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“No.”
“Look. I’m still here because I know you’re a good man. You fucked up. We all do. But if you’re lucky, and I believe you just might be because I’ve never known Simmi to love any man. And boy, she loves you.”
A sliver of hope, like a fleeting ember, warms the cracks of my fractured heart.
“But hear me. You’ll need to give it time. You’ll need all the patience you can muster, and you’ll need to grovel.”
She holds up a hand when I try to say something.
“And by grovel I don’t mean flowers and a bottle of wine and a makeup shag. I mean on your knees telling her you know what a prick you were and probably still are.” She stands swinging her bag over her shoulder. “And then you’ll give her as much time as she needs.”
Merryl steps towards me and lands a soft motherly kiss on my forehead.
“It will all work out the way it was intended to.”
I nod, hoping my face doesn’t show what my hearts feeling.
And with that she leaves.
***
It’s late in the afternoon. The weather is turning, and fall is blowing in on the south westerly. I’ve spent most of last evening and this morning trying to decide how I’ll approach Simmi.
I decide I need a run to clear my head and take off up the beach. An hour later, I’m closing in on the swimmer’s beach when I see a familiar figure dipping her toes in the cooler ocean.
She looks up and I stop dead in my tracks, huffing. Her eyes widen and her face turns ashen. She makes to leave.
“Wait please. Just hear me out,” I call and walk toward her.
“No. I know everything I need to.”
She holds her hand palm out toward me.
“And what’s that? The BS Doris is peddling?” I say scolding her as though she’s a child. I don’t mean to, but I’m desperate and frustrated.
“You’re a married man and I was just your two-bit piece of ass that kept you occupied while she was… was wherever the fuck she was.”
Simmi’s fists are balled as she shouts at me.
“My what? Is that what you think?” I can’t believe after everything we shared, she’d think this.
“Go back to your wife.” She spins around and runs off.
“I’m not married!” I call after her and am about to follow her and end this misunderstanding once and for all when a large form appears from the path to the holiday village. He resembles the photo I saw in her folk’s home except for the burn down his face.
The man gives me a look that would cause most men to shit themselves before draping an arm around Simmi and the pair disappear off the beach.
Defeated, I turn and make my way home. There’s only one cure for this and it’s not groveling to a woman who won’t give me a chance. I drop my runners on the deck and walk inside toward my makeshift bar. Twisting the cap off my single malt and gripping a glass, I walk back out and sit on the deck.
Seems like I’ll be offering Ethan a full-time position after all.
