Atlantic air wrecking havoc on her long, dark waves. But then again, who was she trying to impress? These were her Miami friends. They thought she was the buttoned-up Gabriela of high school, the by-the-book, no-breaking-the-rules, no-alcohol-tolerance honors student. They had no idea about the Gabbie living in New York for the last five years and Gabriela wanted to keep it that way.
“Someone else will clean it up,” Veronica added. Of all the friends from high school, she was the most traditional. She’d married when she was twenty-four and had had two babies in four years, the last of which was only six months old. She was the mother of the group. Veronica gestured to a baby-faced busboy who was already on his way over with a mop. “See? What did I tell you? Gosh, I love cruise ships. Wish I had a staff at my house.”
“Come on,” Lola implored, grabbing Gabriela by the hand. “Have some fun, please?”
Lola caught Gabriela’s eye and grinned. This had been Lola’s harebrained idea: take her entire wedding party, and heck, her entire wedding, on board a four-day cruise to Mexico. She planned to have her bachelorette party, wedding, wedding reception and honeymoon all in one sweep. Lola deserved this happy-ever-after and Gabriela was going to do her best to give it to her.
She realized she’d lost her clipboard and glanced around the bar for it. The clipboard had all her notes for the party—the games she’d planned, the cruise-ship-sanctioned activities and, of course, the ever-important schedule. If it was one thing Gabriela hated, it was falling behind schedule. She grabbed the clipboard from a nearby table as Lola led her to the bar.
“We should calm things down a bit,” Gabriela suggested. “It’s only nine and...”
Her cautious words were drowned out by Felicia shouting, “Shots!” at the bar. Gabriela looked up to see a row of tequila shots—one for each bachelorette partygoer at the mahogany bar.
“Time for this mama to get her groove on,” Veronica joked and then headed to the bar.
“You coming?” Lola glanced at Gabriela, who hesitated. Lola shot Gabriela a sharp glance. “I know you don’t act like this in New York.”
“We’re not in New York,” Gabriela muttered. “And...you promised not to...”
“I’m not going to tell anybody what I know,” Lola said. “Not that they’d care. They might even like you more. And you know Veronica. She just had her second baby, so she’s looking to live vicariously.”
“Yeah,” Gabriela sighed as she looked at Felicia offering up her chest for a body shot for the tanned, hunky bartender. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Lola squeezed her hand. “If you want me to talk to Felicia, I will. I know she’s kind of crazy, but you know she’s been through a lot...what with her divorce...”
“Which was completely her fault.” What did she expect, sleeping with her brother-in-law?
“Yes, but...come on. We all make mistakes.” Lola gave her the wounded puppy dog look and Gabriela inwardly felt herself melting. Lola was the kindest, most generous, judgment-free friend, which was exactly why Gabriela loved her so much. It was also why she’d have to smile and put up with Felicia and her antics.
“True.” Even though Felicia seemed to make more than her share of them.
“Come on, have a shot with me,” Lola said, linking her arm through Gabriela’s and dragging her to the bar. “You’re more fun when you have tequila.”
“More dangerous, you mean,” Gabriela retorted, thinking about the last time Lola had come to visit her in New York and the trouble a few rounds of margaritas had gotten them into.
“Please?” Lola batted her thick, dark eyelashes and Gabriela knew she wouldn’t be able to tell her friend no. This was Lola’s weekend. She was marrying the man of her dreams in two days, and Gabriela’s job was to make sure everything about the cruise was perfect—even this bachelorette party.
“You know I’d do anything for you,” Gabriela said.
“Tequila!” cried Felicia and handed Lola a full-to-the-brim shot glass. Gabriela noticed Felicia didn’t bother handing her one, skipping right over her and giving one to Liv, her sister. Gabriela knew the snub was on purpose. She suspected Felicia had wanted to be the maid of honor and was put out a bit that Lola hadn’t picked her.
Gabriela helped herself to a shot and a slice of lime. Just ignore the toddler behavior, she told herself. Ignore Felicia. Do not, under any circumstances, scratch her eyes out. Not until this wedding is done, that is.
“Here’s to the bride!” cried Felicia, holding up her shot glass.
“To Lola!” the others chimed in and clinked their glasses. As Gabriela knocked hers back, the searing liquid burned down the back of her throat. She quickly quenched the fire by biting into the slice of lime. She felt the blanco tequila settle in her stomach, warming her. She was already starting to feel the tingle of a little buzz. With a little more tequila, even Felicia would be bearable.
“Now to important business,” Felicia declared, pulling down on the hem of her too-snug halter dress. “Lola, you’ve got your man meat all settled and Veronica...you’ve got yours...but the rest of us are single. We’ve got to decide dibs on groomsmen.”
“Is this really necessary?” Gabriela sighed.
“Of course it is,” Felicia snapped, annoyed. “We’ll avoid a lot of fights this way.” She gave a pointed look to Liv, her younger sister who was a lot like a mini Felicia, except with blue tinges to her blond hair.
“Well, you can have them all,” Veronica joked. “I’ve got one husband and that’s enough man to take care of for me. Lola, did I show you pictures of the she-shed he built for me? Seriously—a she-shed. From scratch.” Veronica pulled Lola to the side and began thumbing through the photos on her smartphone.
She-shed? Felicia mouthed then rolled her eyes.
“The groomsmen aren’t even here,” Gabriela pointed out. They were currently having their own stag party on Deck Ten, which was just fine by Gabriela. Handling the G Squad was enough trouble—and broken glasses.
“All the more reason to figure out who has dibs.” Felicia took a breath. “Not that you’d care about men.”
Gabriela’s phone dinged, more notifications from her Spark dating app. Sure, I don’t care about men. She almost wanted to laugh. How little you really know me.
“I want Marco’s younger brother,” Felicia declared.
Lola was so deep into Veronica’s slideshow about her she-shed that she was no longer paying attention. Ugh. Gabriela hated it when Lola wasn’t in the mix. Lola always calmed the Tyler sisters down in ways Gabriela never could.
“No way. I want him.” Liv’s lips curved down into a pout. Gabriela just stared at the two sisters, amazed. While she’d only had brothers, she couldn’t imagine why on earth two sisters would be plotting how to best divvy up the single guys on a cruise ship. Besides, how could they be thinking about hookups during Lola’s big wedding weekend? Then again, she knew the answer: the Tyler sisters thought about hookups all the time, so why would this weekend be any different? She was saddened yet not at
