Chapter 2
The clapping didn't stop.
That was the thing I couldn't understand. Four women stood in the doorway of the yacht suite and they kept clapping, hands near their chests, smiling like they'd just watched a proposal. The man beside me in the black shirt had his hand up to his head and the thin gold chain with the black and gold ring was right there on his chest, identical to the one on mine. My first instinct was to rip it off. My fingers found the chain and pulled.
It didn't break. It was delicate and smooth and it held.
So I sat up instead. I gathered the cream satin bedding and pulled it up to my chest, covering the ring, covering myself. The satin was cool against my skin. I tucked it tight under my arms. It was the only cover I had.
My name is Maya and that morning I was supposed to be alone in that bed.
The elderly woman with the short white hair and the double strand of pearls moved first. She stepped over the threshold into the room, her beige suit barely wrinkling, her smile widening. The other three stayed right behind her, crowded in the doorway.
"Oh, darling," she said, and her voice was warm and absolute. "Oh, we knew."
I didn't know what to say. My mouth was open. I could feel my hair falling forward over my shoulder, the blonde highlights catching the recessed ceiling light.
She came to the foot of the bed and put both hands to her chest. "We had no idea you two were going to make it official on the water. This is perfect. This is absolutely perfect."
The woman in the blue dress behind her nodded, her pearl necklace glinting. The woman in the sparkly sleeveless dress actually pressed her fingertips to her lips.
I looked at him. He'd pushed himself up on one elbow now, the black buttons of his shirt pulled tight. His stubble caught the light. He glanced down at the ring on his own chain, then at mine where the gold band peeked above the satin I was clutching.
"Tell them this is a misunderstanding," I said. It came out quiet, barely above a whisper. I meant it for him alone.
He heard me. He turned toward the doorway and cleared his throat.
"Everyone, this is a misunderstanding," he said. His voice was calm, trying for steady. "We planned to announce it later. This is not — we didn't plan it like this."
The words landed wrong. I felt it the second he said them.
The elderly woman's face lit up even more. "We planned to announce it later," she repeated back to him, delighted, like he'd confirmed a secret. "You see? He said you planned to announce it later. Oh, you sweet things trying to keep it quiet."
"No," he tried again. "No. You don't understand. This was locked in my office last night. Then who put it on me?"
He held the ring out on its chain as he said it, as if showing them the lock should make it clear. The large cylindrical band, black enamel stripes and wide gold, swung a little.
The younger woman in the light blue blazer stepped forward then. She'd been at the front right of the doorway, her pulled-back blonde hair neat, her smile fixed. She didn't stop clapping. She clapped harder and lifted her phone, camera already open, red light blinking.
"I'm getting this," she said, bright, almost breathy. "Keep smiling. This is history. Say that again about the office? This was meant to be, right?"
The man looked at me. I saw the micro-flinch at the corner of his mouth. He realized what he'd done. By saying "we planned to announce it later" he'd given them a story, and by asking "who put it on me" he'd made it sound like fate instead of a break-in.
The woman in the blue dress started crying a little, dabbing at her eyes. "We just came to bring coffee," she said. "We had no idea we'd walk in on the engagement."
"It's not an engagement," I said. My voice cracked. I pulled the satin higher.
The elderly woman reached out and patted the foot of the bed, not touching me, just the blanket. Her double pearls clicked softly. "Of course it is, dear. That ring. You don't wear that ring unless you mean it. Your grandmother would be so proud."
I didn't know what to do with my hands. I wanted to take the chain off, to hold it out and say look, someone put this on us while we slept. But the younger woman's phone was still recording, and the other two were still clapping, and if I tore it off on camera it would look like I was rejecting him in front of his family.
So I stayed frozen, satin clutched to my chest, chain hidden but there, burning against my skin. He stayed frozen beside me, chain out in the open, his hand still holding the ring.
The younger woman lowered her phone just enough to smile straight at me. "We won't keep you," she said. "We'll let you get decent and meet us in the galley for a toast. Don't take those off."
She backed out, still clapping, ushering the woman in sparkles and the woman in blue with her. The elderly woman lingered last, beaming at us both.
"Ten minutes," she said. "We'll open champagne."
May you like
The doorway emptied. The wood-paneled hallway was still bright. Four sets of footsteps faded toward the galley.
The bedroom door stayed open. We could hear them talking excitedly, already planning, already telling the story to each other. He turned to me, and I turned to him, both still wearing the rings, both still in bed, with no private moment to figure out what had actually happened.
