Since May is National Scrapbooking Month, I’m sharing a small scrapbooking moment from Masked to Death.
Excerpt:
Ronnie’s confession shook me. I felt off-kilter. A scrapbooking class was being held on deck six, so I headed there, needing to clear my mind while I figured out what to do. Scrapbooking calmed me and centered my spirit. I knew this trip would rev up some anxiety, so I bought a travel planner. It was more portable than a scrapbook, yet the same techniques were used for decorating it. Instead of pictures, words were the main focal point. I had brought colored pencils and an array of travel stickers for decorating the pages.
I spotted a crew member pushing a cart loaded down with cruise-themed scrapbooking supplies and followed. Other women and a few men joined our parade to the lounge area in the back of the ship.
“Find a spot while I set up.” The young woman began sorting through the packages of products and stacking them by theme onto a table.
I spotted Garrison sitting at a table in the back, flipping through a book. When I sat down, he closed the leather book about the size of an 8×8 album. The cover was embossed. I tried reading the script font, but he covered the writing with his forearm.
“Here to scrapbook or just looking for some peace and quiet to read?” I asked.
“I’ve wanted to learn some new techniques and now was the perfect time.”
“You and Bob didn’t have anything special planned for this morning?”
“Odessa stopped by this morning to tell Bob the captain wanted to meet with him.”
“About what?”
“I’d rather not know, so I kissed Bob goodbye and told him I’d be here. I’m sure it has something to do with John. I wonder where Ronnie is. She had said she’d meet me here.”
“When did you talk to her?” I doodled in my travel journal.
“At breakfast. Why?”
“Curious,” I said. “No other reason. She might have lost track of time or something unexpected came up.” The captain had issued a gag order. Ronnie said to stay quiet. And here I was blabbing—or almost blabbing, which was just as bad. “This probably isn’t the wedding you dreamed of.”
“The event meant more to Odessa than us, so we caved on pretty much everything. Our only sticking point was no alcohol at the event out of respect and love for Ted, and yet she had the champagne flowing freely, and now we also have John Roget to contend with. I’m not looking forward to him and Odessa coming face to face.”
“He’s stayed away so far.”
“That’s true. Maybe he only came to spend time with Claire and not to stop the wedding. John is a hard one to figure out.”
“He isn’t the only one.”
Garrison’s eyebrows rose. “Do tell.”
