Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 73716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“Hmm,” I said, eyeing the stairs. “Well, let’s go.”
I took the first four flights without problem, but by the time we got to the fifth, my thighs were screaming.
“You’re killing me,” I wheezed, seeing him already at the top landing holding the door for me. “I can hardly draw a breath!”
He rolled his eyes. “Maybe while you’re here with me, we’ll workout. Work on those puny thighs.”
I looked down at my thighs, then up at him. “They’re not puny. They’re fat.”
He snorted. “Those legs are anything but fat. They’re shapely, yes, but they’re not fat. Have you ever heard the saying ‘thick thighs save lives’?”
I shook my head. “No.”
He hummed as we made our way out of the stairwell and straight out into the pool area. “Wow,” was all I could think to say.
“Three thousand people on board this ship. Three hundred of them are officers and their spouses. The other twenty-seven hundred of them are people over seventy,” he commented.
I couldn’t disagree with him. Every single person we passed on the way to the buffet in the corner was an older man or woman. None of them were under the age of sixty.
“They did say this was a nicer boat. Maybe the other cruise lines are a little more geared toward the younger crowd. That boat we saw as we pulled out had a water slide on top of it,” I pointed out. “And maybe these people were just priority boarders. They just got on and settled faster than the rest of us. Maybe they just haven’t made their way up here yet.”
He grunted something indistinguishable in reply, and I held my tongue as we made our way, following the masses, who all had the same plan to get food, into the dining room where the buffet was housed.
My mouth twitched when I saw Tobias stiffen.
There had to be at least three hundred people in the large room, but he didn’t say a thing as he grabbed a plate and made his way through the buffet tables where dish after dish was set up and waiting.
I chose a few rolls, some sliced beef that was served by a guy with a chef’s hat about three feet tall, and a scoop of spaghetti in meat sauce.
“That’s all you’re getting?”
I jumped when I saw Tobias come up behind me, his plate was heaping full and rounded at the top.
“No,” I said, pointing to the large table of desserts. “I’m gonna eat this, and then I’m going to head over there and try a piece of every single thing on their dessert table.”
He snorted. “Where do you want to sit?”
I looked around, not seeing a single table open. There had to be at least a hundred tables, and every single one of them was occupied.
“I guess we could go outside,” I said. “There were a few tables out by the pool that I remember seeing as we came in.”
He grunted something in reply and started walking. If I was a guessing woman, I would assume that grunt was supposed to be an ‘okay.’
A grin spreading out over my lips, I hurried behind him as he dropped his plate down on an empty table that an older man was just vacating.
“Enjoy,” the old man said as he shuffled off, using his cane as support.
I placed my plate down on the table as I grabbed for the pole that was directly next to us when the ship rocked under my feet. “I see fall hazards everywhere,” I mumbled to him. “That man with the cane. That old woman with the walker.” I gestured to the woman that was shuffling toward the bar. “Then there’s that man in the pool in his Speedo.”
Tobias snorted. “That’s the nurse in you, I’d guess. Just wait until they get some alcohol into their systems. Then their fall risks will go up.”
After nodding in agreement, my eyes went around the large top deck of the ship. “Do you think that’s where they play the movies?” I asked, gesturing toward the large screen hanging above the pool.
“Yeah,” he confirmed. “They said the Super Bowl would be shown on deck fifteen. That’s this one. There’s another side, but I glanced that way when we were coming out of the stairwell, and they didn’t have a TV screen on that side.”
“Hmm,” I mumbled, taking my first bite of spaghetti. Then promptly gagged. “Ewww.”
“What?” he asked, grimacing himself when he took a bite of something brown smothered in gravy.
“Tastes like they only used tomato sauce and not any seasonings,” I mumbled, pushing the spaghetti to the side of the plate as I moved on to the other stuff on my plate.
Each thing I tried was worse than the next, and I ended up twiddling my thumbs as I tried to decide if I should go back in there and grab something else to try.