------------ --------------------

A week later . . .

------------ --------------------

Tara and Keira were sitting on the balcony, sucking down hot chocolate and a beer respectively. They had finished up early and were enjoying the last night of the voyage. Tomorrow, the ship would dock and the passengers would all go away. The ship was going to stay in port for a couple of weeks for its annual inspection and for maintenance, then they were off on a month long cruise to the Pacific islands. A bunch of the Lounge Gang, as they were calling themselves, rented a house the whole year round, and they had invited Tara to crash...