A Change of Plans Read online

  “A Change of Plans will keep readers up way too late in this fast-paced tale of love lost and found again.”

  ~Melanie Jacobson, author of

  The List, Not My Type,

  Twitterpated, and Smart Move

  “A Change of Plans is lots of romance sprinkled with pirates, shipwreck, and adventure. Donna Weaver spins a tale that you will fall in love with, think about for days afterward, and then go back and read again. I laughed, I cried, and I couldn’t put it down.”

  ~Betsy Love, author of

  Identity and Soulfire

  “A captivating tale of love, grief, and hope that will tug at your heartstrings until the very end.”

  ~Laura Josephson, author of

  the Rising series and Confessions

  from the Realm of the Underworld

  “When someone says pirates and novel in the same sentence, I usually say, ‘Thanks, but no’. Not in this case. Ms. Weaver brings a warm humor to her story of romance, travel, and overcoming skeletons in one’s past with her vivid characters and delightful scenes.”

  ~Shaunna Gonzales, author of

  Dark Days of Promise

  For Edward

  DONNA K. WEAVER

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Part 1

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  Part 2

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  Part 3

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  CHAPTER 31

  CHAPTER 32

  CHAPTER 33

  CHAPTER 34

  CHAPTER 35

  CHAPTER 36

  Part 1

  CHAPTER 1

  STARING AT the cruise ship, a shiver of anticipation ran through me. After almost a year spent saving on a high school teacher’s salary, I could hardly believe we were here. Even the clank of luggage and supplies being loaded intensified my excitement, and I decided the rare blue Seattle sky had to be a good omen. Elle was right. This trip would be just the diversion I needed. But I would never admit that to her, or she would keep trying to run my life like she had since kindergarten.

  I watched with amusement as she stretched up on her tiptoes, scanning the crowded dock. “Looking for handsome pirates?”

  “Oh, please,” she snorted. “Modern pirates don’t look like Johnny Depp. Besides, there aren’t supposed to be any in the Pacific Ocean.”

  “Johnny might be a little tall for you, anyway. Maybe we can find you a handsome Hobbit in New Zealand.” I kept a straight face.

  She fixated me with a mock glare and opened her mouth to retort, but something caught her eye and her reply died on her lips.

  “What’s wrong?” Alarmed, I started to turn around.

  Elle grabbed my arm to stop me. “Don’t look, but there’s a guy over there watching you.”

  “Sure he’s not watching you?” I tried not to peek in the direction she had indicated.

  “I know when guys are watching me.” She wasn’t being arrogant, just honest, and after twenty years, I should have known better than to ask.

  The man supposedly eyeing me had just finished checking in, and we ended up next to him and his group as we made our way to the ship.

  He was tall. Really tall. At nearly six feet myself, I paid attention when guys were taller than me. I caught a whiff of pleasant cologne.

  Elle gave him a sideways glance, and I casually turned my face in his general direction. He was looking at me. When our eyes met, he looked away and said something to a little girl whose hand he held.

  “He’s cute,” Elle whispered.

  That’s what she said about every guy she tried to set me up with. “Looks like he has a daughter.”

  Elle shook her head, keeping her voice low. “I overheard them. The little girl called him uncle. She belongs to the couple he’s with.”

  As we went up the gangway, I squinted at the ship’s balconies, wondering which one might be ours. I paused on the threshold and took a deep breath, hoping to capture this memory. The interior smelled like a hotel, lacking the engine stink I remembered from my single day-cruise experience. Several feet ahead, Elle signaled for me to catch up.

  I hurried over, and we stepped inside an elevator. I turned to face the doors and found myself meeting the eyes of the tall man in the elevator opposite ours. He nodded and didn’t break eye contact until the doors closed.

  Flushing, I remained silent as the elevator moved, wondering about the guy. He looked a few years older than me ... I stopped that train of thought. Elle was already sucking me into her nefarious plan to get me dating again. My plan was to read a lot of books.

  And get past the first anniversary of Jace’s death.

  We rode to the lido deck, where we had been instructed to eat and entertain ourselves. Elle turned toward the taco makings spread out on the buffet and reached for the tongs.

  “You’re brave.” I moved behind her. “We have five days at sea before Hawaii.” I nodded toward the taco shell. “Won’t be as tasty coming up as it was going down.”

  She glanced over her shoulder at me. “All the more reason to enjoy it in at least one direction,” she said with a wink.

  The smell of broiling meat drew me to the grill. While I doctored my burger, Elle headed straight to a nearly full table. She already had the ship’s schedule spread out for everyone to see by the time I got there. Sighing, I slid into the chair beside her and turned my attention to the food on my plate.

  I hoped this wasn’t a sample of what was to come, the way she was already collecting ‘friends,’ acting like the last year hadn’t happened. We had agreed—I thought—that I would have plenty of quiet time. I watched Elle as she immediately took control of the conversation, introducing herself and pulling the others into the discussion. Her knack for managing any social situation was one I had always envied, especially in high school. Eventually, I had learned to accept that I was just more reserved—and that was okay.

  Social butterfly Elle would tell me what events I needed to attend. We had come to terms with our different social preferences once we had reached high school. Elle would have been out with friends every night, while I would have been happy with just the weekends.

  Finishing, I pushed away my tray. “I wonder if I’ll fit in my clothes after eating like this for four weeks.”

  Elle looked up from the schedule and grinned. “I’ll worry about it then.”

  “Keep telling yourself that.” She liked her trim figure too much to overindulge too often. I stood. “I’m going to look around.”

  She considered me, wary. “Don’t go signing me up for any tours. I won’t go with you to see the engine room.”

  Laughing softly at the memory of the nasty little engine room on our day cruise, I went in search of the gym. Situated at the bow of the ship, it had an entire wall of windows. I sighed, standing in the warmth of the sunlight and imagining running on the treadmill with nothing but the ocean before me.

  “Nice, yes?” asked a deep voice behind me.

  I spun around and couldn’t help a soft gasp. Before me stood the most beautif
ul human being I had ever seen. A little taller than me and probably close to my age, he must have been a direct descendant of some Scandinavian god with his pale blond hair and light gray eyes.

  He raised his hands. “I didn’t mean to startle you.” His voice had a hint of an accent I couldn’t place. “My name is Jori. Jori Virtanen.”

  “Nice to meet you. I’m Lyn North.” I shook the hand he extended. Like the other guy, Jori also wore nice cologne, subtle and masculine. “Where are you from?”

  “Seattle.”

  I blinked. “Seattle? Your accent ....”

  “My parents and I emigrated from Finland about nine years ago.” Jori’s smile made him even more beautiful. He glanced at the wall of windows and said, almost to himself, “It will be interesting to do some sketching in here.”

  “Are you an artist?”

  He hesitated, his shoulders shifting a bit as though uncomfortable. “I hope to be someday.”

  Curious. In my experience, beautiful people had a tendency to be self-absorbed. “Are you going to sketch the scenery in New Zealand?”

  Jori nodded. “I do plan to do some drawing there.”

  “Wouldn’t it be faster to fly?”

  “I prefer to sketch people. What better place than a cruise ship for people?”

  Remembering why I had come to the gym, I asked, “Have you seen any of the staff around?”

  Jori’s eyes did a quick scan from my head to my feet, and my jaw tightened. “Are you interested in some of the classes?” he said.

  “I want to see if it’s okay to use that open area by the door.” I indicated the location, taking a step toward the exit.

  He arched a brow. “Are you a dancer?”

  “No, I want it for karate practice.” At that moment, a staff member entered the gym. “Well, it was nice meeting you.” I raised my hand in farewell. “I need to go talk with him and then meet my friend.”

  Jori glanced at my left hand. “Your boyfriend?”

  “No.” I edged away. “Just a friend.”

  “Are you going to the departure party?” he asked before I managed to leave.

  “Uh, yes. For a little while.”

  His pale eyes glittered. “Then I will look for you.” He did a little bow and left.

  With a frown, I watched him leave. That incredible specimen of male perfection couldn’t have just been coming on to me. No way was I telling Elle about the encounter.

  After getting permission to use the exercise area, I was about to leave the gym when the loudspeaker squeaked, and a voice announced that the cabins were ready. By the time I found ours, Elle had already put her things away and left a note on the table saying she had gone out to explore but would be back in a little while.

  After unpacking, I wasn’t sure what to do. With nearly fifteen hundred passengers aboard, I didn’t want to risk missing her. She would have to return to the cabin to get her lifejacket for the lifeboat drill, so I decided to explore our balcony.

  The little terrace was only somewhat private. While it had a partial barrier next to the wall, I could see straight down the side of the ship to the other balconies. This was both good and bad. Good because I would get a broader view of the ocean. Bad because I had two swimsuits, and only one was fit for display.

  I glanced at the balcony next to ours, straight into the face of the man from the dock. His eyes twinkled, lighting up with interest. He raised the glass he was holding, starting as his cell phone rang. As he moved to answer it, I heard Elle return and hurried back inside.

  The drill turned out to be a bit anticlimactic, the cruisers taking a long time to gather. The need to wait as more people pressed into our assigned lifeboat area itched at my nerves. I tried to think about something besides the close press of bodies, taking shallow breaths to keep from smelling the mixture of perfume, sunscreen, and liquor, plus a dash of cigarette smoke for variety.

  Elle nudged me and tilted her head to my right. Our tall neighbor stood beside me, observing the people around us.

  “He’s in the cabin next to ours,” I whispered to Elle.

  “Convenient.” Her eyes took on a contemplative gleam.

  I gave her a warning look. More people arrived, forcing us to squeeze in tighter, and my arm pressed against our tall neighbor’s. He leaned toward me. “Look at them.” He pointed ahead.

  Startled at his uninvited comment, I shot him a quick glance and edged a little closer to Elle. I immediately felt silly when I saw he wasn’t even looking at me but at an elderly couple a few feet away. The tiny white-haired woman wore dark glasses, a walking cane for the blind hanging from her hand, as an equally tiny white-haired man guided her to a spot not far from us. He played with her short, curly hair, his fingers twirling a strand around and around. The unconscious familiarity of the movement spoke of decades doing it.

  Intrigued that this love story had captured my neighbor’s attention, I peeked at him from the corner of my eye. He had a pleasant enough face, though his nose was a little too prominent for him to be considered handsome. His dark, almost black, hair had a stylish cut with nice body to it. I imagined it would be wavy when long. When he noticed my scrutiny, he smiled like we were sharing a secret before turning back to the couple.

  The frail gentleman had shifted the old woman so we formed a tight circle. With a quick glance my way, he nodded to the man beside me. “You take good care of your lovely lady there, young man.”

  Elle choked back a laugh, and our cabin neighbor coughed. My face went hot.

  “When times get tough, you should always talk about it.” He gave us a conspiratorial wink. “The ladies need to talk it out, you know.”

  As the blind woman laughed and swatted his arm, the crewmembers launched into the briefing and a last-minute group crushed us tighter still. I clutched Elle’s arm and closed my eyes. I didn’t catch a thing the crewmembers said. When the people finally drifted apart, I took a deep breath of fresh air.

  The tall man reached his hand out to me. “I’m Braedon Randolph.”

  “Lyn North.” A tingle spread through my hand where his dry skin touched mine. I pulled Elle closer. “This is my friend and roommate, Elle Reinhardt. Elle, this is Braedon.”

  Before Elle and Braedon could do more than exchange greetings, his phone rang. “It was nice to meet you,” he said as he stepped away to answer it.

  I stared at my palm, wondering at my response to his touch. A sharp horn blast signaled the ship’s departure, and my stomach noted the first sensation of movement. My heart raced, and I nearly whooped, forgetting the tingle in my hand. “Let’s go to the bow.” I tugged on Elle’s sleeve.

  She made a face. “I said I’d meet the others from lunch by the pool.”

  I hesitated, darting my eyes between her and the receding dock.

  “You go.” Elle gave me a gentle push. “Just be sure to meet us for dinner at seven, okay?”

  I hugged her and made my way to the lower deck, which had a track going completely around the ship. I found a place along the railing, relieved to be alone. I let the ocean breeze blow my hair in a dizzying swirl around my face and shoulders, relishing in the sense of freedom that came with it.

  My mind drifted to Elle. I wondered how seriously she would take her self-designated role of matchmaker.

  I knew I waited in limbo, like someone who had been injured in a diving accident and sat on the edge of the high dive, trying to decide if she could face the water again. The idea of dating had teased the back of my mind for a while, but I was determined. Not yet. Not on a ship. Fairy godmother Elle couldn’t truly believe a cruise would ever provide me with a happily ever after.

  Just as I decided to search for her, I heard voices and turned to find Braedon and his family strolling around the corner. I sighed. Elle would love this.

  CHAPTER 2

  BRAEDON RAISED his eyebrows in recognition. There was no avoiding them then. He had the little girl from earlier in his arms and was accompanied by a man and woman I assu
med were her parents.

  “Hello again,” I said when they reached me.

  Braedon smiled warmly in response and turned to the woman by his side. “Ash, this is my cabin neighbor Lyn North. Lyn, this is my sister, Aislinn Armstrong, and her husband, D’Arcy. This little princess is my niece, Kate.”

  D’Arcy locked eyes with me as he took my hand. “Don’t say it.” He ruined the effect by putting on a brooding expression.

  I burst out laughing and Kate giggled. I reached to shake her hand, but she buried her face in Braedon’s shoulder, suddenly shy.

  After the introductions, they turned to admire the shrinking shoreline, and I wondered how to make a strategic retreat.

  Kate raised her head from her uncle’s shoulder and regarded me, her face solemn. “Those are seagulls.” She pointed to two of the white, squawking birds as they glided alongside the ship.

  “Yes,” I agreed, equally serious.

  “They poop a lot.” Her face scrunched in disgust.

  Braedon and I laughed. He tickled her tummy. “Yes, they do.”

  His phone rang, and I wondered if he was one of those people who had to be connected at all times.

  Aislinn glared at him and whispered, “You promised.”

  “Just this one last time.” He tried handing the little girl to his sister, but Kate stretched, wiggling her little fingers for me to take her. I looked to her mother for permission, and Aislinn nodded.

  I settled Kate on my hip and pointed at a new seagull that had joined the others. “Look at it squawking at them. What do you think it’s saying?”