Page 36 of Sailor's Delight
The Cabana Lounge was everything the woman had promised. Tastefully lit, a cozy environment meant to resemble a 1920’s jazz club with lots of wood, a surprisingly-convincing electric wooden fireplace, and an abundance of red velvet.
The entire lounge was oriented around an enormous ebony grand piano. The lid on the instrument was up, sending the tinkling, melancholy melody wafting around the lounge. Jenn recognized the tune the pianist was playing, though she couldn’t name it. The pianist played it excellently. She looked, but the lid prevented her from seeing who sat at the keys. Elevator lady had been right: this was exactly what she was looking for.
Jenn easily found a small table for two (there were no singles, she noted with disappointment) at the room’s edge and sat down. Within moments, a sharply dressed waitress in a waistcoat and bowtie appeared to take her drink order.
“Whiskey. Neat.”
If the waitress was surprised, she didn’t show it.
“Will anyone else be joining you tonight?” she asked courteously.
“God, I hope not.”
The woman chuckled, the veneer slipping as she whispered, “I get it.” Louder, she said, “I’ll go get that whiskey.”
“You just charge it to the room, right?”
“That’s right,” the waitress said.
“Great! Keep ‘em coming,” Jenn grumbled.
The waitress laughed, winking and pointing a finger at Jenn conspiratorially. “You got it.”
Jenn sat back, took in a long, deep breath, and closed her eyes. When she’d let it all out, she opened her eyes just as the pianist completed their number to light applause around the bar.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
Behind the keys, eyes twinkling, Casey murmured into the microphone adjusted to sit just outside of his lips.
“Thank you. You’re all very kind. This next number I hadn’t planned on doing tonight, but I think I’m going to throw it in for a very special lady who just walked in.”
The opening, soulful chords to John Legend’s “All of me” began echoing from the open grand, and a few women around the lounge cheered and whooped.
“Fuck me.” If it hadn’t been for the fact that the waitress had appeared at her elbow with her drink at that very moment, Jenn would have stood up and left. As it was, the woman grossly misinterpreted her meaning.
“I know, right? He’s new to the crew on this voyage. Honestly, he kind of seems like the total package. Everyone who’s worked with him the last few nights had nothing but good things to say.” She slid the whiskey carefully across the table to Jenn. She winked again. “Based on the fact that I thinkhe’s talking about you, you just might get that wish.” With that, she turned and walked away, playfully saluting Casey with her wooden tray, who smiled into the microphone as he crooned.
“What’s going on in that beautiful mind?”
Casey’s eyes looked away from the waitress and locked with Jenn’s. He proceeded to hold her gaze all the way to the pre-chorus, at which point Jenn had to look away, her face and her belly both growing warm despite her wishes. She tipped the whiskey into her mouth, and it didn’t take long for the entire contents to disappear.
The burn in her literal stomach distracted somewhat from the warmth in her belly. She looked up for the waitress and, when they made eye contact, held up the empty glass meaningfully. The waitress widened her eyes with a smile, glanced meaningfully at Casey, and nodded in acknowledgment. Jenn blushed deeper and avoided looking anywhere in Casey’s direction for the rest of the song.
Jenn continued to sit and drink, although her pace slowed considerably after the first, all the way through the rest of Casey’s set. When the last sullen notes of his final number died away, he stood, straightened the waistcoat that emphasized both the size of his arms and the trim condition of his waistline, and bowed gracefully, flashing the practiced grin of an entertainer.
He walked to the bar, said a few words to the bartender and the waitress, who glanced in Jenn’s direction multiple times while grinning, then turned and walked casually to Jenn’s table. He stopped a respectful distance away, then asked, “Are you open to any company this evening?”
Jenn openly stared at him, her mind spinning with all the reasons not to say yes, and all the many reasons to say no. However, in the end, and against her better judgment, what she managed to get out was a noncommittal and articulate, “Eh.”
Casey laughed and maintained his distance. He placed his hands behind his back and bent slightly at the waist. Then, in a whisper intended only for her, Casey said, “I’m afraid I’m going to insist that you ask for it.”
A familiar flutter tickled Jenn’s already warm belly, and a tingle ran up her spine. This was dangerous water. The hurt argued angrily that this was just sharing a table, and certainly nothing more damning than what Trey had done.And that’s probably just the tip of the iceberg,the voice argued.
Jenn blinked when she realized that Casey was still bent, still smiling, still waiting for her to “ask for it.”
“Will you sit with me?” she heard herself say.
Casey’s smile widened. “I’d love to,” he said.