The Last Cruise by Kate Christensen

Author:Kate Christensen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2018-07-11T00:00:00+00:00

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Miriam awoke from the deepest sleep she’d had in what felt like years to find herself in her and Isaac’s bed. It was late afternoon already. In the first instant of full consciousness, she discovered that she was naked. Worse, she seemed to be entwined around Isaac, her body curled around him, her front pressed to his back and her legs snaked around his, and he, horror upon horrors, was also naked. Then she awoke fully and nuzzled her face into the back of Sasha’s neck.

After their rehearsal in the chapel, Isaac had moved all his things across the hall and down four doors, and Sasha had done the reverse. The two old men were as gracious about it as possible. They tried very hard to banish awkwardness with as many jokes as they could tell, Isaac expanding on the theme he’d struck earlier about how miserable Sasha would be with Miriam and how glad he, Isaac, was to finally see her handed off to another man, and Sasha riffing with mild self-deprecation on his own lack of worthiness to take on such a formidable woman. Miriam laughed inwardly to overhear these two men discuss her, for the sake of their ancient friendship and Isaac’s pride, as if she were a valuable prize (Sasha), a cross to bear (Isaac), and a force to be reckoned with (both). Jakov had absented himself, wisely, and was sitting with Larry and Rivka in the buffet. The lunch special was beef Wellington, and Jakov had professed great excitement about this.

“Brioche crust, it said on the menu!” he said as he headed off to the dining room.

As for Miriam, she and Sasha fell into bed together as soon as the move was made. It was exciting, but also a bit anticlimactic. They did not have sex; they were both too overwhelmed with emotions and the strangeness of this and the newness of each other’s bodies and the beauty of falling in love so late with someone so well and deeply known, yet also unknown. It was an afternoon of sighs and gazes, caresses and embraces, many words, many silences, and a few brief spells of guilt over Sonia and Isaac. But those didn’t last long. For God’s sake, who had time to bemoan former spouses?

“Boker tov, yalda yafa,” Sasha muttered now.

“It’s the middle of the afternoon, and it’s Miriam,” she whispered. “Not your wife.”

He chuckled. “Did you think I was Isaac, just now?”

“For one terrible instant. So I didn’t want to give you that same shock, although for you, I know it wouldn’t have been terrible.”

She could feel his penis. His “cock”? It was hard, anyway, and she was glad of that. Starting tonight, they’d get to sleep together for the rest of the cruise, maybe the rest of their lives. When they got back to Tel Aviv, who knew what would happen. She had her place in the high-rise with Isaac several floors above her, and Sasha had his and Sonia’s

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