Jack & Jilted Read Free

glass of milk makes her want to hurl.”
    “You have got to be kidding me!” Jack shouted. “My gourmet chef and my personal masseuse are both ditching me right before a weeklong, four-star, private cruise. At this rate, we’re going to be demoted to one star. We’re going to be the floating equivalent of the No-Tell Motel!”
    “We didn’t mean for this to happen,” Kenneth protested.
    Jack bit back a swear. “I know, I know,” he said. “And I am happy for you guys, as long as you’re happy. I…right now is not a good time for us to have customers refusing final payments or demanding deposit refunds, if you know what I mean.”
    “I’ll put feelers out,” Kenneth said, contrite. “I’ll find you another chef by the time you get back from this cruise. And I’ll have Helen look for another masseuse.”
    “That’d be a help,” Jack said, although considering the meagerness of his current financial state, he knew that finding people of quality willing to work for peanuts was going to be tough. He was lucky because Kenneth and Helen both loved the ocean—or at least they had before all of this.
    There was a buzzing on his phone, and he saw another call was waiting. “I’ve got to go,” he said to Kenneth and switched over in the middle of yet another Kenneth apology. “McCullough Charters. How can I help you?”
    “My name is Chloe Winton,” a woman’s voice said in a tone that would’ve been businesslike if it weren’t for a note of something else, possibly something sad. “My…fiancé and I were scheduled to take a cruise this week.”
    There it was again—the tickle down his spine that signaled rough waters ahead. “Yes, Mrs. Winton,” he said, putting on his very best customer-service voice. “We’re looking forward to seeing you. We’re scheduled to depart at six-thirty, but since it’s a private charter we can leave whenever you prefer. Is there anything special you wanted?”
    “I’m afraid I’m going to have to cancel.”
    Cancel. Crap. That would mean repaying the deposit, and no more money forthcoming. And he had bills that were already written against the deposit check. “May I ask why?” he said, racking his brain for a way to salvage the deal. “Perhaps there’s something I can help you with?”
    There was a pause on the line. “It’s no longer a honeymoon, for one thing. The groom sent a note to me at the chapel saying he couldn’t go through with it.”
    “Ouch,” Jack said before he could stop himself.
    “Yeah, something like that,” she responded, and the business tone dropped for a minute, leaving her sounding rueful and very vulnerable. “So I don’t think it’s anything you can help with. I’ve got plenty of relatives giving me plenty of advice,” she added with a laugh that sounded less than happy.
    He could picture it now—this poor lady, stranded at the altar, surrounded by a bunch of family busybodies. And what kind of guy would leave a woman on her wedding day? If he knew it wasn’t going to work, then he knew it months ago. Why put her through the wringer in front of all her friends and family?
    “Well, he’s the one who paid the deposit,” Jack mused, remembering vaguely. “He’s paying for the whole thing—I’ve got a postdated check.”
    “That’s right,” she said, sounding puzzled. “I was paying for some wedding stuff in exchange.”
    “It’s not your fault the wedding was canceled. You showed up,” Jack said with certainty. “So why should you cancel the cruise? Why miss out on it because he’s being a butt head?”
    That got a startled laugh out of her. “I don’t know that I’m in a honeymoon state of mind,” she said.
    “Ever been out on the open ocean at night?” Jack said, getting into the swing of it—and not only to save the sale. “It’s the most peaceful thing in the world. The lapping of the waves, the breeze, the way everything looks and smells. It’s pure freedom.”
    “Sounds like heaven,” she