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gone, and although her bangs were still too short, they made her eyes look huge. Maybe she’d just finally put on b
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sh, but whatever had changed about her was more than the glow of her cheeks and the way her shiny hair fell over her shoulders. She had been shy and colorless. Now there was something almost cocky about the way she looked up at Charles.
    He didn’t seem to notice. From across the table, he caught Grace’s eye, and I thought about how well they matched. Even if I hadn’t known, I could have spotted the two rich kids on the cruise, not just by the way they dressed, but by the easy, confident way they interacted.
    Emily flashed us a wide smile then took his arm as if she owned it.
    “Where would you like to sit?” she asked.
    “What’s wrong with her voice?” Grace whispered to me. “Where’d she get the cheesy accent?”
    There was something different about the way she spoke. I just wasn’t sure what. “She looks as if she’s had a makeover,” I said, “and she also looks as if she’s very much into your guy.”
    She squinted at them. “Charles? He is not my guy.”
    Charles glanced at Grace, then shrugged and sat uneasily across from us. Emily slid into the seat beside him and beamed.
    “I trust you all slept well through this storm,” she said.
    “Not a storm,” Grace corrected her. “A soon-to-be hurricane.”
    “By any name, the wind is frightening.” Emily moved closer to Charles. “Perhaps we should stay indoors today.”
    “Perhaps,” Grace mocked, and Charles’s face f
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shed.
    Emily scowled. “We have plenty of tea, and we can always play some games. You needn’t be so negative, Grace.”
    “She’s not being negative,” I told her. “Being stuck here with a hurricane coming sucks, okay? You can play all the games you want, but what’s going on here isn’t exactly normal.”
    “Don’t,” Grace told me, and whispered, “I’ll take care of this.”
    “Would you like some tea?” Emily gazed up at Charles.
    “I’ll have coffee. Anyone need a refill?” His eyes didn’t leave Grace.
    “I can get my own.” Grace got up and went to the coffee pot. Charles followed. I watched Emily watch them, as Charles leaned down and spoke quietly in Grace’s ear.
    Emily looked over at me and stiffened in the chair, as if I had caught her eavesdropping. Then I looked down at her hands. The French manicure was no more. Her fingernails had been bitten down to jagged edges. The sight of them chilled me, although I wasn’t sure why.
    “What’s the matter?” Emily asked, and shoved her hands in her lap.
    “Nothing,” I replied. “I’m going to enjoy the show.”
    “What show?” She looked confused.
    Grace sat back down next to me, and this time, Charles pulled up a chair beside her.
    “This one,” I said.
    Even without makeup, Grace was something. She managed to flirt without acting flirty. Instead, she made solid eye contact with Charles, who quickly lost his self-confident attitude. Then she took off her hat and shoved her fingers into her hair, so that it spilled over her shoulders. Finally, she stirred a large spoonful of vanilla sugar into his coffee, then handed it to him and asked, “Sweet enough?”
    No one at the table could have guessed what she had gone through last night. No one except me, of course, since I had witnessed her reaction a few hours before.
    Charles could only grin and sip from his cup. Emily pasted a phony smile to her face and fumed. Her eyes radiated jealousy.
    Finally, she pulled her chair from the table. “I’ll be off now. If any of you want to pass some time, I’ll be in my room.” With a final, fake-sexy smile in Charles’s direction, she left us.
    Charles leaned close to Grace and spoke in a voice too low for me to hear.
    “Later,” she said. “I need to talk to Livia for a minute.”
    “See you, then.”
    Perfect, I thought. Grace and Charles were from similar worlds. Emily was too strange for either one of them. She was