Free Once Upon A Night At Sea by Barbara Longley

1. Salted Caramel Lattes and Large Ships at Sea…
    Built in Italy (by Greeks) in 2007, Emerald Princess is 952 feet long, weighs 113,000 tons and holds 3 , 080 guests . So, it’s not the motion of the ocean after all. Size matters.
    Marin’s phone chirped insistently from the depths of her purse. Sliding a handful of bills across the counter toward the barista, she moved to the pickup end of the counter and pulled the blasted thing from her bag. The screen displayed “Unknown Caller.” She was tempted to let it go to voicemail, but it might be one of the new suppliers for her home decor and design center. “Hello?”
    “Hello, is this Marintha Allen?”
    “Yes, this is Marin.” The attendant behind the counter called out her beverage, and Marin reached for her salted caramel latte.
    “Congratulations, Marin! This is Aidan Moline from SLS, and you are one of the lucky winners in our romantic getaway raffle. We drew the names the day after the Valentine’s mixer.” Aidan sounded very pleased about the whole thing.
    She frowned. “Oh?” Anne, Marin’s best friend, had bullied her into attending that party, just like she’d guilted Marin into joining the expensive social club, Singles Living Social. Marin didn’t remember buying any raffle tickets the night of the mixer. Had she? Not likely. Taking time off from her fledgling business was not feasible right now. “Are you sure, because—”
    Aidan rattled off her name, number and e-mail address. “Is this you?”
    “It is.” And Anne would soon be on the receiving end of a what-the-heck phone call.
    “In that case, we’re taking you on an all-expenses-paid cruise to the western Caribbean six weeks from today—along with three lucky bachelors, two more bachelorettes, myself and another SLS associate. The folks at SLS have lots of fun activities planned for the entire sun-filled week.”
    “Great.” Though a cruise somewhere warm, sunny and exotic was tempting, she dreaded organized activities, mixers and especially ice breakers . She shuddered at the thought of some stupid game designed to force her into approaching people she didn’t know.
    “I’ll send an e-mail to let you know what we need from you, and a couple of weeks before we leave, we’re planning a get-together to go over the details. You know, a little—”
    Don’t say it, don’t say—
    “—icebreaker for the six of you.”
    Marintha scratched her itchy neck. Hives? She was already formulating a list of possible excuses to miss the pre-cruise get-together. Besides, she hadn’t decided whether or not she could go. On the rare occasion she did take a vacation, she preferred setting off to explore on her own or with a trusted friend or two. No one could accuse her of being an extrovert. In fact, in the three months she’d been a member of the SLS, she’d only attended a handful of events, including the Valentine’s Day party.
    Still, it had been a brutally cold, dark winter, even by Minnesotan standards, and she had been working very hard all year. Could she afford to take a break? Her interior design studio had only been open for six months, and she’d just hired an assistant manager a couple of weeks ago. Jody wasn’t ready to be left alone yet.
    “We’ll be spending seven glorious days at sea and stopping at three fascinating ports of call on Emerald Princess , one of Princess Cruises’ premier ships,” Aidan said, his enthusiasm spilling into her ear. “Visit their website and take a look at the many amenities they have to offer.”
    “I’ll do that.” She’d never been on a cruise before. Did she even have anything appropriate to wear? Marin walked out of the coffeehouse and into the frigid February murkiness. Sun. Palm trees. The ocean. A cruise would be nice. “I’ll keep an eye out for the e-mail.”
    “Great. See you in a few weeks.”
    Maybe. At least she had some time to think about it, and she would get on the Internet during her lunch break to see what she