“Nothing’s wrong.”

        Hannah continued to deny that something had happened between her and Lance to cause this sudden bad mood she was in. She wasn’t ready to admit that she was scared. During their fight, all Hannah had done disagree everything Lance had to say. And after a wonderful evening he had given her, too.

        Lisa had found Hannah on the boat deck with not much trouble. Hannah’s answers weren’t adding up to her mood, though. Something had definitely gone wrong between her and Lance. That much was obvious.

        “You’re lying,” Lisa said. “Something happened, but you just don’t want to talk about it.”           

        Hannah chewed on her bottom lip. She knew there was no use denying it anymore. It was partly her fault that she was feeling miserable. “We had a fight,” she finally admitted.

        “About what?” Lisa asked. “It must have been really serious for you to run out mad as hell like you did.”

        “We were discussing living arrangements.”

        “Living arrangements?”

        Hannah nodded. “Yeah. He wants a big house, I want a small one. He refuses to live in anything small. He needs his space, or something.” She couldn’t exactly remember his exact words. She had been trying to drown them out at the time. “And he wanted to hire a housekeeper.” Then she snorted. “He says he’d worry about me being alone in a big house.”

        “He just wants you to be safe,” Lisa said.

        Hannah just didn’t understand why this was happening. She was supposed to be feeling great. Not three hours ago, she and Lance had made love. That hadn’t changed a thing negatively at all. Hannah had been content until he brought up the subject of hiring a housekeeper.

        Hannah looked off into the distance. Lisa picked up on it right away.

        “This isn’t just about living together, is it?”

        Okay, so maybe she was a little obvious. Something else was bothering her. The real reason why she had blown up at Lance like she had.

        “I know it’s stupid of me to feel jealous. But knowing Janine is still on this ship…”

        Lisa understood fully what Hannah was talking about. “You’re afraid that she’ll still find a way to come after Lance.”

        “He loved her.” It was understandable. Maybe deep down he still loved her, but that wasn’t what worried Hannah. “She was the main reason he put up that wall, keeping anyone from ever getting close to him.”

        “Are you afraid that her being around will make him put that wall back up?”

        “No, nothing like that,” Hannah said.

        “Then what’s worrying you so much?” Lisa asked.

        Hannah appreciated what Lisa was doing. Having a friend around who was there to listen no matter what she had to say was going to make this much easier. Maybe she could get Lance to talk to her. She had been sure that he would come after her. But so far, nothing.

        “She made several threats to me the last few days,” Hannah said. “She’s determined to keep me and Lance apart. And after tonight, I think she’s going to be even more determined.”

        “You know she doesn’t have a chance in hell of keeping you guys apart,” Lisa said.

        Hannah looked sceptical of that thought. “What makes you so sure of that?”

        “Sweetie.” Lisa joined Hannah on the nearest bench. Her feet were tired, but she was in a pretty good mood. Well she had been until she’d found out about Janine’s secret plan to disrupt Lance and Hannah. Somehow Janine had found out where Lance was taking Hannah. God knows how. “Lance loves you. And I know you love him. When two people love each other like you guys do, nothing can come between you.”

        “That’s what I used to think about my parents,” Hannah murmured.

        “But you’re not your parents,” Lisa pointed out. “You’re a very mature woman who has dealt with so much already. Can’t you see that coming on this ship was fate? You found your future.”

        And so had she. Earlier in the afternoon, JC had proposed. They were going to get married once he had finished recording their first album.

        “I do love him.”

        That was the first time Hannah had said it out loud to anyone but Lance. It sounded strange, but the words rung true. There was nothing she didn’t love about him. And she wanted a life with him, big house or small house. Housekeeper or no housekeeper.

        “Oh, god. I’ve been so stupid.” Hannah covered her face when the realization hit her like a ton of bricks. She had risked losing the man she loved over such stupid things.

        “You were just scared, not stupid,” Lisa said. “But I’m not the one you should be telling this to. I think Lance is the one that needs to hear you say that you love him, not me.”

        Hannah knew what she had to do.

*****

        Lance sipped the cold liquor and almost spit it out. Joey always had him trying new things. Most he didn’t mind, but whatever Joey had placed in the cup in front of him, was awful.

        But Joey seemed to be enjoying it. He drank through a straw the black liquid and smiled in satisfaction. He saw Lance’s disgusted look and laughed. “You don’t like it?”

        Lance pushed the cup to the end of the table and wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his shirt. “It tastes worse then that green stuff you made me try in Hawaii.”

        “It was seaweed suringe,” Joey said. “They say it’s good for the heart. I thought it tasted good.”

        “You think everything tastes good,” Lance muttered.

        Joey chewed thoughtfully on a cookie and watched as Lance got out of his chair and pace around the room. It was obvious that his fight with Hannah was really starting to affect him. Or maybe it was Janine’s constant presence wherever he went. Whatever it was, Lance was not his normal self at all. He was pouting, and he refused to eat anything.

        “I’m sorry about earlier,” Joey apologized. “We tried to keep Janine away, but she slipped right past us.”

        Lance looked out the window. “Don’t worry about it.”

        “You’ve been quiet all afternoon,” Joey said. “You even refused an invitation to a party. Now that isn’t like you. Not at all.”

        Lance had realized earlier that it wasn’t fair to snap at his friends. But if he was upset, couldn’t they just leave him alone? He’d told them thousands of times that he didn’t want to talk about it.

        He remained quiet, just looking out through the tiny little hole. He couldn’t see much. Just a little bit of the deck.

        “I know you want me to drop the subject, but I can’t do that. Not when I know that you’re hurting,” Joey said.   

        “I’m fine,” Lance said, even though his face said differently.

        “You really do love her, don’t you?” Joey looked amazed and very surprised. “I knew she was different from the moment I met her. But I never dreamed that you would fall in love with her.”

        “Of course I love her.” Lance glanced back at Joey. This was his best friend he was talking to. “I love her more than I thought I could ever love anybody,” he admitted with a small hint of a smile.

        Lance could never know how happy that made Joey. For months, Joey had seen Lance suffering from a broken heart. He would have done anything to put a smile back on Lance’s face. Now it had been done and Lance had found love in the process.

        “She loves you too, you know,” Joey said.

        “I know,” he said softly.

        “Then why aren’t you with her right now?”

        Lance explained the argument he had with Hannah earlier, and Joey had this expression like “that’s it? Go after her, man!” But then again, Joey knew how slow Lance was in the relationship department. It would take a few pushes and shoves to get him to go running after her.

        “You don’t know how lucky you are to have her,” Joey said. “You went from being heartbroken to someone that I can see is so in love that he can’t think straight. You should be running after her, declaring your love, not sitting here feeling sorry for yourself.”

        “I’m not feeling sorry for myself.”

        So maybe he was, but Lance would never admit that. He never felt this way. He was always trying to be the one to think positively, yet here he was in his suite, thinking about going to the lounge and drowning himself in booze.

        Lance looked up, and he met Joey’s eyes. “I don’t want to lose her, Joe. I’m so afraid that I’m going to. I’m not cut out for this relationship stuff. I failed at it once. What if I fail again?”

        “You didn’t fail, man,” Joey said. “Janine is the one that cheated on you, not the other way around. You were just way too good for her.”

        “Hannah’s way too good for me.”

        “If you keep thinking like that, there won’t be any relationship.” It was usually the other way around, Joey thought. Lance used to always say that every girl he slept with wasn’t good enough for him. “Now, stop acting like a child and go tell Hannah how you feel about her. I’m sure she needs to hear it.”

        There was a soft knock on the door. Lance and Joey glanced at each other. Lance didn’t really care who was at the door, while Joey was afraid that it was Janine again. All day she’d been trying to find Lance. Luckily, Joey had been able to keep Janine away with every excuse.

        A few more knocks and Joey was sure Janine was on the other side of the door. Lance seemed to agree. He shook his head and sat back down. He wanted to go and find Hannah, but not while Janine was around. He would probably never get to Hannah in that case.

        “Fine, if you’re not going to open up this door and talk to me, I’m going to say what I have to say to this door.”

        Lance heard Hannah’s voice and he sat still, his arms resting on the arms of the chair. She sounded out of breath and very determined to speak her mind.

        “Lance listen, I’m so sorry,” Hannah said on the other side of the door.

        Lance and Joey shared a confused glance.

        What the hell? Lance thought.

        “I snapped at you earlier,” Hannah continued. “And it wasn’t fair. You just want me safe, but I took it for something else and took my anger at other things out on you.” Her voice went very soft as she prepared to speak her next words. “I love you. God, you have no idea how much. I can’t stand the thought of living one day without you. It’s crazy because I used to say I didn’t need anyone. But, God, I need you.” Hannah leaned her head against the door. “I love you,” she whispered. “Please open the door.”

        Lance had his ear against the door, and he had the biggest grin on his face. The words he had most needed to hear had been spoken. And she wanted him to open the door, yet he was still leaning against the door, trying to compose himself.

        “Please,” she said when the door didn’t move. “Lance, come on!” She banged furiously on the door with her hand. “Damn it, open the damn….” She cut herself off when the door opened and revealed Lance.

        She fell into his arms, and soon she was placing soft kisses all over his face.

        As much as he was enjoying it, he pulled away from her embrace. “You shouldn’t be the one apologizing,” he said. “It was my fault for treating you like a baby.”

        “I shouldn’t have stormed out. But when I saw Janine, I just didn’t see a reason to stay.”

        Lance knew that Janine would always be a sore subject for both of them. Besides, there was no need to talk about her anymore, anyway.

        “I don’t care if we live in the white house.” Hannah kissed him softly. “I don’t care if you hire twelve housekeepers.” The kiss got deeper. “Just please, don’t walk away from me. It’ll kill me.”

        Lance tightened his grip around her waist. “I’ll never leave you.”

        He jumped and fell into the kiss.  

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