Chapter One
“What is this?” Melani Cantor held up a small white blouse between her thumb and forefinger as if it were contaminated.
“Your work outfit.” Ellie Winton burst into laughter at Melani’s look. “What did you expect to wear? You are working at a pirate theme park for a week.”
Melani’s eyebrows shot up and she shook her head, even as a smile appeared on her face.
“Look, you know I love you and would do anything for you—within reason. But this piece of material hardly looks big enough to cover one breast, much less two.”
“Oh, that one’s not yours, exactly. That’s just one I grabbed off the shelf to show you. We’ll go down to the employee building in a bit to get you fitted for the top, and for your Maid of Honor dress.
“Yeah.” Melani grinned. “You know, when most people get married, they have satin dresses, beautiful flowers and a big church. You, on the other hand, are getting married on a pirate ship and wearing a gown that will more than likely shock most of your guests.”
Ellie laughed. “Russell thinks the wedding part of our business is going to go over well. Your article will give us some great publicity.”
Melani shook her head and dropped the blouse on top of a long black skirt and numerous petticoats. When her best friend, Ellie, had left college for a year and taken a job at Ahoy, Matey, her mother almost had a stroke. Melani could just imagine what the woman was thinking now that Ellie had worked at the theme park for seven years and was engaged to marry the “Pirate King.”
“What does your mother think of the clothes?”
Ellie frowned. “Let’s not go there. Russell and I are taking bets on whether or not she shows up for the ceremony. She practically threatened me with death if word of this got into the hometown newspaper.”
“So in other words, she doesn’t know I’m attending as a worker, writer, and Maid of Honor?”
“Are you kidding me? She’d have tried to kidnap you before you even got to the airport. She’s going to freak when she sees your story.”
Melani shook her head. She knew Ellie was right, but the story was going to be interesting. Russell’s park, Ahoy Matey, was now in its tenth year and growing stronger. It had been Ellie’s idea to offer wedding packages to the hotel guests. The ship would sail away from the coastline and the wedding would be performed just as the sun slipped below the horizon. The reception would take place on the resort’s private island, which contained the new hotel and several secluded cottages.
Ellie’s plan had been for Melani to work at the park for a week and write an insider’s take on how things worked, with the wedding as the highlight to get people interested. Melani’s editor had loved the idea, but he’d made Melani use some of her vacation time instead since she was technically going for a friend’s wedding. Melani had agreed, but only if he’d paid for her travel. He’d reluctantly paid for her airfare, and now here she was.
“This is going to be great publicity. I can’t wait to see the stories.” Ellie clapped her hands together like an eager child and Melani grimaced.
“El, the subscription numbers for the Gazette hardly constitute good publicity.”
“No, but if you do it up good, you know it could be picked up by the Dallas paper. They picked up your Christmas article last winter, along with several others. And if the AP sees it, then it could go national. Besides, you’re my best friend and nobody writes like you do.”
Melani preened. “Thank you, thank you very much.”
Ellie shook her head and then looked at her watch.
“Oh crap. We’re already late for an appointment with the park costumer about your work outfits. He’s making the wedding clothes, too.”
Ellie took off at a brisk clip and Melani fell into step behind her. Ellie had always been a handful, usually trying to go in nine different directions at once. Melani had been the more staid of the two. Not that she was boring. She just preferred to think of herself as practical, more logical than her lighthearted friend.
As they walked through the streets of the “pirate town” Melani marveled at how different their lives were. They’d met in daycare in the West Texas town of Lubbock, where they’d grown up. They’d become fast friends and remained that way all through school.
At Texas Tech, Melani had studied journalism and Ellie had studied what she termed “Frat Boys 101.” That was until she’d dropped out and moved to Florida. Melani had been devastated at the loss of her best friend. She’d thrown herself into her studies and hadn’t made many other friends. Now she was a reporter for a small, independent newspaper called The Lubbock Gazette.
She lived a routine existence. The only friends she had in Texas were co-workers. Many times she envied Ellie her carefree lifestyle, especially now that she and Russell had decided to settle down together.
When El linked arms with her and pulled her close, Melani gave her a friendly hug.
“So, seeing anyone special?”
Melani shook her head. “No. Not since Charles.”
“I’m sorry. I really thought he would work out.”
“Me, too. But he wanted to get married too fast. I worked too hard for that degree to let it sit on the shelf.
Even a year would have worked for me, gotten me established as a writer. Then we could have been married.”
El squeezed her friend’s arm. “I know it was hard on you when he married someone else.”
Melani nodded. “You know, I really thought I loved him, and I thought he felt the same. But four months after he leaves me he’s walking down the aisle with someone else? Shows all he wanted was someone to cook and clean for him.”
“Forget him. Listen, I have a great guy I want you to meet.”
“No. N-O. No. No men for me, thanks.”
Ellie giggled, and Melani could swear she heard her whisper, “we’ll see about that,” as she trotted off to an employee who had called her name.
Melani watched as Ellie greeted park guests and employees alike, and marveled that her friend had found such a wonderful life at a theme park. Melani was much more at home in her business suits and doing interviews over the phone.
It had always been that way. When they were kids, Ellie would want to go to the park and Melani would want to know what they would do once they got there. As teenagers, Ellie would want to go to the mall and Melani would want to know which stores they would visit so she could plan her spending for the day.
In college, Ellie would want to go from party to party, and Melani would want to know who was going to be where and if Ellie had any plans for extra curricular activities that night.
“Here we are.” Ellie led them into a large building that was mostly empty.
“The dressing rooms are in the back. Jace is waiting for us there. He’s a little picky about the clothes he designs, so if you have a problem with something, approach the subject with care.”
Melani nodded. She was about to become a pirate wench. She wasn’t thrilled about the idea, but for Ellie, she would do anything.
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