Susan spoke through clenched teeth. “The captain doesn’t have a room. He has what are called quarters. And, unfortunately, passengers aren’t permitted to visit that area.”

“
Then find me a room!” Claire said, her voice rising loud enough to turn heads. “I paid for a room. I have a receipt. Find. Me. A. Room.”

Susan’s smile wavered for a moment, but she recovered quickly. “Miss Woodward, I do understand your frustration…”

“
No, I don’t think you do, Susan,” Claire spat. “Because you probably have a bed to sleep in on this ship tonight. I don’t—even though I paid for one. So I don’t think you have a clue as to how I feel. At all.” She slammed her hand down on the counter. “So find me a bed, Susan. Find me a bed.”

Susan’s veneer finally cracked and the smile faded into a thin line of determination. She opened her mouth to speak but someone interrupted her.

“
Well, if all you need is a bed, I think I can help,” a voice said from behind Claire.

She froze.

She knew that voice.

That voice wasn’t on the list.

That voice made her want to run from the dock, refund or no refund.

But she’d have to turn around to run and that meant having to look at him.

She was trapped.

Slowly, defeated, she turned around.

Griffin Benson smiled at her. “Hello, Claire.”

She looked like she wanted to rip someone’s face off and he knew that laughing was the wrong response, but Griffin couldn’t hide his amusement.

“
Griffin,” she said, flustered. “Hello.”

“
Hi, yourself.” He grinned at her. “So you need a bed, huh?”

Claire shook her head vigorously. “No.”

“
Uh, you just said you did.” He gestured in the other direction. “I could hear you all the way over there.”

Her face reddened. He remembered her face coloring like that in high school whenever she was embarrassed. He’d missed seeing it. Or maybe he’d just missed being the one who could bring the color to her face.

“
I’ll be fine,” she said sternly.

He ignored her statement. “Back to the issue of the bed. I believe this nice lady said she didn’t have one to offer you,” he said, smiling at Susan.

Susan nodded, her smile repositioned. “That’s correct. Unfortunately, we are booked solid and we don’t have an empty cabin. I’m terribly sorry.”

Claire’s mouth tightened and her body stiffened.

“
My stateroom has two beds,” Griffin said. “I paid for a double, but didn’t want a roommate.”  He turned to Claire. “If I’d known you were gonna be available, I would’ve just asked you ahead of time and saved everyone all of the yelling.”

Her lips twitched. “I’m not sharing a room with you, Griffin.”

“
I’d be willing to bet that Susan here might even be able to do something about still refunding your money, given that they’ve made such an egregious error,” he said. “That sound right, Susan?”

“
Well, I, uh…”

Griffin turned his full attention to the cruise ship representative.

“
Susan, did I mention that I write for a consumer travel magazine?” he asked. “I can’t recall. And that my column reaches hundreds of thousands of people? And that it’s specifically geared to helping consumers who have had less than stellar travel experiences?”

Susan studied him for a moment. Griffin watched as the color drained from her face. “Mr. Benson. I’m sorry. I didn’t recognize you.”

He shrugged. “Ah, that’s okay. Most people don’t.”

She whispered something to Eduardo, whose face turned the same color hers had. He scurried off.

“
Absolutely, Mr. Benson,” Susan said, lifting her chin. “We’d be happy to stand by our offer of a full refund for Miss Woodward, due to our error. If she wishes to accompany you on the trip, we would welcome her free of charge and do our best to make up for any inconvenience this may have caused.”

Griffin leaned an elbow on the counter and smiled at Claire. “I’m not sure how you can refuse an offer like that. A cruise. For free. And my company. So we can catch up.”

Claire shifted her weight from one foot to another, contemplating.

Griffin watched her. He had to admit, she looked just as good as he remembered. Maybe better. A momentary pang swung through his gut. If he hadn’t been such an idiot ten years ago
…

She narrowed her eyes, a deep frown etched into her forehead. “To be clear,” she said. “If I agree to share a room with you, that is all I’m agreeing to. I’m not agreeing to be your ship buddy. Or your tour companion. We share the room to sleep and change and that’s it. You have any other ideas, you can forget it.”

Griffin couldn’t help but smile, even though he knew it would irritate her. “I don’t have any other ideas, Claire. Just offering you a way to stay on the cruise.”

She stared at him and he knew she was trying to read him, trying to decide if he had some ulterior motive.

He did, of course, but it was far less sinister than she was thinking. He’d missed her, plain and simple. The only reason he’d decided to come on the cruise was because of her. He’d checked the roster on the reunion site and saw she was signed up. He waited until the last minute to make sure she hadn’t backed out and had just confirmed his reservation three days before. Getting to share a room with her? That was just an extra bonus.

“
Ma’am, you’re going to have to make a decision,” Susan said from behind the counter. “We need to certify the final passenger manifest and if you’re going to be joining us, I’ll need to add your name.”

She tugged on her earlobe and her mouth twisted as she thought. He remembered her pulling on her earlobe like that in high school. He remembered her yanking the crap out of it when he’d first asked her out.

“
Come on,” he said. “Just come. I won’t even talk to you if you don’t want me to.”

“
When have you ever been able to keep your mouth shut?”  she asked.

“
Not ever,” he admitted. “But I’ll try. For you. If that’s the way you want it.”

“
What I want is my own room,” she said, then sighed. “But I guess I’m sharing yours.”

“
You gotta admit, this is pretty nice,” Griffin said.

Claire tossed her bags on her bed. “See? You’re already talking to me.”

He rolled his eyes. Okay. She was going to be difficult. He should’ve known.

“
Sorry for pointing out the obvious,” he said.

The room was cool, though. He’d purposely chosen a stateroom with a view and a small balcony. He knew he’d feel claustrophobic without a window. He needed the sun and the air. It had cost nearly double what the lower dungeon rooms went for, but he could afford it now. He was at the point where he was turning down freelance offers, picking and choosing who he wrote for and what he wrote about. The syndicated column had given him the freedom to splurge on things from time to time and this seemed like a good time to indulge.

He pulled his clothes from his backpack and stuffed them in the drawers of the dresser. He set his overnight bag in the bathroom, kicked off his sandals and laid down on the bed he’d chosen.

“
What are you doing?” Claire asked. She’d unzipped her bag and was pulling things out, making neat little piles on the second bed.

“
Uh…relaxing?”

“
Don’t think you can just lie there and stare at me and get me to talk to you,” she said, a hand on her hip. “It’s not going to happen.”

“
I’m not having to do anything to get you to talk to me,” Griffin said, raising an eyebrow.

She started to say something, then stopped.

He raised the eyebrow higher.

She opened her mouth again, but nothing came out. Then she made a face and shook her head. “Whatever.”

Griffin chuckled and closed his eyes.

He heard her shuffling around, opening and closing drawers, clanging hangers in the closet.

“
You weren’t on the list,” she finally said.

He didn’t say anything.

“
Griffin?” she said. “You weren’t on the list.”

He opened one eye. “Am I allowed to speak now?”

She sighed, exasperated. “Just answer the question.”

“
It wasn’t a question. A question usually begins with an interrogative.”

“
Good God,” she said. “Fine. Why are you here? You weren’t on the list.” She raised her own eyebrow. “That clear enough for you?”

“
Two questions,” he said. “Excellent.”

She turned away, but he thought he saw the beginning of a smile before she did.

“
I signed up late,” he explained. “I had some work commitments I had to take care of, stuff I wasn’t sure I could get done in time. Turns out I could, so I decided to come.”

That, of course, was a partial truth, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to blurt out that she was the reason he was there, particularly when she was still appalled to be sharing space with him.

“
Was that true?” she asked, turning back around and sitting down on the edge of her bed. “The travel writer thing?”

“
Yep.”

“
I don’t remember you writing in high school,” she said.

“
What do you remember me doing?”

“
Breaking up with me.”

He felt the heat rise in his face. Her pointed look made it worse.

“
I did a little bit,” he said, dodging the conversation. “In notebooks and stuff. Nothing serious. When I was done with school, I didn’t want to get a job. I wanted to travel. I wrote a couple of things and it just snowballed.”

She folded her arms and crossed her legs. “So, what? You’re like big and powerful?”

His eyes lingered on her legs for a moment before they moved back to her face. “Big and powerful? I don’t know. I write a column. People get screwed over, they write to me, I help them.”

“
That lady knew your name.”

He shrugged, unsure of what to say.

“
She wouldn’t have given me this trip for free if you hadn’t told her your name.”

“
Maybe, maybe not.”

“
Maybe not. So…thank you. I guess.”

“
You’re welcome,” Griffin said, pleased that there was finally some civility.

Claire stood. “But if you think getting me a free cruise is going to make up for ripping my heart to pieces ten years ago, you are sorely mistaken.”

Getting ready in a tiny stateroom with your ex-boyfriend from high school was harder than Claire thought it was going to be.

“
Are you almost done in there?” She banged on the bathroom door.

Griffin’s voice was muffled. “What?”

He’d been in the shower for over ten minutes. She glanced at her watch. The reunion happy hour started at six o’clock. She had less than thirty minutes to shower, shave, do her hair, and put on make-up. She’d never make it.

She pounded on the door again. “It would be great if you could hurry it up a little.”

The water shut off and she heard the shower curtain slide. She smiled in satisfaction. He’d listened.