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“I am not sure. I know Alex was very upset about you leaving the resort. Maybe we should do something there so that we don’t upset him.”
“I don’t care if he’s upset. But we’ve come to a mutual understanding. There is no issue with me leaving the grounds.” That was the truth, but I wasn’t about to tell her about the second conversation we’d had. It still puzzled me as to what he thought I was actually doing here with Venus. It almost sounded like he thought I might be here to take advantage of her sexually. That thought made me sick and pissed off. Any man who could hurt a woman like that should be shot. And the fact that Alex even questioned if I was that kind of person pissed me off. No one has ever questioned my character in such a way before.
“Wow. I have no idea how you pulled that off because I hear the Hendersons are very strict when it comes to their guests. It must be how they ensure their safety or something,” she said.
More like the safety of Tabiqian women.
“Yeah, they’re definitely serious about keeping people safe.”
“I still can’t get used to hearing their name and thinking of them as a good thing for Tabiq,” she said.
That struck me as odd. “Why is that?” I asked. She suddenly became so quiet and I wasn’t even sure she was still on the phone. “Venus?”
“Sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“You can always say what you want with me,” I reminded her.
“It’s just that the name used to scare me to death as a child. And now people talk such...positive things about them. It just is another thing that makes me feel out of place here. Not sure how to explain it, but it’s like if you haven’t been home in a very long time, and then when you do, nothing is the same. And all your memories of what was there then, don’t fit into what is there now. I...I have all this anger and it feels misplaced. Like I have no right to be angry, and yet...I do.”
Her voice sounded as though she was about to cry. I wish I could reach through the phone and hold her. “Venus, you have every right to how you feel.”
“I know I do, it’s just that here, I don’t feel like I do. It...brings me back to a place where I wasn’t...who I am now. I feel like I’m...I’m that nineteen-year-old girl again. I...hate it. I...I...”
“Venus. Let’s leave.”
“What?” she asked.
“Let’s leave here. There’s no reason for you to stay. Your daughter is not here. We can come back when she returns,” I said.
“She’s not coming back here. They are going to New York. It’s where she and Damien live,” she sniffed.
“Then what is holding you here?” I asked. Not sure if she even knew herself.
“I...I gave up everything in Halifax. I don’t want to go to New York. But I...I don’t know where I want to go either. So I thought if I stayed here and visited with my family, maybe I’d have time to think about my next adventure.”
“How's that working?” I questioned.
“It’s not,” she sighed. “I’m miserable and I am afraid to admit it to MaKayla because she already worries about me too much. She’ll insist I go to New York to be close to them. That is the last thing newlyweds need.”
She was right about that. “Venus, do you trust me?”
“Yes.”
“Then close your eyes. Clear your mind. Think of a place where you feel totally at peace. And when you know where that is, then I’ll take you there,” I told her.
A moment later she said, “Did you mean that? You’ll take me wherever I feel at peace?”
“I told you, I'll never lie to you. Where do you want to go?” I asked.
“Do you still have that sailboat?” she asked. “The one that you brought me to Canada in?”
I wish I had. “That wasn’t my boat. It was my father’s and he sold it a long time ago.”
“Oh.”
The sadness rang through the line. “Does it have to be that boat? Because I have another sailboat. One that you’ll love just as much.”
“And...you’ll take me out sailing on it?” she asked.
