Next to Me (Triplets book 3)

Chapter 1

Elyse Moore dropped the handle of her rolling suitcase and threw her bag on the small couch beside the bed. This was her home for the next nine days. She sighed as she took in the cramped quarters. She didn't want to take a cruise, but her family insisted that she needed time away, and she was tired of arguing with them about it. Not that she had a leg to stand on when they told her they had booked her a non-refundable cruise. It was a checkmate move, and there was no way to beat it without feeling guilty.

Elyse couldn't fathom why they felt a cruise would be her chosen vacation when she worked on, in, and around the water for a living. As a Lieutenant in the United State Coast Guard, she flew a rescue helicopter, but when she started her career, she had spent most of her time on the water.

As if on cue, her phone rang, and she pulled it out of her pocket to see her sister's name on the screen. She swore Bethany had a sixth sense of what Elyse was thinking. Knowing it was the last time she would get to speak with her sister until the end of the cruise, she had to answer it.

"Hello, sis," she greeted, doing her best to sound upbeat and excited.

"Did you make it on board, O.K.?" Bethany asked.

"I did. Everything went very smoothly, and I have the balcony room as booked."

"Oh, good." Bethany sighed. "I wish I was you and was spending some time alone for a week."

Elyse heard her youngest son, Patrick, who was three, yell Mom at the top of his lungs.

Bethany ignored him. "I want you to have a good time, Elyse. I know a cruise isn't your ideal vacation, but it puts you in the middle of nowhere where no one can contact you. You need time to destress after the Gary debacle."

"Can you call a broken engagement a debacle?" Elyse mused.

"Yes, you can," Bethany assured her as her son screamed for her again. "What Gary did was inexcusable!"

Elyse tuned her sister out as she went on another tirade about Gary Smith, her former fiancé. Her family was more upset about the breakup than she was. In fact, Elyse was relieved. She had gotten herself into a situation that she had believed herself incapable of leaving.

Gary had been a nice guy. He was the preacher at the church her family attended. Everyone had been excited when they had started going out, so Elyse had gone along with it, but Gary was strict in his beliefs and felt that Elyse should give up her career as a rescue pilot and devote her time to being a preacher's wife.

It had been an ongoing argument between them, and between that and their different views about intimacy, Elyse realized early on that she had made a mistake.

When Elyse heard Bethany's son call her again, she took her chance to end the conversation, which was a repeat of all their past discussions of late.

"You had better go deal with Patrick before something dire happens," Elyse suggested, interrupting her sister.

"All right, but promise me you will try to have a good time, please," Bethany pleaded.

"I promise. I will eat everything in sight and take lots of naps." It was an easy enough promise to make since that is what she planned to do.

"And promise to talk to people and make a few new friends," Bethany insisted.

"I'll try," Elyse agreed, even though she knew she wouldn't because she was an introvert by nature, something Bethany was not.

They said their goodbyes, and Elyse ended the call, looking around at the cabin. It was nice and clean, and there was a balcony. She wandered over to it and opened the heavy door, jumping when it slammed behind her. She didn't know why she was on edge, embarkation had gone smoothly, and she had no trouble getting on the ship and finding her room. Taking a deep breath, Elyse moved to the railing and looked at all the cruise ship employees scurrying below her as they loaded the last supplies onto the ship. The sheer logistics of it boggled the mind.