“Permission to come aboard?” Chapel asked.
Donny smiled. His eyes were a little hooded, and he looked like he was ready for a nap. Shelly was stroking his arms as if she couldn’t believe how muscular they were. “Granted,” he said. “Jim… Jim… I need another stupid name to call you.”
“Keep going, you’ll get there,” Chapel said, climbing into the lifeboat. It swayed a little and he mostly fell inside, right on top of a woman he hadn’t seen. Everyone seemed to think this was hysterically funny, including the woman he’d fallen on.
“Sailor Jim,” Donny said, finally. “Is that something? Is there a Sailor Jim? Lord Jim, maybe. Isn’t that a book?”
“There’s a Slim Jim,” Shelly pointed out.
“I was saving that one for later.” Donny reached over and steadied Chapel as he tried to find a seat in the crowded lifeboat.
Once Chapel was safely ensconced he turned to apologize to the woman he’d fallen on. It turned out to be the dark-haired Asian woman he’d met earlier at the bar, the one who’d pegged him as a soldier. She acknowledged his apology by closing her eyes for a second and giving him a vampish shrug.
“I’ve had worse things fall upon me,” she said. “So Donny has told us all about you.”
“He has?” Chapel asked, a little alarmed.
“Is it so strange? You are the honored guest of this voyage. And a very interesting man to hear him tell it. A man of many accomplishments. You fought in Afghanistan, he says?”
Chapel frowned. What had Donny been saying about him? Donny didn’t know anything too secret — most of Chapel’s military career was classified — but he valued his privacy. “I don’t much like to talk about the past.”
“Me either,” Donny announced. He struggled to sit up, pulling Shelly with him until she was sitting on his lap. “Especially when the present is so much more interesting. In all the years I’ve been sailing on this yacht, this is the very first time Jim Chapel has agreed to grace us with his presence. I want to know why now, after all this time.”
Chapel sighed. “I had some things I needed to think through. I thought I would get away for a few days, give myself some quiet time.”
“Exactly what you should expect from one of my world-famous party cruises. Peace and quiet!” The girls in the lifeboat all cheered and shouted at the idea. “C’mon, Jimster. Spill the beans. You said it was something to do with that girlfriend of yours. The sexy redhead.”
Chapel laughed. “You’ve never met Julia. How do you know she’s sexy?”
“Red hair. Likes soldiers. Sounds like a good start,” Donny pointed out.
“She’s… amazing. Julia.” Chapel found himself smiling without meaning too. “And she is. Very sexy, I mean. More than that, she’s beautiful. And smart. Very sharp. She and I went through some things together, tough things, and it just brought us closer together.”
“The good start is turning into a good thing. But you didn’t come all this way to tell me you think you like somebody. You’ve got a decision to make — I can see it in your face. A big decision.”
Chapel was not a man given to giggling or outward signs of joy. But he came pretty close just then. “Yeah.”
Donny nodded. A lot of people assumed when they saw him that he was just some dumb meathead, but Donny had been an Army Ranger, and you didn’t get into Ranger school without something between your ears. “Well, I accept, of course.”
Chapel’s eyes went wide. “You — what?”
“I accept the position as your best man. Because that’s obviously why you’re here. To ask me to be your best man.”
“Best… wait a minute,” Shelly said, and put a hand over her mouth.
“Hold on!” Chapel protested. “I haven’t asked her yet — maybe I should before I go looking for someone to — to—”
Donny moved Shelly next to him, then lunged across the lifeboat and grabbed Chapel up into a rib-cage-crushing bear hug. Chapel laughed and slapped his friend’s back until the big ranger released him.
“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” Shelly said, tears starting to form in her eyes. Despite the fact she’d never met Julia and had met Chapel only a few hours ago, it seemed she was pretty excited by the prospect of a wedding. Any wedding.
Chapel had to admit he was pretty excited himself. The idea to propose to Julia had come to him in a sudden flash of inspiration a week earlier. The two of them had been going through a rough patch, fighting a lot, and it had taken him a long time to realize why. Julia didn’t think he was serious about her, that he was just stringing her along. She needed to know that he was committed to their relationship. As soon as he’d thought of it, a proposal had seemed like a great idea. There was no hesitation in him, no doubt. He was ready to spend the rest of his life with Julia. Why not formalize it?
“It may be too early for congratulations,” the Asian woman said. Her eyes searched his for a moment though he couldn’t figure out why. “But all the same. How wonderful.”
“Wonderful? It’s awesome! Oh my God, Donny, can I be your date at the wedding?” Shelly asked.
“Hold on,” Chapel said, laughing. “Nothing’s official yet, I still—”
He stopped because he’d seen something out of the corner of his eye. He made a point of not turning to actually look but, yes, it was there. Up in the wheelhouse of the yacht, high over the deck, someone had switched on a blue light.
“I was serious about that best man thing, if you want me,” Donny said. “I know you’ve probably got someone else in mind, but let me just point out — if you go with me, your bachelor party is going to be sick. And I mean epic. I will get every stripper in South Florida together and they will march in a parade in your honor, Jam Master Jim. You know nobody throws a party like me—”
“Uh, sorry,” Chapel said. Up in the wheelhouse the blue light switched off. He heard a chain rattle somewhere up in the bows and knew the yacht had dropped its anchor. “Listen, I—”
“Most guys would go with a limo to take you to and from this bachelor party,” Donny went on. “I’m thinking helicopters. Multiple helos.”
“I, uh,” Chapel said. He hadn’t expected this to come so soon. “Talking about this,” he said. “It’s making me a little queasy.”
“Try this,” the surfer with the guitar said, and he tried to pass Chapel his joint. “It’s good for seasickness.”
“I think what our new friend is trying to say is that he’s getting an attack of cold feet,” the Asian woman said. “Perhaps he should go lie down in his cabin.”
He wanted to thank her for that — it was the perfect out — but he was too busy doing his best impression of someone about to throw up. “I’d better get out of this boat,” he said.
Donny helped him climb back down onto the deck. “You okay?” he asked, suddenly serious.
“Fine,” Chapel told him. “I just need to lie down for a second.” He patted one of Donny’s giant biceps in thanks and then headed forward, making sure to stagger a little. Behind him he heard some of the girls laughing, probably making fun of the poor guy who’d had too much to drink or who maybe was a little too afraid of commitment.
As soon as he was out of their sight, Chapel dropped the act and hurried down a ladder to the cabins in the next deck down. He passed by a few partially opened doors, beyond which revelers had broken down into smaller more private parties, then found his own cabin. The door was still locked. Good — he’d worried that some couple in need of a bed would stumble into his cabin uninvited. That would have been a problem, since all his gear was in there.
His bag was still sitting on his bed where he’d left it. He made sure the door was locked, then took off his clothes. He unzipped the bag and pulled out the drysuit and his other gear.