Hearts Afire. Deborah Fletcher Mello

of water you gone be on!”

      “Water? I don’t understand—” Maitlyn started.

      Katherine clapped her hands together excitedly. “Senior is sending you on a cruise. You leave at the end of the week,” she exclaimed.

      Katrina jumped up with excitement. Completely stunned, Maitlyn came to her feet, as well. “A cruise? I can’t do a cruise,” she stated.

      Senior passed baby Jake to Katrina. He took a deep breath as he moved to stand in front of his oldest daughter; then his hands gripped her gently by the shoulders. “You can do a cruise, and you will do this cruise.”

      “But, Senior, I have to work! I can’t just—”

      The patriarch held up his index finger and shook it in her face. “You need some time away, Maitlyn Rose. You’ve had a rough year. Your mama and I have been watching you take care of everyone but yourself. Between managing Guy’s career, cleaning up Darryl’s messes, handling Kamaya’s business and everything else you do for your brothers and sisters, not to mention your other clients, you haven’t had any time for you. And that stops right now.”

      “Your father’s right,” Katherine interjected. “With everything Donald put you through, this will be a great opportunity for Maitlyn to rediscover Maitlyn. You need to do you a Stella!”

      Katrina suddenly laughed out loud, her eyes wide with amusement.

      Maitlyn looked confused. “Stella? What does that mean?”

      Katherine rolled her eyes. “Go get your groove back, baby.”

      Color flushed Maitlyn’s face as understanding washed over her.

      Senior reached for his grandson again and moved back toward the door. “Come on, Jake. Told you we men can’t get a minute of peace with all these women in the house,” he chimed as they disappeared from view.

      Katrina laughed again. “Mama, I think you embarrassed Senior.”

      Maitlyn nodded as she sat back down. “I know you embarrassed me!”

      Katherine fanned a hand at her daughters. “You know your daddy better than that.” She dropped down onto the seat beside Maitlyn and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

      “And I don’t know what you’re embarrassed about. That well has been dry for too long,” she teased. “It’s time you go get yours, baby. That’s all I’m going to say.” Katherine leaned in to kiss her daughter’s cheek. “Go get yours!”

      Shaking her head, Maitlyn smiled ever so slightly as Katherine and Katrina both laughed out loud.

      * * *

      Standing in front of the full-length mirror that hung from the closet door, Maitlyn held up two dresses, flashing one and then the other in front of her lean frame.

      “Pack them both,” Tarah Boudreaux said. “In fact, pack it all! You’ll be gone for thirty-four days. For thirty-four days you’re going to need a lot of clothes. No one expects you to pack conservatively.”

      “No one expects me to go over my baggage limit, either. I don’t know why I agreed to do this,” Maitlyn exclaimed, dropping down onto the full-size bed. “I don’t want to do this!”

      Tarah laughed. “Do you want to tell Senior that, or do you want me to tell him for you?”

      “Would it make a difference?”

      “Nope. He’ll still tell you that you’re going whether you like it or not.” Tarah giggled.

      Maitlyn sighed as she threw herself back against the mattress. She pulled an arm across her face, covering her eyes. She wanted to be excited about her trip, but she was still mourning the loss of her marriage. Life had thrown her a serious curve, and she wasn’t quite ready to end the pity party she’d been throwing for herself.

      Her ex-husband’s rejection had been monumental, and she was tired of pretending to be strong when all she felt was broken. She took a deep breath as she sat upright and met the harsh stare Tarah was giving her. Like the rest of her family, Tarah refused to commiserate, totally unconcerned with her discontent. “What?” she questioned, eyeing her sister with annoyance.

      “I think we should go lingerie shopping. You can’t pack any of this stuff,” her baby sister said, shaking a fistful of her cotton panties in the air.

      Maitlyn rolled her eyes. “Why are you touching my underwear?”

      “Because these granny panties are not cute! And you definitely don’t want to be caught wearing these if you should meet a guy on your cruise.”

      Maitlyn shook her head, not at all amused.

      “Oh, oh, oh,” Tarah suddenly exclaimed, jumping onto the bed beside her. “I think you should have sex with one of the cabin guys.”

      “I am not having sex with a cabin guy.”

      “Just wild, dirty sex where you don’t even bother to ask his name,” Tarah said excitedly, her hands waving in the air. “I can just see it now. He won’t know you’re in the room when he comes into your cabin to turn down the bed. You’ll pretend to be surprised when he catches you doing this sultry striptease out of your clothes. Then you’ll give him a sexy come-hither look, and when he does you rip his uniform off. Afterward, you show him to the door and leave him a big tip so he definitely knows it wasn’t a love thing.”

      “Do you hear yourself?’ Maitlyn asked with her eyebrows lifted in astonishment.

      “The more important question is do you hear me?”

      “Reel in that creative imagination of yours, please. This is not what this trip is for, Tarah. I swear, Mommy and Daddy taught you better.”

      Tarah laughed. “Exactly! How often do Mommy and Daddy give you carte blanche approval to go do your thing with no repercussions? You can go have sex with the cabin boy, the pool guy and the captain and no one will say anything because they won’t know unless you tell! What happens on the cruise stays on the cruise. Isn’t that what Mommy said?”

      “You are so silly,” Maitlyn said, her smile wide.

      “Just wild, dirty sex with no strings. Oh, yeah! Go, Maitlyn! Go, Maitlyn!” Tarah sang. “Get your groove on!”

      Tarah’s gleeful tone made Maitlyn laugh out loud. “Anyway, how’s school?” she asked, hoping to divert her sister’s attention to something else.

      “School is fine. Don’t change the subject.”

      Maitlyn tossed up her hands. “I’m not talking about this anymore, Tarah.”

      “Don’t talk, just keep packing, and then let’s go shopping. I feel a Victoria’s Secret shopping spree coming on,” Tarah said as she scrambled off the bed and headed toward the door. “I’ll go see if Mommy and Katrina want to come.” Tarah raced out the door.

      Maitlyn smiled. Despite her best efforts it looked like her self-proclaimed pity party was about to come to an end.

      Chapter 2

      Even with the enthusiasm her family had been projecting over her impending trip, Maitlyn was more convinced than ever that the month-long excursion was not a good idea. As she approached the docks, she couldn’t begin to fathom what she would do with herself for all that time. She was half tempted to say so out loud when Tarah interrupted her thoughts with a squeal of excitement.

      “There’s your ship! Look how big it is!” Tarah chimed, pointing out the window of their brother’s SUV.

      Peering where her sister pointed, Maitlyn was suddenly overwhelmed with emotion; the sheer size of the luxury cruise liner took her breath away. The Coastal Galaxy, ranked as one of the world’s largest vessels, towered above the shoreline. The megaship looked like a floating skyscraper lying sideways.

      Kendrick