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In the absence of my illusive companion, I’d spoken to a lovely middle-aged couple from Manchester instead. They are here to watch the cricket tournament, which necessitated a deep-dive online intocricket, and then refining the search term forsportafter I got pictures of insects.
I get up off the couch. Maybe I should check outside, in case he decided to wait there.
Just then, the large wooden doors to the lobby open, and Phillip comes walking in. He’s wearing tan chinos, a blue linen shirt, and a scowl.
“There you are,” he says.
I smile. “Hey.”
“I’ve been waiting.”
“Oh, you have? Where?”
“In front of the lobby.”
“Gosh, I’m sorry,” I say. “But I thought you said to meet you in the lobby?”
“No, in front of. Let’s go,” he says and turns to walk back toward the parking lot. The man from yesterday’s boat ride feels miles away.
I follow him with a frown. “It was a misunderstanding. We’re only ten minutes late.”
“Yeah,” he mutters and runs a hand through his dark hair. It’s wet at the ends, as if he’s just had a shower. The dark mood radiates from him like a cloud.
“You told me to wait for you in the lobby,” I say quietly. “I’m sorry it made us late, but I’m not going to let that ruin our day. Are you?”
He pulls the door open to the car and doesn’t answer. It’s like he’s back to his asshole ways, and I’m not having it. I’ve got enough of my own shit to handle.
“Because if you are, I’d rather not go,” I say. “Thanks, though.”
His hand on my arm stops me. “Wait. I shouldn’t have… I won’t let it ruin the day.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.” His jaw works, just once. “I’m sorry, Eden. It’s just been a long day already.”
“Okay, then. Let’s try to make the rest of it good.”
He nods and lets his hand fall back to his side. But the expression on his face doesn’t change, and the serious lines remain etched into the handsomeness.
I get into the back of the car. So far, this trip has been very littlelying on the beach doing nothing,and a hell of a lot of risk-taking. Which is probably what I need.Looking back on the past few years and my relationship with Caleb, we took remarkably few risks. Maybe, if we’d have taken more together, he might not have gone out seeking some of his own.
I can hear Becky in my mind, admonishing me for the thought. She doesn’t like to talk about the why’s behind Caleb and Cindy’s actions. In some ways, she’s even angrier than me, because she has no hurt feelings involved to temper the fury. Not like me, who’d needed explanations. In the beginning, it had been all I’d craved.
Just tell me why.Why, why, why?
Of course, there had been no why. No explanations that fit, no justifications that I could accept.
Beside me in the car, Phillip is quiet. He’s looking out the window. I wonder about his dark mood. He was supposed to have been on this trip with his fiancée, or rather his wife after the wedding, so if they broke up right before… what’s he thinking and feeling?
The taxi takes us through the shifting landscape of Barbados. Away from the main road with hotels and restaurants and into the interior of the island. We drive past a golf course and come up on sugarcane fields, stretching as far as the eye could see.
During the wondrous trip, I forget all about the man beside me and his terrible mood.
I’m in a foreign country, with new sights, culture, and history to explore, and my eyes are glued to the passing landscape. The music on the car radio shifts to an upbeat soca song, and I can’t stop the wide smile stretching across my face.
The driver pulls into a beautiful driveway, leading to a large stone mansion. The name of the rum company is proudly displayed across oak barrels by the entrance.
We’re greeted by a smiling young woman with long black braids falling in an intricate pattern down her back.
