Destination Wedding ~ A Novel (14 page)

The ride was over sooner than Claire had wanted it to be and they were landing on the back of the boat. One of the crewmen grabbed Claire's hand while another grasped Jim and two others seized the parachute to pull it in quickly. The men worked like clockwork and before Claire knew it, she was out of the harness and life jacket and safely back on the dock with her family and friends.

"Mom. You did it!" Mandy exclaimed, hugging Claire tightly.

Claire smiled. "I did. It was amazing. I'm so happy I went." She turned to Jim. "I'd have never tried to go up if it hadn't been for you," she told him.

Jim smiled and winked at her.

The group started walking toward the golf carts to drive back to the lodge. Jim picked up Claire's beach bag, slung it over his shoulder, and they walked together back to their cart.

Chapter Eleven

That evening, the group went to the Lighthouse View Restaurant for a casual dinner. Tomorrow night, the night before the wedding on Saturday, Janice and Carl were hosting a groom's dinner at the Harbour View Lodge restaurant where they were sure to enjoy an excellent meal. Tonight, they satisfied their hunger with good old fashioned burgers, fries, and other local favorites like fried shrimp and conch.

The atmosphere was festive and special island drinks flowed freely. They had all learned from bar hopping around the island that each bar had their own special concoctions, and everyone wanted to try them. Jim talked Claire into trying a sip of each new drink he had, including a Mudslide, a chocolaty-Kahlua drink, a Sex on the Beach, and a Bushwacker—Claire didn't even want to know what was in that. Mandy talked Claire into tasting her mango Daiquiri, and Kaylie said she just had to try her Pineapple Daiquiri, too. Being the lightweight Claire was when it came to alcohol, every sip of these strong drinks made her feel a little tipsier.

The moon was up and the night sky was clear when the group walked back to the lodge. Everyone split off when they got there. Janice and Carl headed up to their second floor room while Kaylie and Mark went out to the dock on the harbor to sit a while. Mandy and Craig said goodnight and strolled hand in hand through the breezeway to their cottage. Glen and Lisa did the same. Soon, Claire and Jim were alone on the patio, looking up at the clear night sky.

"It's too beautiful of a night to just go up to the room," Jim said. "Let's go to the beach and look up at the stars like Mandy suggested the other night."

Claire looked down at the sundress she wore. She wasn't really dressed to be climbing around on a dune, but she was still in an adventurous mood from her exciting day and all the alcohol she'd consumed.

"Sure. Why not?" she said to Jim with a smile. They linked arms and walked through the breezeway and down the walkway to the pool area. The area was still lit up, but the bar was closed for the night and there was no one around.

Instead of walking down the wooden steps to the beach, they walked a short way to the hill that overlooked the beach, stepped through some prickly bushes, and carefully made their way to the top of the dune that ran along the hillside. They found a good spot and Jim held Claire's hand as she slipped off her sandals and sat down. Making sure her dress was smoothed down, Claire lay down on the sand and gazed up into the night sky. Jim lay down beside her.

"Oh, my goodness. Mandy was right. The stars are beautiful," Claire said.

They both lay there, admiring the bright, twinkling stars in the inky black sky as the waves below lapped gently on the beach.

"Look. I see the Little Dipper," Jim said, pointing up to the sky. "Do you see it?"

Claire looked where Jim pointed. "Yes. There it is. What else do you see? I can never find anything in the stars."

Jim smiled. "See over there? That's the Big Dipper."

"Where?"

"Right there," Jim said, pointing again. "Below the Little Dipper and to the left."

Claire searched the stars until she was able to make it out. "I see it," she said, excitedly. "What else?"

Jim searched. Finally, he pointed out another constellation. "If you look almost straight down from the Little Dipper, you can see Orion's Belt. And if you look really close, you'll see all of Orion, even his bow and arrow."

Claire searched, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't see Orion. "I think you're making this up. I can't see it."

Jim chuckled. He lifted Claire's hand and pointed it up to the sky. "There, see? There are one, two, three stars for his belt. Below that are two stars farther apart for the bottom of his dress, and above the belt is the outline of his neck and the front of his dress."

Claire giggled. "Orion wears a dress?"

"Whatever they called it in those days. Looks like a dress to me," Jim said. He continued tracing the outline of the belt with Claire's hand. "See? One, two, three."

Claire tried to concentrate on the stars, but it was hard with Jim's hand holding hers. She hadn't held hands with anyone in a long time. Steven wasn't the hand holding type, but Jim had always been. She'd always liked that, too. Finally, Claire saw the three stars that made up the belt, then the rest of the dress came into focus along with the bow and arrow.

"I see it," she said. "I actually see all of it." Their hands dropped to the sand between them, but Jim still held hers inside his.

"You were always so good at finding the constellations," Claire said. "You're a details person. You can pick out the smallest detail in anything."

"You don't have to be a details person to see how beautiful this sky is," Jim said.

Claire sighed. "Yes. It's wonderful. And the sound of the waves makes it perfect. Just being on this island has been amazing. We couldn't have picked a place more special than here for Mandy's wedding."

Jim lifted himself on his elbow and looked down at Claire. "You look beautiful tonight," he said.

Claire smiled up at him. "That's because I look my best in the dark," she said, giggling. She knew the alcohol she'd drunk was making her silly since she rarely giggled, but she didn’t care. She was having fun.

Jim shook his head. "No. You looked beautiful all night, even in the light."

"You're just being silly now," Claire said, looking up into his eyes, but she knew he was serious. He looked at her tenderly, his eyes dark with passion. She'd seen that look so many times before. It was familiar, just like he was. It felt as if they'd been swept back in time to when life was simpler and they'd belonged to each other.

Jim held her gaze with his eyes. Slowly, he lowered his head and gently touched his lips to hers. Claire sighed. She reached up and ran her hand through his thick hair and down to the nape of his neck as he kissed her again, more fervently this time. The gentle ocean breeze caressed their skin as the sound of the waves lulled them. It was a lovely, romantic night. The type of night where it would be so easy to forget the rest of the world and leave everyone else behind.

Claire reached up her other hand and pulled Jim to her. She felt his free hand gently touch her waist and caress its way down to her hip. His kiss was strong and powerful, just as she remembered it. The kind of kiss that could melt all your cares away and leave you wanting for more. She hadn't realized just how much she missed his kisses until this very moment.

Jim pulled away for only a second to look down at Claire, and it was just enough to bring her back to reality and nudge him away when he tried to kiss her again.

"I can't," she whispered, his lips just inches from hers. "You're married. I'm practically engaged. We can't."

Jim closed his eyes and sighed, then rolled over onto his back.

Claire sat up, smoothing down her dress and brushing the sand from her back. "We should go back up to the room," she said softly.

Jim nodded. He stood, then reached down and offered his hand to help Claire up. She took his hand and stood. They stood there in the darkness, very close, gazing at each other.

"I'm not going to apologize for kissing you," Jim said. "I like kissing you."

Claire took in a deep breath. "I liked kissing you, too," she admitted. "But as much as I don't give a damn about Diane, I can't let myself be the other woman. I know how much that hurts."

Jim didn't reply. He reached for Claire's hand, and she accepted, then they walked back to their room, hand in hand.

Claire had changed into her night clothes and sat on the bed while Jim went into the bathroom to change. Her phone buzzed and she glanced at it curiously. It was late, and she couldn't imagine who'd be texting her this time of night. She lifted the phone and looked at it, surprised to see that it was from Steven. She opened the text and read it, a frown on her face.

Jim came out of the bathroom as Claire frowned at her phone. "Is something wrong?"

Claire shook her head. "No, no. It's from Steven."

"Then why are you frowning?"

Claire looked up at Jim. "Was I?"

Jim nodded.

"He just wrote to apologize for trying to push me into selling my house. I knew it wasn't like him to do that. He says he was just so excited that we might be living together soon, and the chance to sell the house had come up and he didn't think about how terrible it sounded. He says he wants to give me all the time I need to decide about his proposal. He doesn’t want to rush me if I'm not ready yet." Claire looked up at Jim. "Now you're frowning. Why?"

Jim looked startled. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn’t realize I was."

Claire set the phone down and lay back on the pillows. "Steven really is a nice, considerate person. He's never been pushy about anything at all. I knew there must have been a good reason why he was suddenly trying to convince me to sell my house. I'm glad he apologized, though. He had me worried for a while."

Jim sat down on his cot and it made a loud squawk. Claire chuckled, and he couldn't help but laugh, too. But when he spoke, his tone was serious. "Why Steven?" he asked. "What is it about him that makes you want to be with him?"

Claire looked up into Jim's eyes. She thought it was a bit strange, talking about her boyfriend with her ex-husband. Especially after the kiss they'd shared tonight on the beach. She wavered, not quite sure how to answer.

"It's just a question, Claire," Jim said. "No dark, underlying intentions. I just wonder what you see in him, that's all."

Claire gave him a small smile. "Steven's a good person. He's dedicated, responsible, and secure. And he cares about me. I believe him when he says he does." She gave Jim a sly grin. "I know everyone thinks Steven acts like he has a stick up his ass, but that's not how he really is. Sure, he likes everything to be organized and predictable, but is that so wrong? At least when I'm with him, I know what to expect and he won't just run out on me one day without an explanation."

Jim grimaced. "Ouch."

"I'm sorry," Claire said softly. "But it's the truth. Up until the moment you left me, I thought our marriage would have lasted forever. I felt that secure in our marriage. But I was wrong. I don't want that to ever happen again. Steven would never do that to me. I'm one-hundred percent certain."

Jim looked up at Claire. "Being reliable is good, I agree. But will he ever whisk you off on a romantic island vacation? Or take you parasailing? Or buy you diamond earrings just for the heck of it?" Jim leaned in closer to her and said softly, "Would he ever kiss you in the sand, under a moonlit sky?"

Claire's heart skipped a beat. Jim had always been a romantic, at least in the early years. He'd proposed to her on a spring evening by the lake as the sun set in hues of orange and pink. He'd bought her a lovely gold heart locket the day Mandy was born and put Mandy's picture in it. When they bought their house, he'd insisted on carrying her over the threshold for good luck. Would Steven ever do those things? Probably not. But she'd had a man who did, and he didn't stay.

"No. To be honest, Steven would probably never do those things. But he did buy me a beautiful diamond ring and proposed to me at a nice restaurant. He tries," Claire said. Then she frowned. "Wait a minute. When did you ever buy me diamond earrings?"

Jim laughed. "I will, if you give me a chance to. I'll buy you the biggest diamonds you want, even if I have to use ten credit cards to pay for them."

Claire shook her head. "Now you're just being silly." After a moment, she turned serious. "It's my turn to ask. Why Diane? What did she have that I didn't?" Claire wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer, but she had to ask.

Jim stopped smiling and his face looked pained. "She didn't have anything on you, Claire. Believe me."

"Then why Diane?"

Jim sighed. "Because she was a young woman who stroked the ego of an old man who didn't appreciate what he already had," he said sadly.

The room grew silent. Claire had no idea how to respond to such a sad remark.

"Let's just go to sleep," she finally said. "Tomorrow's another long day."

Jim nodded and they turned out the lights.

***

Jim lay in bed, unable to sleep. His mind was on only one thing, kissing Claire.

He hadn't planned on kissing her. They'd just been lying there, being silly, looking up at the stars, and suddenly he'd had a deep desire to kiss her. And once he had, he hadn't wanted to stop. Every emotion he'd ever felt for Claire in the past had risen to the surface with that single kiss. He missed her. He missed how comfortable their relationship had been, how passionate their lovemaking had been, and just how loving Claire was. The fact that he'd given Claire up for a woman who wasn't even one-tenth the woman Claire was made him sick. Diane had tempted him with her youth at a time he'd been feeling the most down on himself, and he'd been stupid enough to give in to it. It was embarrassing, actually, to think he'd given up a diamond of a woman for a zirconia.

Maybe I should tell her. Maybe it's time to tell Claire that Diane and I are no longer together.
Jim wondered if that would make a difference to Claire. Would she even consider rekindling their relationship if she knew? That's when it hit Jim hard. He wanted Claire back. No, he needed her back. He loved her. Always had, always will. But how could she possibly ever trust him again after what he'd done to her? Could she ever trust him like she did Steven?