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“Why not?” she demanded. “You’re putting me in an impossible situation. I thought we could get through anything together. That was the whole point of getting married.”
Silence settled between them.
“Nothing I say will convince you to stay?” she asked.
“You’re right.”
It took her a moment to register his words. “You’ll stay?”
“I shouldn’t have made up my mind before talking to you. It was a rash decision.”
“You didn’t say you aren’t going.”
“Will you at least consider my point of view?” he asked.
“How does taking off benefit you? Tell me.”
“I’m cursed, Ari! I don’t understand it, but somehow my father—”
“There’s no curse. That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?”
“Of course. Your dad made his own decisions. You make yours. End of story.”
“And yet here I am, having brought you into a situation where there were two bodies underneath our yard.”
“There’s no way you could’ve seen that coming. Again, unless you put them there.”
“Out of all the houses in the world we could’ve bought, we got the one with bodies on the property. It’s more than coincidence. I don’t believe in that stuff, but at the same time I can’t deny it’s too weird not to consider.”
“And that’s enough for you to just up and leave?”
“It wouldn’t be permanent. I could never do that to you.”
“I’m glad for at least that much consideration,” she said, not bothering to keep the sarcasm from her tone.
He scooted over to her and put his arm around her.
She shirked it away.
“I won’t go, if you don’t want me to.”
“I don’t.”
“But would you be willing to try an experiment with me?”
Ariana groaned. “Let me guess. It’s going to involve you taking off. Temporarily.”
“Yes. Prove me wrong. If I rent a cabin somewhere far away, and everything clears up in a few days, then I’m right. There’s a Jones family curse. If nothing improves, then you’re right. No curse. I’ve suddenly turned superstitious.”
“I can’t believe we’re even discussing this.”
“I’ll eat a big piece of humble pie if I’m proven wrong,” he said. “But it’ll only be a few days. We have that big TV interview next week, and we can’t miss that. I’ll use the time to collect my thoughts and figure out what I should do next.”
She couldn’t believe she was about to relent.
“Please, Ari. I really need to do this. Otherwise, I’ll have the idea of the curse in the back of my mind, and I won’t be able to get rid of it.”
“And you won’t leave me again?” she asked. “We need to stay together.”
“Yes. It’ll only be a few days, tops. My phone will be on the entire time. But I need this. I also can’t go knowing you’re against it.”
“Okay. But never again.”
“I promise.” He kissed her. “Thank you for understanding.”
She didn’t, but at least he would be able to get rid of the notion of being cursed by his father and they could move on with their lives.
