WHO: Jenny and Ian WHEN: June 1st, 2:00am WHERE: Top Deck WHAT: Sneaking out for a smoke WARNING: PG-13 for language
He hadn’t even been on the fucking boat for an entire day and he was already starting to question whether coming aboard had been the right decision or not. There were several cons that outweighed the pros of hopping on a cruise ship just a few months after Nona’s death, but he had finally agreed to it after the non-stop badgering of his agent. He had told him that getting away might restore some sense of normalcy for the actor, who had been under constant media surveillance since his wife’s passing. He didn’t understand how going on a fucking cruise ship with some of his castmates in order to do sit downs and autographs with fans was normal, but at least he wouldn’t have the paparazzi to worry about. Sure, he’d have hundreds of rabid fans surrounding him and flashing pictures of him during his stay on the ship, but it was still better than the media.
Nothing could change the fact that Ian was not the kind of person who liked feeling trapped. It was a big ass boat, there was no getting around that, but there was also no where else for him to go once they set sail. There was no land in sight, they were surrounded by miles of blue ocean, and he had been quarantined to his cabin for the night in order to maintain some privacy. There were bodyguards standing outside his door, but he was feeling restless. The room he had been given was one of the largest on the ships - it was the best room anyone could ask for during their stay, but it didn’t prevent him from pacing back and forth from one room to the next. He had taken a shower after the Q&A session had ended, had gone out to dinner with Dakota before heading back to his room, and now he just couldn’t sit still.
He couldn’t remember the last time he had gotten some quality sleep since Nona had died. His bed always seemed too empty, which made it impossible for him to ignore the fact that she wasn’t there with him. It had been different, when they were on different ends of the country, or even the world, and he had to sleep in a bed on his own. He had always been able to at least text her and get a reply back before he settled in for the night.
His first instinct was still to call her. He still hadn’t been able to bring himself to delete her name from his phone. She was still listed under ‘Dove’, and he caught a glimpse of it every time he went to speak to anyone else in the ‘D’ column of his phone. It was these constant reminders that made his head spin too much for him to actually settle down and get to sleep.
Ian sat on the edge of his bed, running a hand down his face as his legs bounced. He couldn’t just sit there, and after checking the clock for the millionth time and feeling as though the second hand wasn’t moving, he muttered a “fuck this” under his breath before he grabbed the pack of cigarettes he had stowed away in his drawer and threw on a hooded sweatshirt before opening his cabin door. Immediately, he was stopped by one of the burly guards who were responsible for him not getting shanked.
“Sir, it’s probably not a good idea for you to be leaving on your own.”
Ian narrowed his eyes a bit.
“Last time I checked they were payin’ you to keep people out, not give me your fuckin’ opinion.”
He waited for the gruff man to heave a sigh before stepping out of his way, allowing Ian to walk around him, pulling up his hood to make his way to the deck. There weren’t many people around, and if there were they were way too drunk to pay him any attention. He finally found a secluded enough area before he reached into his pocket, pulled out the pack of cigarettes and the lighter, and lit one of the white sticks before placing it between his lips, taking in a deep, much needed drag. He held it in his lungs, allowing the smoke to burn before he released it, trailing away in the wind. He leaned against one of the rails, staring out into the distance, appreciating the feel of the wind against his skin.
Jenny was freezing in the night air. She was fairly certain that it was the wind and hoped, eventually, wherever it was they were going to end up docking first, it wouldn’t be so damn chilly there. She would have a hard time getting a last few uses out of those bikinis that she had packed, otherwise. But that was days away still. She held her sweater tightly around herself as she made her way along the deck, her stomach lurching and her eyes trained on the polished deck boards under her feet, refusing to look over the side of the boat more than necessary
She’d only agreed to board the Mare Crisium because it had been the sort of situation where she had been put in such an awkward situation. It was a gift, a gift her wife had been so excited over. Given a choice, she would have personally chosen anything else. After Anna and Martin had prepaid for their beautiful cabin, and thought they were doing their daughter and new daughter-in-law a favor, what was she supposed to say? She couldn’t turn down an all-expense paid honeymoon. Dahlia was so ecstatic about going, too. The Palmers weren’t stingy, the accommodation that they had booked for them was nothing like the sort of accommodations Jenny was accustomed to traveling with her own family.
Her parents were the sort to pile her and Ella into an RV and make them go camping for a weekend, or to take them hiking. Cruises were Dahlia’s thing though, they had been her idea of a perfect vacation growing up, and if she would still enjoy one, Jenny wanted to be there with her. She didn’t care much for water, she was a terrible swimmer in anything deeper than her waist, but how often did one hear about legitimate cruise ships sinking out of the blue? Malfunctions, maybe, but not sinking. Plane crashes were probably more common. Or car crashes. They’d be fine. She just kept telling herself that her fear about water travel was irrational.
Still, getting rest was proving to be harder than she expected. She’d looked directly over the side of the boat only once, when they had waved to Chase and Dahlia’s parents while the cruise left the dock in Florida, and she had kept mostly to their cabin and the interior parts of the ship since they’d left dry land. She had no real desire for wandering the boat and peering over way down into the blue. She’d heard some teenagers talked excitedly earlier about hanging over the back to try to see the propellers or something.. definitely not her cup of tea.
There was only so much to do in their room, no matter how nice and posh it was. The mini bar was of no use to her. She’d tried to take a little nap, enticing Dahlia to join her with some verbal pouting about not feeling well, but while her wife (and Lucy at the foot of the bed) had no trouble falling asleep for a couple of hours, Jenny found drifting off a lot harder. She’d been nauseous, on and off, ever since the cruise had departed. She hadn’t thrown up yet, but laying on the bed in the middle of the suite, really feeling the subtle motion and rocking of the ship all around her, she had felt sure that she was seconds away.
Quietly exiting the room, and now wandering along the deck of the ship with her sweater clutched around her shoulders, the fresh air helped her nausea but the wind was still biting toward the front of the boat. She’d been aimlessly wandering, really, keeping toward the center and away from the railings on the deck when the smell of smoke reached her nose long before she spotted Ian.
She inhaled lovingly, automatically, deeply. Feeling guilt a few seconds later. Quitting, she was quitting. She had promised Dahlia that she would quit, she had reason to quit, but that smell was intoxicating. She hated the smell of smoke clinging to a person after they had a smoke, but a burning cigarette was better. There was something about a freshly lit cigarette, the scent of that first drag, that always sucked her in every time. She hadn’t had a cigarette in over a week, since she and Dahlia had discussed the matter after the doctor office had call back, before departing on their honeymoon. But that fucking smell was so delectable.
Jenny spotted Ian eventually, the source of the tempting smell that she wanted very desperately to capture. Second-hand smoke was no better than first-hand, but even so. She vaguely recognized him, there was something familiar about the set of his jaw and the fall of his hair. Was he one of those celebrities that were supposed to be on board, from the demon show that Dahlia watched sometimes? They’d had a Q&A earlier or something. He was handsome enough for television. He didn’t seem to have an entourage though, no one keeping him separate from the common guests.. so maybe he wasn’t that special after all.
“Excuse me,” the blonde interrupted him, an apologetic smile on her lips already as she reached over and gave the sleeve of his shirt a little tug. “I know this probably sounds crazy.. but do you think I could have one, teeny, tiny puff of that? Just like, two seconds?” Hell, just holding it between her teeth for a second would be enough, a familiar gesture. Maybe she wouldn’t even inhale all of the way. She really shouldn’t have, particularly since as it was, Dahlia would probably smell the smoke in her hair by now just from standing beside Ian.
Ian had been hopeful that the piss-poor “disguise” he was wearing would be enough to keep people from approaching him, with his face mostly covered and an entourage not surrounding him, but he hadn’t nixed out the possibility that someone might recognize him, even from his profile, despite the fact that the fabric of his hood did a decent enough job of hiding his face. He just tried not to think about it, though his stomach sank a little when he heard a female voice say ‘excuse me’.
It was something he heard a lot – not because he was in someone’s way, but because they were about to start a sentence with ‘excuse me, but aren’t you that guy?’, or ‘excuse me, do you think I could have a picture or an autograph?’. His brows furrowed together when he felt her tugging at his shirt, much like a child might do to a parent in order to get their attention, and he turned his head a little to look at her.
”I know this probably sounds crazy...”
Ian was just waiting to hear what bizarre request she was about to make, his brow lifting a little. He was sure he had heard everything – he had fans asking if he would come back to their hotel room with them, even when he was dating or engaged to Nona – but when she requested a drag of his cigarette, Ian couldn’t help but stare at her for a long moment.
She didn’t know who he was. She had only approached him because of what he was holding between his fingers, not because of who he was. The thought was extremely refreshing. He couldn’t remember the last time that had happened, and Ian couldn’t help but smirk just a bit before he turned in order to look at the cigarette she was asking for, rolling it between his fingertips, watching the embers fall into the ocean below.
“How about I do you one better and just give you one?”
He turned back to her, realizing that he wouldn’t really care if she stayed and had a smoke with him while she still didn’t realize who the hell he was.
Jenny was mostly pleased when he didn’t call her a weirdo out right, as she knew it was a sort of bold request from a complete stranger. But she didn’t have any cooties, and he didn’t look like he did either. It wasn’t as if she had never shared a cigarette with someone before, she’d attended plenty of parties in her youth, she’d bummed cigarettes from worse looking guys a hundred times. If she could just have a quick drag, she knew she’d feel better. It was hard, as it was, standing next to him as he flicked his ash over the side. She made a conscious effort not to watch, not to look over.
When he offered her a cigarette of her own, her face lit up but she was quickly shaking her head. “I really, really shouldn’t have a whole one,” she admitted. “I really shouldn’t be having any, but I.. I really hate this ship. My nerves,” she explained, trailing off with a sheepish smile. “I guess that sounds stupid, being on a boat that I hate, but I swear it makes sense.”
She rested one hand on the edge of the railing in front of them, new wedding glinting slightly in the light. “I’m too nice for my own good,” the blonde laughed weakly after a moment. She was prone to oversharing.
The reaction she gave in return to his offer was confusing, to say the very least, but he just listened to her ramble on about why she wanted a drag in the first place. When she vaguely explained her reasoning for being on the boat, he once again lifted a brow, letting out a snort before he took another drag of the much desired cigarette. “Can’t say I have that problem. Must be a burden.” There was definitely some amount of sarcasm in his voice. Ian wasn’t the type to go above and beyond in order to be nice to someone, though he could fake it when it came to his fans. He couldn’t think of what sort of circumstances could have made her agree to come onto a boat if she hated them so much. Ian had his reasons, but it definitely didn’t have to do with him being ‘too nice’. He blew the smoke away from her, allowing the wind to carry it off before he turned back to her.
“People do a lotta shit they shouldn’t, especially if they want something bad enough.” He took another quick drag before he ashed it over the side and handed the already lit chemical stick over to the blonde. “Go nuts.” He said dryly, watching as she filled her lungs with the toxins she craved so badly. Ian had only just recently picked up the habit again, having cut down a considerable amount when Nona had made mention of how much she disliked the smell. He had never officially quit, since it was a vice that he just couldn’t seem to kick, but he had tried for her. Now, he found himself stepping out for a smoke break pretty often between sets. He hated the way it clung to his clothing and his skin, but it offered him some sort of relaxation, and he’d take what he could get without resorting to extreme measures.
“In this case, I think I’d rather say people do a lot of shit they shouldn’t when they love someone too much,” Jenny countered him easily, watching him flick the cigarette again, her eyes following the fall of the ash over the side as much as she tried to avoid it. She thought of her wife, back in the cabin with Lucy, whom she was doing all of this for. Pretty Dahlia, who would give her hell when she smelled the cigarette on her. The wife whom she had agreed to board this boat for in the first place. Really, anything to see Dahlia smiling genuinely. When she had found out about the cruise, she had gotten a look of excitement on her face that Jenny hadn’t seen in far too long. How could she ever deny her?
It wasn’t necessarily going to be an easy ride, having Dahlia in an unfamiliar place could be tricky enough even when Jenny was comfortable with an environment, let alone when she wasn’t. They’d have to explore the boat together. She thanked goodness for Lucy, not for the first time since they had brought the dog home. “Cheers,” the blonde smirked at him, accepting the smoke handed her way, but only taking the one inhale from it. Sharp, held deep, but quickly exhaled and the cigarette passed back in Ian’s direction once again. That was enough.
She hadn’t smoked intensely since college, when she’d been at her worst for consumption, at a pack a day sometimes. She’d long since cut back, but she’d also never been able to stay away from the filthy things entirely. If anyone ever lit one near her, she could hardly resist. Even when Dahlia, and Chase, told her that she ought to quit already. It was something easier said than done. In her current situation, it wasn’t just her own health at risk though, and that an unfamiliar feeling after such a long time. She had another person living off of her, to worry about, for the next few months. It made her feel a lot guiltier about breaking her vow to kick the habit.
When Ian took the cigarette back, freeing her hands, the blonde tucked some hair behind her ear and pulled her sweater tighter around herself again. With the constant movement and the wind, it wasn’t any warmer on this part of the deck than it had been back closer to her suite. “I started in high school.. I always said I would quit, but no dice. I’ve got kids, you know? That’s not fair to them.” Well, the plural might have been a little premature. She didn’t exactly have more than one yet, but in a little over half a year, she would. It was all the more reason not to ask for that cigarette back, even though she wanted to. “That was my last puff though. You can be my official witness.”
Without missing a beat, she extended her hand to him, the same one that had been grazing the railing. He still looked familiar to her, like he indeed might be one of those television celebrities on board that so many people were losing their heads over, but there was really only one want to find out. To get an introduction. “I’m sorry, I didn’t even tell you my name. I’m Jenny, by the way.”
Her remark hit close to home, and he looked away from her again. “There’s a difference between doing something you don’t want to do and doing something you shouldn’t…but yeah, love makes us do crazy shit.” Now that his hands were free for the time being, he laced his fingers together, still leaning over the side of the boat. She didn’t seem to be edging any closer to the railing, which made him suspect that she either had a fear of water (it would explain her hatred of boats) or even a fear of heights. They weren’t too far up, but it would definitely be quite a fall were you to accidently topple over the railing.
He reached back to take the cigarette from her once it was handed off to him again, his attention back on her when she once again began sharing the history of how she had started smoking in the first place. This girl was talking to him like he was someone she had known for years, and while he found it peculiar, he also found it rather fascinating. Under different circumstances, he might have been annoyed by her babbling, but it had been such a long time since anyone had spoken to him like he was a fucking person without telling him how sorry they were for his loss, or talking to him about all the things they loved about his show, or asking him redundant questions like he was on an interview. People always wanted to know so fucking much about him.
And then she reached forward to introduce herself, and he froze momentarily before he finally let out a nasal sigh and reached out with his free hand, taking hold of her much smaller version. “Ian.” Short, sweet, and to the point. If she didn’t know who he was after that than he was in the clear, but he had a feeling that she had to be completely oblivious to be on a cruise that had been promoting his presence for the last couple of weeks in various forms of media.
Jenny noted the sigh before he took her hand, the curt introduction, and that was all that she really needed to hear. It was the introduction of someone who clearly didn’t feel much like introducing himself, and thought she considered asking him if he was the guy on television after all, she had a feeling that it wasn’t a question that would go over well. There were celebrities on board, it was impossible not to know with the way people were behaving and hype surrounding them, and he might very well have been one of them. But what did she really care?
She might have been prone to oversharing her own life and even a little overbearing, but she knew when not to push someone about their own. Her wife had given her plenty of practice in that. She could take a hint when someone didn’t really feel like talking about themselves or what they had going on.
“Nice to meet you, Ian,” she said simply, before pulling her hand away and turning toward the railing a bit more. Still not getting any closer, but at least looking toward it, looking out past it, toward the ocean. “It’s scary, isn’t it?” she murmured, after a moment. “It looks like it goes on forever. It might as well, this far out. We’re too far away from anything for it to matter either way, and it’s.. deeper than I can even imagine. Cold.”
Jenny bit her lower lip, shaking her head a bit. She didn’t want to go down that train of thought again. It was easier to pretend that she was just in a beautiful suite, in a beautiful resort.. that resort just happened to be on water. She could try to pretend that it wasn’t, but when she stood on the deck and stared off into the seemingly endless vast view of the water, it was very hard to deny. They were out at sea, far out at sea, and it was an awful thought to her. She felt her nausea coming back a little, although that might have been the taste of cigarette that had still managed to invade her mouth after just the one puff.
“I know, I’m being stupid. We’re not on the Titantic or something. That movie is scary, too, just for the record.” Jenny wasn’t even sure that she knew how to dog paddle, honestly, and if the Mare Crisium decided to go tail up, she was more or less resigned to death. But she knew that worrying about something like that was just silly. She was supposed to be on her honeymoon, enjoying herself, enjoying time away from home and work and motherhood for a little while. She just wished it wasn’t on the goddamn water.
Jenny really couldn’t understand how relieved he was when she didn’t act on that vague look of recognition that spread over her features when she learned his name. Instead, she just shook his hand, and went back to talking about her dislike of boats, causing his shoulders to relax a little beneath the baggy fabric of his sweatshirt, turning around in order to lean back against the railings, taking in another drag of the cigarette before he rested both elbows against the bars. He still had his hood up, creating a shadow over his face which made it hard for people to know who he was from a distance, but he was definitely more at risk of being seen facing this direction.
In the back of his mind he knew that he was being watched – he knew that one or two of the bodyguards that had been hired to protect him had followed him to the deck and were lurking somewhere unseen. He was worth too damn much to the production company for them to allow him to accidently get tipped overboard by a gaggle of excited, drunk fans. It was always a matter of pride, thinking that he didn’t need the protection – he knew how to take care of himself, but there was no getting around the fact that someone who was in the spotlight as much as he was couldn’t really walk around without getting too much unwanted attention.
Fuck, the man hadn’t even been able to grieve in private.
He listened to Jenny describe the endless amount of sea that surrounded the boat, looking back over his shoulder to take it all in again. He let out another snort when she described the movie Titanic as being ‘scary’, looking back down at her. She was a tiny thing, this Jenny. He imagined she was about the same height as Nona, and as his mind wandered back to his dead wife for the millionth time, he mentally scolded himself.
Fuck, you have to stop doing that… She’s gone. Get your shit together.
“That movie is bullshit. That old broad spent the entire fuckin’ movie tellin’ that guy about this lavish affair she had with a poor guy on a boat, which all lead back to this necklace he spent most of his career looking for…and for what? Just to toss it back into the ocean? Her douche bag fiancée was the one who gave it to her in the first place, but because DiCaprio drew a picture of her wearing it, it suddenly had sentimental value? Bullshit.”
It was the most he had said to her so far, but now that he was sure that she wasn’t going to ask him about who he was, he was finding it easier to manage a normal conversation.
Jenny continued staring out into the ocean, but she looked away, laughing, at Ian’s response to her. Typical guy way to respond, that. She’d only seen the movie once, when she was younger, and the scene of the boat going down had practically traumatized her (her sister, meanwhile, had loved it). But girls were always gushing about Titantic being the greatest love story of all time. Ian had a point with it. Realistically, it was sort of fucking dumb. “It was sort of bullshit,” the blonde agreed, “It was totally romantic, at first, but.. I dunno. Even if I really loved someone, personally I’d want something like that to go to a museum, where it could be of some use. Maybe even ask that they.. you know, tell my story, and document this awesome guy I loved. Or something like that.”
She shook her head. “What’s dropping it in the ocean going to do? If it’s that important or of such great sentimentality, you should keep it! That old lady was full of mixed messages.. she was funny, though,” the blonde smiled. She’d almost forgotten about the fear in her gut, until she remembered just why she thought Titantic was terrifying. Stupid character choices aside. “It was scary though.. when the boat started going down, like really going down, and the power went out, everyone started like screaming and it cracked in half..” When she had watched the scene when she was younger, she had watched it through the splayed fingers of her hands over her eyes. She almost mimicked the motion unconsciously, just at the thought. She folded her arms over her chest instead.
“When people started falling into the propellers, that was enough for me. I didn’t particularly care for that.. chase through the bottom of the boat either, with the water rising.” That was way scarier, in fact, than falling off the side of the boat and dying that way, or being crushed by a smokestack or whatever else happened to people in the end of that movie. It was hard to keep it all straight, especially with the length. But the thought of running, the water rising around her ankles, up over her knees, the energy it would expend to run through rising water, fight against it. Now that was horror.
“You know that scene where they save the little boy, or they try to, and his father runs the other way with him, toward the opposite direction, and then all the water just rushes through and gets them both..” She trailed off slightly, biting her lip. “Hollywood made it romantic, but sometimes it’s easy to forget that it actually happened. Not really that way, obviously, but you know.. it really did happen sort of like that. To real people. It’s history.” There was another moment of silence, before she laughed bitterly, giving in and rubbing her forehead. “I fucking hate boats.”
Jenny definitely had a way of carrying a conversation all on her own, but it was more amusing than it was annoying. Again, it had been way too long since anyone had spoken to him like he was a person instead of a ‘celebrity’. People were always very nervous and/or anxious about meeting him, which made it extremely awkward for him whenever he needed to do one-on-one’s with fans who didn’t know what to say, since they wouldn’t likely ever get the chance to try having a conversation with him. At first it had been a surreal experience, but over the years, as his fame had grown, it was just to be expected. He wasn’t a social butterfly by any means, but every now and then it was nice to feel normal.
He felt normal around this girl.
He didn’t interrupt her as she recounted various scenes of Titanic, noting how worked up she was getting just thinking about it. He just stood there, smoking his cigarette as he listened to her speak, not wanting to stop her while she was on a roll. He wasn’t always monosyllabic, but he definitely preferred listening to talking, unless he really felt he had something to say. She was like a damn cartoon character, the way she was so animated about everything, and he found himself smirking at her a few times between drags.
“Yeah, you keep sayin’ that.” It was his response to the way she kept going on about how much she hated boats. He rolled his cigarette between his fingers. “Makes a guy wonder what would make you board one in the first place. You mentioned you did it for someone, but if they terrify you this much, why the fuck didn’t you just say something about it?” He wasn’t trying to be aggressive about it, though sometimes he could come across as being a dick even when he wasn’t trying.
“I guess I do keep harping on that point, don’t I?” Jenny replied, smiling sheepishly and shaking her head a little bit. She crossed her arms loosely over her chest, watching Ian rolling his cigarette, before glancing out toward the ocean again. It was at least less scary, somehow, the darker it got. In the dark, it was just.. well, dark. Everything looked endless in the dark. But the daylight, the ocean still looked endless, and that was what got her. His comment about wondering what got her on board had her cracking another smile.
“Well, a guy would be asking quite a loaded question then, wouldn’t he?” the blonde mused, glancing at Ian, before looking away again. “Long story short, I’m doing it for my wife.. and before you give me any looks, I actually used to be pre-tty boy crazy once upon a time, but my wife puts them all to shame. I’m equal opportunity,” she smirked at him. Her relationship was a very serious topic to her, but dropping the whole gay thing abruptly usually went over better with a little joking. “Anyway, she’s.. really, really excited about being on here. She knows I hate the water, but I’ve been playing it down a little.. cause, you know, I know that I’m being unreasonable. I don’t want to spoil her good time.”
The last couple of years had been good, but it had been a long time since Dahlia had genuinely enjoyed herself in something like this. It would be their last chance to get away by themselves for a while, as well. “Plus, I didn’t actually pay anything to go on my honeymoon.. which is a pretty big expense. Tickets were a gift from my in-laws, thoughtful people they are,” Jen laughed weakly, rolling her eyes. “Her parents had no way of knowing that I hate water, and boats, and all of.. this, but I might still feel a little, you know, schtupped by all of this. Why couldn’t they have bought us a stay in a nice all inclusive, on the beach somewhere? Somewhere we could fly.”
Ian continued to do little more than listen and work on burning down his cigarette, taking a drag at random intervals, still careful to blow the smoke outwards towards the water. He couldn’t really help the way his brows lifted slightly at the mention of the word ‘wife’ – he was pretty open-minded about same sex relationships, it just hadn’t been what he had expected to hear from her. He had to assume that she hasn’t always been with a woman based on the fact that she had mentioned having kids, though nowadays there were definitely ways for that to happen through donors. He didn’t really think about it too much, he just let her go on. She was like a wind-up doll – once you got her going, there was no stopping her.
The only downfall of her talking about this being her honeymoon made him think of his. He wasn’t the type to share things about his personal life, because he had come to learn over time that there really wasn’t a way to be sure you could trust someone when everything you did was up for media discussion or debate. People had managed to get their hands on some candid pictures that people had taken of him and Nona while they had been in Europe, but no matter how much money they offered him, he wasn’t going to share any personal photos that had been taken.
“That’s one hell of a gift. Most people are lucky if their in-laws accept them into the family, let alone pay for an elaborate trip on a self-proclaimed floating death trap.” He took the final puff of his cigarette before he flicked it over the edge, watching it drop down into the ocean before he turned back to her, free hands now placed into the pockets of his sweatshirt.
“Congratulations on the events preceding the worst honeymoon you could have asked for, by the way.”