Free Playing for Keeps by Joan Lowery Nixon

had to get ready for dinner, and . . . well, I forgot we had said we’d meet you.”
    Julieta turned away, the hurt she was feeling clouding her eyes.
    I put a hand on her arm. “Look, Julieta, I’m really sorry. There’s a problem we had to solve, and I was a little scared . . . well, worried. I’m still not sure what to do.”
    “What problem?” Her look changed to one of open curiosity.
    “I can’t . . . that is, it’s a personal problem.”
    “You can tell me.”
    “No, I can’t.”
    Julieta’s eyes sparked, and she gave a little snicker. “I’ll find out sooner or later. If there’s something I really want to know, nothing can keep me from finding out.”
    I was astonished. “I’d tell you if I could, but—”
    Neil’s arrival with his grandmother stopped me from blurting out what I really wanted to say— that Julieta had no business being so nosy. Neil bent over his grandmother as he introduced her to Julieta.
    Mrs. Fleming, peering intently at both of us, mixed us up. She graciously told me she was happy to meet me and told Julieta she hoped she’d enjoyed the snorkeling trip as much as Neil had.
    Julieta rested her long fingers on Neil’s arm. “I wish we were at the same dinner seating,” she said, pouting. “But we’re not. Why don’t we meet at ten at Star Struck? They’re going to have a karaoke contest.”
    “I’m sorry,” Neil said. “This has been a long day, and I’m beat. I’m going to spend the evening with Grandma.”
    Julieta looked at me with a challenge in her eyes. “I suppose you’ll be with your friend Ricky,” she said.
    “No, I won’t,” I said quickly. “I don’t know what Ricky will be doing.”
    “Then come with me to Star Struck. Ten o’clock.” She looked as friendly as when I’d first met her.
    I hesitated. I would have liked to go to Star Struck to find out what the other kids on the ship were doing and dance to some good music, but I wanted to be available in case Ricky needed me. “We’ll be docking in Jamaica tomorrow morning. How about going sightseeing together?” I asked Julieta. “Or will you be with your parents?”
    She brightened. “They won’t care what I do. Want to sign up for the tour group that’s climbing the Dunn’s River Falls?”
    “I’d love to.”
    Mrs. Fleming twisted in her wheelchair to look up at Neil. “When are we going into the dining room? I’m getting hungry,” she said.
    “Right now, Grandma,” Neil answered.
    “See you later,” I said to Julieta. Glory had already entered the dining room, so I walked beside Neil as we headed toward our table.
    Quietly, so only I could hear, Neil said, “I ordered room service for him. I told him to sign my name.”
    I looked up, surprised. “Thanks,” I said. Guiltily, I realized that I hadn’t thought about feeding Ricky.
    “A boat left the ship just before we sailed from Bonita Beach,” I told Neil. “I think that military officer was on it.”
    Neil gave a shrug. “And maybe he wasn’t. Ricky phoned his uncle’s stateroom. His uncle told him to stay where he was. The uncle doesn’t trust anyone.”
    “Neither does Ricky,” I said.
    “He doesn’t like being cooped up in our stateroom,” Neil said. “He’s sure that the search for him was called off once the ship set sail. But I made him promise to stay there while we were at dinner.”
    Neil came to a stop at our table and turned to give me a strange, almost yearning look I didn’t understand. “I think he trusts you, Rosie,” he said.
    I took a deep breath and heard myself saying, “Neil, I’m too old to be called Rosie. From now on will you call me Rose?”
    “Sure,” Neil said. “Rose.”
    I winced. It didn’t sound the same as when Ricky spoke my name.
    Neil busied himself making his grandmother comfortable. Then he sat next to me. “Your new friend wants you to call the stateroom when dinner is over,” he said, then turned to Mrs. Duncastle to continue their discussion about