Cruising for Murder: Myrtle Clover #10

Chapter Sixteen

 "Hi," said Bettina, looking chipper. "Okay that I've dropped by? I wanted to talk to you more about Miles." She raised her eyebrows as she said, "And nice door decorations, by the way."

Myrtle considered telling Bettina right there at the door that Miles was less than smitten with her. But she realized this tactic might be less than effective if she were to talk to Bettina again before the end of the cruise. She opened the door wide. "Thanks. And sure. If you don't mind my packing while we talk."

Bettina walked in and raised her carefully painted-on eyebrows. "Well. When you pack, you pack."

Myrtle glanced around the small cabin. There were items on every available surface. "Just push some of the stuff over to the side on the little sofa there. I'll sit on the bed." She sat down amid her various vitamins and continued sorting items into bags.

"Vitamins, huh?" asked Bettina, nodding her head toward the large pile on the bed. "Is that how you stay active at your age?"

Myrtle bristled a bit at the your age. "Eighty is the new seventy. Vitamins are good for everyone. Even my grandson takes a gummy vitamin every day."

"Oh sure, sure," said Bettina quickly.

"You wanted to talk about Miles?" asked Myrtle.

"I did. Of course, I'm still rather put out with you for destroying our tête-à-tête last night," said Bettina with a sulky expression on her face.

"For heaven's sake. Miles was tired, or not well, or whatever. He was in no mood to have a romantic interlude. I was the one who convinced him to remain out for a few minutes before he headed back to his cabin. He's hardly the life of the party, Bettina. Are you sure that he's your type? As a matter of fact, he and I are going to join one another shortly to go read together. Read. Is this the kind of life that you want to commit yourself to? In a small Southern town?" asked Myrtle.

As she questioned Bettina, she realized that something was bothering her. There was something that she knew but hadn't yet recognized as something important.

Bettina, to Myrtle's annoyance, was picking up Myrtle's various belongings and curiously surveying them before tossing them to one side. "Bettina, I do have a method to my packing madness ... if you don't mind?"

"Right. Sorry," said Bettina. "I suppose you're right. It doesn't sound like Miles and I have very much in common after all. Reading isn't really the kind of activity I had in mind."

"I suppose it's not for everyone," said Myrtle graciously. Although, in her mind, she was quite critical of non-readers. And there was still something about the reading that she was trying to remember. She added absently, "I'm rather surprised that you're still interested in Miles. I understood that you had a new beau."

Bettina's eyes narrowed. "That's news to me. I've got a new beau?"

"Sure you do," said Myrtle. She turned away from Bettina to reach her eye drops and extra makeup that she hadn't used. "You were allegedly flirting with him on the pool deck."