His life had once been like a Billy Joel song. He’d married his high school sweetheart when they were both nineteen and he was the lead singer in a popular local band. All the traveling and late nights didn’t make for a conventional life, which was what Lorna wanted after the first few years of fun. After their divorce he swore he would never march down the aisle again. Eventually one of the band members got a nine-to-five job, another started college, and the group went kaput. But Frankie was determined to never give up his music. He found work singing at bars in Atlantic City. That was okay for a while, but he grew restless. An actor friend told him about a new cruise line that was holding auditions for singers in New York City. Frankie went to Manhattan, and after performing two songs was hired on the spot. He’d been sailing the seven seas ever since. Ten years ago he’d landed a spot on the ship of his dreams. It was a most prestigious cruise line but the staff and guests were not too stuffy. The ocean was Frankie’s mistress, and he was content.

But in the last year things had started to change. A new cruise director had been hired who seemed to have his own agenda. Frankie had the feeling his days could be numbered. He was thinking of looking for a job on another ship when Rhonda Schmidt walked into the lounge with three of her friends from college. They’d booked a cruise to celebrate their forty-fifth birthdays and spend a stretch of time together, time they hadn’t shared since they all lived in the same dorm.

Rhonda had requested a Bruce Springsteen song. “I’m from New Jersey,” she’d said, raising her glass.

“So am I,” Frankie called back, with a wink. There was something about her. He was relieved to see she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring.

Frankie had many shipboard romances over the years, but this one was different. He felt that he’d met his soul mate. She was funny and smart and, like him, had grown up at the Jersey Shore. The Jersey Shore that had nothing to do with a reality show but had everything to do with the simple pleasures, like hanging out at the beach, miniature golf, getting up early to watch the sunrise with your friends, that first kiss …

Rhonda was divorced, had two sons in college, and owned a successful restaurant in Asbury Park. Suddenly the thought of living on land didn’t make Frankie shudder.