Destination Wedding ~ A Novel (12 page)

Mandy grabbed her mother's arm and they walked ahead of the group. "You and Dad seem to be doing okay today," she said.

Claire nodded. "Yeah. He's been behaving himself since last night."

Mandy rolled her eyes. "Last night was awful. But he apologized to us this morning. What set off his bad mood?"

"Diane," Claire said. "She was mad at him about a picture you'd posted on Facebook. We were in it, and he was rubbing suntan lotion on my back. She blew a gasket over it."

Mandy turned toward her mother, her hand raised to her mouth. "Oh, no. I didn't mean to start anything by posting pictures. I posted pictures of the scenery. I didn't even notice you and Dad in the picture. Should I take it down?"

A small smile appeared on Claire's face. She wasn't usually a mean spirited person, but she did enjoy making Diane angry. "Ah, just leave it up. It's your Facebook page. You can have whatever you want on it."

Mandy shot her mother a sideways glance. "You just want to piss off Diane, don't you?"

Claire looked at her daughter with a fake shocked expression. "Who, me? Never."

Both women laughed.

"Can you imagine what she'd do if she knew you and Daddy were sharing a room?" Mandy asked.

"Hmmm. Maybe you should post that to Facebook, too," Claire said, waggling her eyebrows.

"You can be really evil, you know that?" Mandy said, giggling. "I don't want to upset Dad's wife that much. After all, he has to live with her."

Claire agreed. After how nice Jim had been to her today at the lighthouse, she really didn't want to do anything to upset his wife, or life, either.

Mandy fell back to walk with Craig and soon all the couples paired off and walked down the beach. That left Claire and Jim together again. Claire didn't mind tonight. At least they were getting along well, and it was such a beautiful evening, it was nice sharing it with someone.

"You know what this reminds me of?" Jim asked Claire as they walked side-by-side at the water's edge.

"What?"

"When we were in college and a group of us would go to the lake for the day and hang out on the beach. Remember? We'd usually stay late into the evening and start a bonfire. Those were the days, huh? When we had nothing more to worry about except getting to class on time and having fun."

Claire looked up at him, surprised he'd brought up the old days. They'd met in her first year of college in an economics class. Jim had been one year ahead of her. Both had majored in Business Management, so they often had the same classes together. They started dating seriously in her sophomore year. Then, in her junior year, Claire discovered she was pregnant with Mandy and she and Jim were married that summer. Luckily, he'd already graduated college. Claire never finished her last year. Now, it seemed like such a long time ago. Almost like another lifetime.

"Yeah. Those were the days," Claire agreed. "But real life is always more complicated than college life. Ours grew complicated before we even finished college."

Jim glanced up to where Mandy walked with Craig, then back at Claire. "Maybe," he said. "But I wouldn't have traded having Mandy for anything else in the world."

Claire's heart swelled. It was nice hearing that he'd at least been happy they'd married and had Mandy, even though their marriage hadn't lasted in the end.

The air grew chilly and the group turned back toward the inn to collect Janice and Carl and drove the golf carts to the lodge. Everyone said goodnight and headed to their rooms. Before leaving, Mandy told her parents that she and Craig were going down to the top of the dune by the beach to lay down and look up at the night sky. "You should try it," she told Jim and Claire. "It's so peaceful and beautiful."

"Maybe another night," Claire said. She hugged her daughter goodnight.

"Nothing like being young and in love," Jim said wistfully as he watched Mandy and Craig walk away hand in hand.

Claire nodded. "Yeah. Hopefully it will last for them."

Jim turned to Claire and looked at her tenderly. "Our marriage wasn't so bad, was it? I mean, until I screwed everything up."

Claire didn't know how to answer him. She had thought they had a good marriage, but then he'd left her and she still didn't understand why.

"Something must have been wrong," she said sadly. "Otherwise, we'd still be together."

Jim sighed. "I guess that was a stupid question, huh? But I believe our marriage was a good one, even with the way things turned out."

Claire turned away from Jim, afraid that if she stayed close to him, her emotions would bubble up to the surface. This was no time for tears. She silently agreed, their marriage had been good. That was why his leaving had been such a shock.

"Okay. No more stupid questions," Jim said, the lightness now back in his voice. "It's late. Let's go up to bed."

Claire and Jim walked up the three flights of stairs to their room. For one fleeting moment, Claire wished things had been different and they were still together. But now there were other people involved, and that wish could no longer come true.

***

Jim lay awake in his uncomfortable cot long after they'd turned out the lights and Claire had fallen asleep. The moonlight filtered through an opening in the curtains over the patio door, and Jim heard the sound of the ocean waves in the distance. Claire had left the patio door open a crack again tonight so they'd be lulled to sleep by the sound of the ocean. Unfortunately, it hadn't helped him fall asleep so easily.

Jim thought back through their day together, and it made him smile. He'd been such a jerk the night before because of Diane's phone call, but Claire had been kind enough to understand and forgive him. That was the Claire he remembered. The kind, caring woman who had always stood by him, encouraged him, and most of all, trusted him. The fact that she'd still be so nice to him after he'd broken that trust four years ago made him feel even more remorseful now. And he'd felt terrible, no downright dreadful, when he'd left her.

Jim thought back to the day he'd left, and, for the life of him, he couldn't think of one good reason why he'd done it. Claire had never been a nagger. She'd never asked more of him than she'd given of herself. She'd been the perfect mother, and had never once made Jim feel as if he came second in their marriage. Yet, he'd still cheated and he'd still left her. Why?

"Something must have been wrong, otherwise, we'd still be together,"
Claire had said to him tonight. He hadn't known how to respond when she'd said it because, if he were honest with himself, he knew that there had been nothing wrong with their relationship. There had only been something wrong with him.

Jim turned in the cot to try to get more comfortable and was rewarded with a loud creaking noise. He lay still for a moment, listening, until he decided that he hadn't awoken Claire. The cot was a torture device, and maybe the fact that he was stuck on it was well-deserved. It was just one of the universe's ways of exacting revenge on him for hurting Claire. Another form of revenge had been living with Diane. If the universe hadn't been laughing at him for being stuck with her after having had Claire, he'd be surprised. Karma was a bitch, and so was Diane.

Jim pushed away all thoughts of the horrible cot and of his soon-to-be ex-wife and thought about the lovely day he and Claire had shared. It had felt so good to enjoy an easy-going day exploring the gift shops and walking the beach. Helping Claire with her fear of heights at the lighthouse had been unexpected, but actually nice. Even though she'd been afraid, he'd been able to help her see the view from above, and he knew she'd be pleased with the photos she'd taken. It had also felt good being needed by her. He'd come to her aid when she'd needed him, and he'd followed through. At least this time he hadn't abandoned her when she'd needed him most.

Jim had also noticed that Claire hadn't been as nervous today as she'd been the first few days of the trip. She hadn't spun her charm bracelet around her wrist or twirled her necklace endlessly. That meant she'd been relaxed and enjoyed her day, too. Or, at least he hoped it meant that.

Jim hoped that the rest of the vacation went as nicely as today had. For a fleeting instant, he wondered if he should tell Claire that he and Diane were through. Would that make a difference to her? Would it help her decide if she really wanted to marry that stuck up Steven, or not? He didn't know for sure how she'd react to the news. Would it help to bring him and Claire closer? Or would it matter at all to Claire. A little part of him wished it would matter.

When Jim finally fell asleep, it was to the lulling sound of the waves, but also to the light, steady breathing of the first love of his life, and perhaps, the only love of his life, sleeping only a few feet away from him.

Chapter Ten

Claire awoke the next morning to the sun peeking through the partially closed curtains. She reached over, pulled one curtain aside, and hooked it open, then lay back and sighed. The view outside the window was glorious. It was another sunny day with blue skies and puffy white clouds overhead.

Claire picked up her phone and unlocked it to see what time it was. Nine-thirty a.m. Wow, she hadn't realized she'd slept so late, but it had felt good. She couldn't remember when she'd slept in this late in a long time.

Claire felt something move beside her, and she turned to see Jim smiling back at her. She jumped, startled by his nearness. "What on earth are you doing in my bed?" she exclaimed, pulling the blankets tighter around her. "You scared the bejeezus out of me."

"Sorry," Jim said sheepishly. "I didn't mean to scare you. And technically, I'm not
in
your bed, I'm
on
your bed. See? I'm on top of the comforter and you're safely tucked under the blankets. No one is touching anyone."

Claire rolled her eyes and fell back on her pillows. "That's not the point. You're on
my
bed, uninvited. How long have you been there?"

"I'm sorry," Jim repeated. "But that cot is killing me. Plus, it was making so much noise, I was afraid I'd wake you."

Claire stared hard at Jim. "How long?"

"Only an hour or so."

Claire sighed, then lifted her arms in surrender. "I feel like I've lost control of everything. First my room, now my bed. Is there anything else in my life you'd like to take?"

Jim grinned and leaned over closer to her. "Well, if you're offering…" he started to say, but Claire cut him off.

"No, I'm not," she said pointedly. "I'm going to shower and then head over to that delightful coffeehouse and have one of their delicious muffins and a coffee. What are you doing this morning?"

Jim continued smiling that rakish grin of his as he watched Claire pull clean clothes out of her suitcase and walk toward the bathroom. "I'll go anywhere you're going," he said.

Claire shook her head and escaped into the bathroom, but there was a small smile on her face.

Later, Claire sat at a table on the patio of the coffeehouse while Jim went inside to order their coffee and food. She was surprised when her phone buzzed in her pocket. When she pulled it out and looked at it, she sighed. Steven. He probably wanted to know if she was still thinking about his proposal. In truth, she'd stopped thinking about it the past two days and was just enjoying her vacation. But she didn't dare tell him that. It would hurt his feelings.

Reluctantly, she answered the phone. "Hi, Steven."

"Hello, Claire. How is everything going there?"

Claire frowned. Steven sounded very happy. Almost jovial. She was used to him being more serious. "Everything is fine. How about you?"

"Couldn't be better. In fact, it's been pretty amazing here. The staff has sold more houses this week than we sold all last month. It's incredible."

"That's wonderful," Claire said, genuinely happy for him. "Congratulations."

"Thanks. But that isn't why I called. Have you thought any more about us getting married?" Steven asked, his tone turning serious.

Claire bit her lip. "Of course, I have," she lied. "I'd really rather talk about our future when I get back, though."

"I understand completely," Steven said. "The thing is, well, I was thinking that even if you decide that you aren't ready to get married, I'd like you to consider moving in together."

Claire's mouth dropped open. She hadn't expected this turn of events. "Move in together?"

"Of course," Steven said. "We've been dating over two years and we're very compatible. I think it's time we move forward, even if you decide not to marry me yet. I mean, it's really just a matter of time that we will get married once you get used to the idea. And there's no sense of us both having to maintain a home. What do you think?"

Claire didn't know what to think. This seemed so sudden to her. "Well… first of all, where would we live? Your place? My house?"

"I was thinking my place," Steven said. "It's much easier to maintain, and there's plenty of room for the both of us. We'd have everything here at the complex. There's the workout room, the pool, and the golf course is just a few steps away. It would be perfect."

Claire frowned.
Perfect for who? I don't even like to golf.
As she sat there, trying to think of a response, Jim came out with their order on a tray. He raised his brows and nodded to the phone. Claire mouthed that it was Steven, and Jim nodded.

"I'm not sure this is something we need to decide right now," Claire finally said into the phone. "Let's talk about this when I get back. Okay?"

"Well, that's the crazy thing," Steven said. "You see, I have this couple who've been looking for a home for months, and when I told them that your home might be on the market soon, they were really interested. They love the neighborhood and the size is perfect for their family."

Claire had just raised her coffee to her lips for a little caffeine jolt when Steven's words hit her. She was so shocked, she almost dropped her cup. "You did what?"

"I know it sounds a bit out there, but you know how we've talked about you selling your house, and here is an opportunity for you to do just that. I drove the couple by the house and they love it. Think of it. You could sell your house right now and we can move in together. What could be more perfect?"