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His mouth curves into a smile that’s only a little amused. “Yes, and about my ex in general.”
“God, I can see how that might put a damper on your mood.”
He shrugs, his voice dry. “Maybe, but I wasn’t angry at her. She was right.”
Something dawns on me.
“You were angry at yourself,” I say slowly, “for not seeing what she saw?”
He looks down at his drink before looking up at me, his eyes guarded. But then he nods. “You’re good at reading people, Eden.”
“You’re an interesting person to read.”
He chuckles. “God help me, then.”
That makes me laugh, too. I take a sip of my planter’s punch and relax back in my chair. The air between us feels calm and unbothered. Most of all, it’s easy. “Are you buying a bottle or two of rum to bring back with you?”
“I hadn’t thought about it,” Phillip says. “Are you?”
“Yes. I have to give one to my parents and one to my best friend Becky, even though she’s pregnant. She’ll have to wait like a year until she can taste it,” I say. A dark thought strikes me, and I smile. “Maybe I should get one for my ex, too.”
Across the table, Phillip’s hand pauses in midair. His eyebrows pull down low over his eyes. “You’d do that?”
“Probably not. But it’s a fun idea. Like, ‘look what you missed out on, you idiot.’ Maybe with a printed picture of me in a bikini.” I put a hand over my face. “God, I’d never in a million years do that.”
His voice sounds amused. “But it would feel good, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes. Probably even better if I keyed his car while I was at it.”
Phillip’s laughter is short, but it’s there. Dark and delicious. “I’m imagining the worst now if he’s gotten someone like you to consider violence. What did he do?”
I rest my head against the back of the chair and look up at the nearby house. It’s easier to tell the story if I’m looking at interlocking bricks and not at the man in front of me.
“It’s embarrassingly cliché, really. He said he worked a lot with a corporate branch in a city a few hours away, and it required a lot of late nights and the occasional weekend trip. Funny, how most of those trips lined up perfectly with my best friend Cindy’s out-of-state visits to her parents.”
“Damn,” he says. His voice is not amused now.
“Yeah. She was supposed to be my maid of honor. Becky declined because she is pregnant… we joked that she was my lieutenant and Cindy was my general.” I look over at Phillip. He’s silent, watching me. Listening.
The rum makes it easy to talk.
“But one weekend, the lies just didn’t add up. I was naive enough that I didn’t realize the reason why. Becky’s the one that did, actually. So I called Caleb and asked him if Cindy was in the hotel room with him… He was quiet for a few seconds before the excuses poured out of him.” I sigh. “It was right under my nose the whole time.”
“It usually is,” Phillip murmurs, looking down at his drink. He swirls the glass around, and the ice clinks softly. “How long ago?”
“Three months, roughly. Want to know the craziest part?”
He nods.
“Caleb actually thought we could still go ahead with the wedding. He promised he’d stop right away, and that he’d be a better husband than he’d been as a boyfriend. As if I’d ever agree to that?”
Phillip takes a sip of his drink. “He sounds like a fucking idiot.”
I let out a surprised chuckle, and soon I’m laughing so hard I have to put down my glass. The matter-of-fact delivery of that statement couldn’t be more accurate.
“Yes,” I say. “God, yes.”
“How long were you together?”
