The recent storm had left a cold feeling in the cruise, the mist covered the surroundings, isolating the ship or perhaps acting as a shield. There wasn't much work to be done that afternoon at the kid's club, luckily for Jack who was eager to recover from his wrist and start drawing again.
"No one wanted to visit today huh?" He said as he brought a chair closer to the bookcase.
"It makes sense" Marina said "a cruise to Vietnam doesn't sound like the perfect vacation for families with little children"
He laughed "You're right. Better for me, I've always wanted to organize this bookcase and have never had the time to do so"
Jack noticed Marina was a beautiful girl from the start, practically everyone who had a pair of eyes could be aware of this. Her symmetrical face framed perfectly by bluish almond eyes and thick brows, along with freckles which made her even more attractive. He recognized her beauty, but that was it; he didn't feel any attraction towards her... his only expectation was for them to work successfully together as a team, as his boss had requested. After Marina finished disinfecting the toys, she brought up a chair to sit in front of Jack and asked him to read to her as a joke; he accepted with a smirk on his face and had fun acting out scenes from the children's book, entertaining both of them for another half an hour.
"How old are you, Jack? If you don't mind me asking"
"Of course not, I'll be twenty-two this June"
"Aw, you're so small"
"What? Come on. I'm big"
"Have you finished college yet?"
"Uh, i'm on it" he lied. The trip was validated with a minor, not a degree. "Have you?"
"Five years ago, sweetie"
"Really? What did you study?"
"I graduated from my hometown's University in Early Childhood Education"
"That's amazing"
"Thank you" Jack's phone ringing interrupted the conversation, he expressed his desire to block it but Marina told him to answer it, she would cover him in case someone walked in.
"I'm sorry" Jack excused himself and took his phone out of his pocket to answer. Marina had made him forget what happened earlier at breakfast, he felt like it had been two separated days since then. "Hello"
"Hi" A shy voice from the other side of the line said.
Silence.
"How are you?"
"Good. And you?"
"I've been better" He sighed, putting his other hand on his hip.
Silence again.
"I just wanted to check in and say hello"
"Alright. Well, I gotta go, I'm working. Have fun with Tommy tonight"
"Jack wait-"
"We'll talk tonight when I'm off, alright?"
Rose hung up abruptly. Jack sighed again in frustration, if she's mad about something, why doesn't she tell me straight up? Why do I have to guess?
"Everything okay?"
"Yeah, yeah" Jack lied; although he thanked Marina's empathy at the moment, he would never bother her with his relationship problems. Besides, he had just met her, he couldn't fully trust her yet.
A loud thunder blazed its way through the sky.
"Let's get everything in, in case it starts raining again" Jack suggested
They followed the hallway to the private lounge outside. Jack recalled when he taught Rose how to fly. He smiled at the memory... one of the best days of his life without a doubt. The weather accompanied his emotions, or maybe the whole situation? The last time he'd been there was a make it or break it moment, the sun was setting, it would be a new day. That afternoon, everything was gray... everything felt gray.
He couldn't do much since he couldn't use his right hand, but he managed with the towels and some chairs.
Last night...
The rocking movement was barely noticeable that high, however, you could appreciate every drop of water that hit the glass. Have you ever rehearsed a situation in your mind? Rose certainly did. She envisioned Jack coming through the door, maybe with his school sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. She could almost smell the scent of cedar and vanilla which she adored. Jack would arrive and pamper his girl for a while until he pulled out the cards to try and play some poker, only to have them all spread out on the bed an hour later.
Rose
I guessed I'd wait for Jack cleaning my phone since I was aware that I had various pictures of the same thing and I only needed one. I started with the oldest media in my camera roll; there were mostly pictures of the sky, i put them in a folder. Then the ones from New York, I erased all of them except the ones with Jack at the ice skating rink... we barely knew each other, something tickled inside of me when I looked directly to the eyes of the two people in the screen.
I scrolled down a little bit and found pictures from Mexico and Dominican Republic, I couldn't pick just one from each thing so I erased the blurred ones and kept the rest. I glanced at the time... 10:30, I guess he is not coming. I'm not going to lie, I was disappointed, I did want to sleep in his arms, I needed the warmth.
Why isn't he calling?
It had been an hour and I was still watching the same video of Jack, Tommy and I messing around at the beach trying to do a Tik Tok but failing miserably. What would I say to everyone when we dock? Cal wasn't interested a bit in the story, surely, he would say he dumped me, it was the easiest thing to do... we were living in a lie. The rainy weather didn't help my emotions.
Been up, all night. All night running all my lines... but it's only the truth...
I was laying on my back on the bed, when I noticed the dim light of the nightstand illuminated a notebook on the wood. Oh how much stress had that notebook provided me the last week. The ink of the pages could become one of two things, the cure to all my problems or just proof of my uselessness... is that even a word?
I remember frequently going to the office with my father growing up. He used to arrive in late in the evenings and mother wouldn't wait on him... but I did. We stayed up all night talking about his day and how we felt about specific things. I learned a lot from how he handled everything, from his finances to which clients he chose and how he treated them... I realized I knew perfectly how he ran the business, so I wrote it all down.
My vision was getting blurry, it all seemed like a lifetime ago... I went to the bathroom and my eyes fell on the toilet... my dad wouldn't like to know that I hurt myself... he protected me with all his heart... he always said to be careful, to be strong and make good choices... is that why he shared all of this with me? Because he wanted me to take his place?
I looked at myself in the mirror and didn't see a girl who didn't know her way. I saw a woman who didn't trust her own skills because she'd never been allowed to make mistakes, and she didn't allow herself to succeed either.
I saw the eyes of a tiger, the heart of a lion and the skills of a shark. I am my father's daughter, and the rightful owner of DeWitt Constructions. I AM Rose DeWitt. Why did another family think they had the right to decide upon OUR business?
If what my friends and my therapist said was true... I was smart, really smart. If what my boyfriend and best friend said was true, I was fierce. I was as capable as any other person, and had advantages that most people didn't... I had to make it count.
More than a thousand employees and their families were counting on me to succeed in the marriage with the Hockleys... why on earth did I think marrying Cal was the only way to keep the business? It was MY business after all. I didn't know whose name was in my father's will, but I surely would fight for it.
My tears had dried.
I have to talk to Tommy. I'll wait until the sun comes out.
I had grown very close to Tommy, he shared with me how his father expected him to take care of his business as well, and how he trusted him and his brothers. It didn't take me that long to realize it was different with me because Tommy was a guy, he was expected to be a businessman, a leader, a boss... and I was expected to get married so a guy could run the company. Tommy helped me get these ideas out of my head, and he frequently used Molly as an example; she was a fierce leader indeed... and a very successful one as well.
Been up, all night, not sure how to say this right. Got so much to lose.
I arrived at the RMS early next morning and found the guys in the cafeteria. Jack's voice easily gave away their table's location. A small part of me wanted to run and hug Jack and tell him how much I needed him last night... but the thing was... I ended up not needing him. I mean, I did want him to be there, I did want him to at least give me a call... but i wasn't breaking down because of it. I had a mission today and that was to talk to my Irish friend.
"Hey Tommy"
"Hey! What are you doing here?" Tommy got up to welcome me. Jack didn't even turn his head... even Fabrizio said hi, at least with a wave because his mouth was full.
"Well, someone left me hanging last night and I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner tonight with me on land? I have news on you know who..." i raised my voice to emphasize the word 'someone' but Jack didn't even look, again. Was he mad? What did I do?
"I'd love to Rose; I'll see you at the lobby"
He didn't even acknowledge me.
I walked back to the suit with intentions of taking a nap since I didn't sleep at all last night. I found my mom at the balcony table working on her laptop, I gave her a good morning kiss and poured myself some tea. I initiated a conversation about the weather, she engaged. It felt nice when we both agreed on something: it was nice when the sun finally came out after so much rain.
I sat down with my mom at the table, and we had breakfast together in the balcony. I was about to fall asleep on the chair when a crashing sound startled me and woke me up. I recognized it came from the deck below, someone had dropped a glass.
For less than a second, my mind recalled breaking a glass to grab an axe. Why did I think of that when I heard the sound? I could have thought of when I broke the glass with a football or when Cal flipped the table over. Thousands of things could have gone through my mind when hearing the sound of a broken glass, but for some reason... I had to think of myself breaking a glass with a hose to grab an emergency axe. I wasn't even sure if there were axes on board...
After my much-deserved nap, I headed to the kid's club. I had not treated Jack very nice that morning... I had to apologize. I guess we all say things we don't mean when we're angry... or sleepy. My mind was clearer after the nap for me to realize it wasn't me against Jack, it was us against the problem. I had to discover why he was mad at me, because he didn't sound happy at the phone either.
Was I in the right deck? After living on the cruise for months it would've been embarrassing to forget where everything was... but then again, I didn't even know what half of the switches at my home were for. Yes. I was in the right deck... but there weren't any children. It was quiet except for two laughs. I recognized the first one... I didn't recognize the second one.
I saw a blonde girl leaving, I wish I had her body... Come on Rose, the fact that she's hot doesn't mean you are not. Get over it. What happened with yesterday's promise?
"Rose? What are you doing here?" Jack's voice interrupted my thoughts
"Why are you so surprised to see me?"
"It's just... I mean... you've never come in before"
"Well, I wanted to apologize for this morning, but I see you are very busy working, just as you told me on the phone"
"I was working, Rose"
"There are no children in here"
"It's my job to be here in case anyone comes in"
I sighed "Do you have clean clothes to change out of your uniform?" He looked at me offended. I didn't mind, I knew him too well, he didn't like to use the laundry service but didn't like to wash his clothes in the bathroom either.
"I don't know, why?"
"I'm taking you out to dine"
"I thought you were going out with Tommy?" He said, mocking me
"Well now I'm inviting you as well. If you don't wanna come..."
"No, i do"
"Good. I'll see you in the lobby in twenty minutes"
"Twenty? At least give me time to shower"
"Twenty-five"
He firmly grabbed my face and kissed me "Why are you acting so-"
"Bossy?"
"I was gonna say assertive"
"Why do I get the feeling you don't like taking orders from a girl?"
He intertwined his hands with mine "I just thought you only gave orders in bed"
"Twenty four"