Page 6 of Second Chance Summer

The woman just does not like me anymore.

Chapter 2

The sunrise greeted me through the floor-to-ceiling windows in soft rays of orange while the scent of salt water and tropical flowers drifted through opened balcony doors. I hear the waves, the palm trees swaying in the breeze – reminding me I was in paradise, but this suite was proving to be a chamber of doom. This is not a pleasure trip by any means. It’s war – her in one room while I lay behind the trenches in the other.

I woke up on the sofa and stretched, listening to my bones pop like I imagine a fifty-year-old man’s would. I was so exhausted, I didn’t bother opening it up to the bed, but I probably should have so my joints weren’t crackling like Rice Crispies. I just laid on it and passed out. It’s hard work trying to save a marriage when the woman no longer wants you. Very hard work. That, along with the long flight, has finally caught up to me. I’m still dressed in what I had on yesterday. I take a peek at my watch. It’s a little after eight. Lanai has her individual therapy session at 8:30 this morning, so I’m sure she’ll emerge from the bedroom any time now.

And speak of the she-devil…

She steps out with a pair of blue shorts showing full, thick, shea-buttered thighs, and a yellow tank top that lays perfectly against her breasts and flat stomach. A curly ponytail swings from the center of her head while silver hoops hang from her ears. She has enough gloss on her lips to fry a chicken leg.

That’s Lanai.

She always used to say she ain’t going nowhere looking musty, rusty, dusty, or crusty.

“Leaving already?”

“Yep,” she answers tight-lipped, sliding on them big glasses. That’s when her signature scent hits me – pistachios, caramel, and vanilla. Who knew these together could make her skin smell so divine? Who even knew pistachios had a scent? But these together? On her? Sheesh! There’s something about the way she layers it with lotion and that body butter that makes her smell irresistible. Or it could be the fact that I know and love the smell of her skin even when she’s not wearing any products.

“Have fun talking about me,” I taunt.

“Everything isn’t about you, Henny.”

Mercy.

She’s beautiful even when she’s irritated. Especially when she’s irritated.

“Why are you so uptight?” I ask her. “You came here of your own free will.”

“I came here to get this over with, and get back to my regularly scheduled life.”

She eases out the door without saying anything further, carrying one of those if-you-stay-ready-you-ain’t-gotta-get-ready purses that’s about the size of an approved American Airlines carry-on. I get up, slide on my sandals, and step out onto the balcony. After a few minutes, I watch her walk over to the retreat’s therapy gardens where most of the sessions take place.

Curiosity gets the better of me. I wonder what kind of things she’ll say about me. What she truly feels. If this sarcasm she spews is really just a way for her to deflect, as Dr. Makalua said.

There’s only one way to find out.

* * *

I KNOW I’M not supposed to, but at this point, desperation takes over. I need to know if this marriage is really over. I leave the suite and take the path to where I know Lanai is located. Through the thick, lush bushes I’m perched behind, I see her sitting on a bench beneath an open-air wooden canopy, waiting for Dr. Makalua to show up. She’s taken off her sandals and moved her sunglasses on top of her head. She sits with her legs crossed while the wind blows her ponytail. She looks contemplative, sad almost, and less guarded than she is when she’s around me. When Dr. Makalua walks up, the sadness quickly falls from her face, replaced with a bright smile.

“It’s good to see you again, Lanai,” she says, sitting in a woven chair with a notebook resting on her lap. “How did you sleep?”

“Pretty good, considering.”

“Considering that you had to share the place with Hendrick?”

“Exactly.”

I shake my head. This is wrong. I wouldn’t want her doing this to me, so I turn from the tropical leaves to quietly walk away when I hear Lanai say, “Let me stop. Actually, something about listening to Hendrick snore from the living room last night helped me sleep.”

The doctor chuckles. I stop in my tracks and turn back around to listen.

“Snoring, huh? Usually that’s a complaint in relationships.”

“Not for me. It’s funny because many things he does irk me, but this was never one of them. I got so used to his snoring that whenever he wasn’t home for whatever reason, I couldn’t sleep.”

“And how has it been since you’ve been separated? You two live apart, correct?”