Cruising

They all said hi in unison.

Madeline looked past Patrick to see Scott and Kim. The three of them waived. Madeline said, “Patrick and his daughter Kim came on this cruise alone. Then she met Scott, the guy she’s standing with, making Patrick a third wheel. Did I get that right, Patrick?”

“You did.”

Kim stepped up to the table and said, “He’s a third wheel but not one who’s in the way or unwanted.”

Gary, sporting a bushy mustache, said, “Which would be the strict definition of a third wheel. Well, our Madeline isn’t in the way either.” He turned to her and smiled. Then he said, “Patrick, like Madeline and us, I guess you and your daughter have separate staterooms.”

“Um, no. Kim and I are doubled up.”

“We give each other plenty of space,” Kim chimed in, repeating what Patrick had told Scott’s parents earlier.

The two sisters looked at each other, not saying a word. They didn’t have to. Their expressions alone conveyed their view that dad and daughter sharing a small space seemed a little weird. But that didn’t stop Madeline from suggesting that she and Patrick take a table of their own. “It will give us third wheels a chance to get better acquainted,” she said.

They took a smaller table on the level above. Besides knowing where Madeline was from and what she was reading, Patrick learned that she was a sergeant in the Dallas Police Department’s sex crimes unit. “I guess you guys prosecute rape and child pornography, stuff like that.”

“Yes, and other sex crimes. Incest, for example. In a few states it’s legal. But not in Texas.”

Patrick got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Even if it’s between consenting adults?”

“Yes, sir. We consider it a perversion. In my opinion, people who engage in that

kind of sexual activity need help. Don’t you?”

“Ah, well, maybe so. Not to defend it, but if it’s between consenting adults, no rape, no coercing a child into doing it, is there any harm done?”

The curious way Madeline looked at him made Patrick regret the question. Too late now.

“I wouldn’t know, Patrick. I’ve never gone there and don’t know anyone personally who has. But to me, it’s sick behavior. Think about it. I don’t mean between distant relatives like Franklin and Elenore Roosevelt. I mean between close relatives. I once had to arrest a couple, a forty-something year-old man who was shacked-up with his twenty-something year-old daughter. Both did over a year in jail, then got put on probation on the condition that they not live together. They got off easy. In more serious incest cases, you can do up to twenty years.”

Patrick nodded, momentarily speechless. He knew he should probably drop the subject but felt compelled to go on. “Okay, if it’s sick behavior, don’t you think it should be decriminalized, treated as a medical, mental health issue instead of locking people up?”

“Sounds like you’re on the side of decriminalizing possession of illegal drugs also. Look, I think it’s both and that includes drug use, excluding dealing and distribution which is a serious criminal matter. As far as incest, to me it’s also a moral issue. Sex with your son or daughter, sister or brother, mom or dad? I mean, come on.”

A moral issue? Okay, maybe, depending on one’s morals. Still, he didn’t think that people like Kim and himself deserved to be criminally prosecuted, let alone locked up. After all, they were adults and nobody but them knew what they were doing. Don’t ask, don’t tell. And don’t argue further with Madeline.

He was relieved when she changed the subject and asked about his line of work. “Real estate probably isn’t as exciting as what you do,” he said. He then gave her the basics of what he did before a server came over to take their order. He didn’t feel as hungry as he once did. Even so, he’d go along and eat his meal. After that, who knows? Her personal views on incest made him feel like a fraud. She was attracted to him, it appeared, but if she knew about his “crime,” she’d probably slap his face and then run the hell away. Good thing they were on the high seas, far from her jurisdiction. He once looked up Maryland law regarding incest. Not legal but not as strictly enforced either if between consenting adults. He didn’t fault her for her moral stand on the issue. Lots of people felt the same way–no surprise there. But should their opposing stand on anything, from morals to politics, keep him from getting to know Madeline better? She was so ‘purty,’ as they might say in Texas, with her layered blond hair style and sexy smile, not to mention a figure that some health club might use in a promo brochure. Besides, Patrick figured this would be no more than a cruise ship hookup, normally a relatively brief encounter, where the “rules of romance” that applied at home got dumped overboard.

*****

“There are a few things I didn’t tell you earlier at dinner,” Madeline said. “My last name is Brewster, I’m divorced and I haven’t been intimate with a man since Trump lost the election.”

“That’s quite a long drought,” Patrick said, surprised at this revelation. “Sounds like you’ve been a third wheel for too long.”

They were sitting on pink upholstered chairs at a round, marble-top table in one of the ship’s lounges, dimly lit and not too crowded.

Madeline nodded as she took a sip of her apricot sour. “Yes.” She giggled. “Not that I came on this cruise to get laid.” She paused for another sip. “So how long has it been for you?”

‘It’s only been a few hours for me,’ he thought of saying, while sipping his Kahlua and cream. “Well, not quite that long. For the record, I’m not here to get laid either. Kim and I are here just to relax and see the islands. It’s her college graduation present.”

“Nice gift. But…” She shook her head and took a couple sips.

“But what?”

“Well, I’d think that you two would take separate rooms. I mean, if I was your daughter’s age, there’s no way I’d share a stateroom with my dad.” She rolled her shoulders in a shiver. “Ooo, creepy.”

“Well, like Kim said, we give each other plenty of space. Although, I must admit, space is limited in those lower-tier staterooms. But, so far, it’s worked out.”

Was it his imagination or were those beautiful blue eyes of hers eyeing him with suspicion? It sure looked like it. “Madeline, I hope you’re not thinking about what we discussed just a few moments ago. Because it’s not like that. We sleep in separate beds.”

She chuckled. “Oh, my, Patrick, I never implied that it was. What makes you think that?”

“Bringing up Kim and I sharing a room and then using the word creepy makes me think that.” ‘This date is going downhill fast,’ he thought.

She sighed, then took another sip. “Okay, look, I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m sorry if I did. My work has conditioned me to think in a certain way. That incestuous father-daughter couple I told you about also took vacations together, sharing the same room. So, when you told me about you and Kim…Well, not an excuse, just the best explanation I can come up with.”

Patrick realized he was clinging to a slippery slope. He got defensive about something he knew to be true and that this cop, her denial to the contrary, apparently suspected. He couldn’t fault her for suspecting the truth. On the other hand, it wasn’t her place to pass judgement on his and Kim’s room accommodations. She overstepped her bounds.

Madeline broke the tense silence. “Patrick, if I really thought that you and Kim were lovers, I wouldn’t be here. I’m here because one, I find strong, muscular, hairy men sexy; two, you seem like a decent guy; and three, as you said, it’s been a long drought for me. Seeing your big hunky self at the pool, brought home just how long it’s been since I was intimate with a man.”

Patrick excused himself when he heard his phone go off. It was a text from Kim: “How’s it going? I’m at the piano bar with Scott. You and Madeline are welcome to join us if you’d like.”

He texted back: “Maybe. If not, I might end up in her stateroom. Lol.”

Kim: “Go for it, dad. But don’t deplete all your energy. Lol.”

Patrick laughed and then tucked his phone back into the pocket of his dark cotton pants. “That was Kim. She and Scott invited us to join them at the piano bar.”

She drew a meh kind of face. “Not really my thing but we can if you’d like.”

He nodded. “Mine either. Besides, it wouldn’t do much for ending your drought.”

“No, it wouldn’t.” She finished what remained in her glass. Then, after slowly chewing the cherry, she said, “Are you okay with it? I mean, I hope you’re not still ticked at me.”

He was more aroused than ticked–if ticked was even the right word. She was sitting there with her shapely legs crossed, wearing a short, blue and yellow, sleeveless dress, flashing him a big Texas smile, inviting him to deplete the sort of energy that Kim had alluded to. So why not?

*****

Kim had fun at the piano bar, singing and clapping along with Scott and others that made the scene there. They kissed between songs, and when they left, they kissed even more and held hands strolling along the deck. When he invited her back to his room, she didn’t hesitate.

Soon after they got there, clothes began to come off. “You’re one hot girl,” he said when she began to peel her red panties down her lovely thighs.

“Yeah, my dad thinks so, too.” Whoops! ‘Ohmygod, what did I just say?!’ she thought. It was a slip of the tongue, and her brain worked feverishly to find a way out of this potentially incriminating faux pas. “He tells me I’m pretty–that’s what I mean.”

Unbuttoning his shirt, Scott said, “Yeah, that’s what I hope you mean. A dad who thinks his daughter is hot is a dad who maybe shouldn’t be a dad.”

A piqued Kim pulled her panties back up from her thick ankles. Who was this guy to say who should or should not be a dad? Hands folded over her bare chest, she said, “Scott, a dad who thinks his daughter’s hot isn’t necessarily abusive. If that’s what you’re implying.”

Stripped down to his underwear, Scott blinked, stunned by her scolding tone. Then he drew a pained, woeful look, as if he’d just been slapped across the face. “Kim, I didn’t mean any offense by it. But you hear about these abusive dads sexualizing and molesting their daughters. You can’t think that a dad molesting his daughter is okay. Dads who do that should be locked up.”