Anna woke up snuggling her pillow with a wide happy smile spread across her face. She carried the pillow as she rose from the bed and danced to the tune of Billy Hill's "The Glory of Love", as the ship's radio played music of current and older popular favorites.
For Anna, Irving Berlin's "Always" now had a slightly different enchantment. She threw the pillow in the air and stretched herself, raising her arms straight up, her hair flowing loose and free. Her elegant long white nightgown barely hid the young woman's firm, well-shaped body. The full breakfast Giovanni had brought in was left untouched. Her mind was not on food: It was on the man she had met. His smiling face had remained with her throughout the night. The ivory-faced wall clock chimed at half past eleven. "Oh, my God, I must hurry. I promised to meet him at noon!"
Nikolas's night was sleepless; he was constantly glancing at his wristwatch, wondering if it was broken. He had repeatedly brought the watch up to his ear to hear it tic, the time seemed to move so slow. Finally, in the early hours of dawn, he fell asleep. By ten he was up, taking a shower and getting dressed.
"I'm going early, 11:07," he thought aloud. His double-breasted blue blazer adorned with mother of pearl buttons, his white trousers, and freshly starched white shirt made him look especially handsome. Nikolas removed the burgundy tie he had put on, deciding instead to unbutton the top two buttons of his shirt to feel more comfortable. He slipped a white silk handkerchief into his breast pocket, smoothed his short, wavy hair, and walked out of the cabin with confident strides. Nikolas picked out a red rose at the flower shop and languidly made his way out to the sun deck. He caught the eyes of women passing him, casting admiring looks his way.
He chose a table by the pool with two chairs and placed the rose in the middle of the table in a tall-stemmed glass. It was 11:39. "Perhaps she will come early," he mused. "Or maybe not. I'll wait. She'll come, she promised." Nikolas removed a pack of cigarettes from his breast pocket, turned it over, and quickly put them away again. The table setting looked so perfect that he did not want to smoke or disturb it by drinking from a glass before her arrival. He did, however, swallow down a shot of Chivas Regal to calm his nerves. He walked around the pool, and when he realized he had already circled it a couple of times, he went back to his seat, surrendering to the warmth of the sun.