First Mates. Cecelia Dowdy

parents’ home.

      “I’m sure your mother will enjoy her gift.”

      He squeezed her shoulder. “I think she will, too.”

      “Do you miss your parents since they’ve moved?”

      “A little bit. I used to drop by and visit often when they were still living in Miami. Now that they’re farther away, I can’t see them as much as I’d like.”

      “I’m sure they miss you, too.”

      He shook his head. “I doubt it. I get the feeling they just wanted to get away from everybody and be by themselves. Sometimes I think they forget about me and my brother Deion.” He watched the clerk as she continued to wrap the vase. “As a matter of fact, I speak to my uncle Greg and aunt Gladys more than my parents.”

      “Really?”

      He nodded, explaining that his uncle was his father’s brother and he grew up spending a lot of holidays at their house with his family.

      When they returned to the ship that evening, they stood on the upper deck and enjoyed another midnight buffet. The stars twinkled in the sky, and she realized that the following day would be their last full day aboard the cruise ship.