Destination Wedding ~ A Novel (9 page)

"What are you thinking of ordering, Mandy?" Claire finally asked, trying to get the group talking.

Mandy looked at her, relief filling her eyes. "The grilled tilapia with mango sounds good," she said. "And these Au Gratin potatoes it comes with sound delicious."

"They do. I might try that, too," Claire said. "What about you, Janice? Do you see anything you like?"

Janice looked up at Claire with a dry expression. "No. I don't see anything, yet."

"Well, maybe you need to look harder," Jim said.

Mandy's mouth dropped open and Janice looked at him with pursed lips. Claire glared at Jim, elbowed him in the side, and mouthed, "Stop it!"

The drinks arrived and Jim told the waitress to keep them coming. He picked up his drink and downed it in one long swig. Mandy stared at him in disbelief. Claire held her breath. Jim had never been a heavy drinker. Whatever Diane had said to him on the phone had really set him off. But she wasn't going to let him ruin their night and upset Mandy and Craig if she could help it.

After they ordered, Claire tried again to start a conversation. "Did you have an enjoyable day today?" she asked Janice.

Janice looked up at Claire in that controlled way she regarded at everyone. She patted her short, processed, blond hair, even though every hair was in place and couldn't move from all the hairspray gluing it down. "Our day was okay," she said. "We walked around to the few gift shops they have here. I didn't really find much to buy, though."

Claire just nodded, not quite sure how to respond.
What did Janice expect to find? A shopping mall?
"Well, it was a lovely day out. Anything is better than the cold weather we came from."

Janice sniffed. "I thought it was a bit hot."

Out of the corner of her eye, Claire saw Jim start to open his mouth and she quickly kicked him under the table. He glared at her, but shut his mouth.

The waitress brought Jim another scotch and water and also two baskets of corn muffins for the diners.

"Oh, those smell heavenly. I'm starving," Claire said, reaching for a muffin.

Jim downed his drink and signaled for the waitress again.

Everyone except Jim tried one of the warm muffins. Claire thought they tasted delicious, but she noticed that Janice wrinkled her nose after a small bite and set hers down.
Good. More for me.

"Is that coconut I taste in these?" Claire asked Mandy.

Mandy nodded. "Who would have thought coconut would taste so good in corn muffins?"

Craig agreed and took another one.

Janice pushed her plate away.

Another drink came for Jim, but this time Claire was quicker than he was. She grabbed it and set it out of his reach. "Why don't we just save this for after dinner?" she asked, staring hard at him.

Jim glared back at Claire.

Mandy spoke up. "Yeah, Daddy. You don’t want to get sick, do you? Tomorrow will be another beautiful day."

Jim's face softened a little. "You're right," he said sweetly. Too sweetly. "Isn't it just wonderful, Carl, how the women in our lives have a way of telling us what to do?" He turned to Craig. "You just wait, my boy. You'll never have to think for yourself again."

Mandy's face paled.

"Jim!" Claire said angrily.

Craig just stared at Jim with a blank look on his face.

Carl spoke up. "Well, that may be true for you, Jim, but my wife never tells me what to do. Our marriage is an equal partnership."

Jim glanced at Carl, an amused look on his face. "Whatever you say, old boy."

Claire was so angry she could have pushed Jim into the harbor and held him under the water. She picked up the glass of scotch and slammed it down in front of him, sloshing liquid all over the tablecloth. "Here. Drink yourself to death for all I care."

Jim stared at her for one long moment, but didn’t pick up the glass.

Claire was relieved when the food came and they could all pretend to be too busy eating to talk. Claire's meal was delicious, and Mandy said hers was, too. Craig didn’t say anything about his and Claire guessed it was because he was too upset to enjoy it. She didn't know how to make things easier for Craig. She didn't understand why Jim was taking his anger out on everyone at the table, and Craig's parents were just plain difficult. She didn't envy Mandy for marrying into a family like that.

Although tonight their family wasn't any better.

Jim ate in silence, then ordered coffee when the waitress came around again. Claire noticed he hadn't touched the last drink, thank goodness. Maybe he was finally coming to his senses.

"So. What's on the agenda for tomorrow?" Claire asked as everyone finished up their meal.

Mandy spoke up. "Craig and I have to go over to Marsh Harbour on the early ferry to register for our marriage license. We should be back by early afternoon, though."

"Maybe we could all do something when we get back," Craig offered, but without enthusiasm. Claire figured that after tonight, he wanted to keep his parents as far away from her and Jim as possible.

"What are you and Carl doing tomorrow?" Claire asked Janice.

"We haven't made any plans yet," she said, tossing a sour look Jim's way.

Claire gave up on conversation. She was getting nowhere.

As soon as the Fishers were finished eating, they excused themselves from the table. "It's been a long day," Carl said. "Janice is feeling a bit chilled in this open air, too."

The air felt nice to Claire after the warm day. She figured Janice was one of those women who felt cold all the time. "Please stay," Claire said. "You can wear my jacket if you're cold," she offered to Janice.

The two Fishers stood. Janice wrinkled her nose. "No, thank you, Claire. We really should be off. I'm sure we'll run into you tomorrow."

Mandy looked at her mother, and then Janice, an uncertain expression crossing her face. Stay with her parents or leave with the Fishers? Claire's heart went out to her.

Craig made the decision for her. "Let's walk back with my parents," he said to Mandy. Mandy didn't look like she wanted to, but she nodded and stood up.

"Are you coming?" Mandy asked her mother, completely ignoring her father.

"I think I'll just sit here a while longer," Claire said. They all said goodnight and then they were gone.

Claire turned narrowed eyes on Jim. "What the hell were you thinking, acting that way? Why would you want to purposely upset Mandy and Craig?"

Jim didn’t reply. He looked at his bill, put some money on the table, then stood. "Let's go," he said. Then he turned and walked away.

Claire had half a mind to throw a glass at him, but she refrained. She left money for her own meal and a tip, then followed behind Jim out into the dark, quiet street.

Jim walked briskly ahead of Claire and she had to run to catch up. At this point, she was so angry at him, she thought of locking him out of their room. The thought of being in that small room with him all night made her want to scream.

After a time, they came to a dock that jutted out into the harbor and was lit with tiny twinkle lights. Jim stopped, turned, and walked down the dock. Claire followed, although she had no idea why. At the end of the dock were benches on each side of it. Jim dropped down on one. Claire sat down on the other.

"Why are you so nice to those snotty Fishers?" Jim asked. "It's obvious they think they're better than we are. They annoy the hell out of me."

Claire frowned. "I'm nice to them, because I don't want to upset Mandy or Craig. We only have to be around the Fishers this one week and then we'll hardly ever see them. The real question is why were you such a jerk tonight?"

Jim sighed and ran his hand through his hair and down to the back of his neck. "Don't you ever get tired of people telling you what to do?"

The question took Claire by surprise. "What do you mean?"

"I have Diane harping at me from one side and my boss pushing me around on the other. I come here and I'm supposed to be nice to a couple of snobs who aren't nice to me. It's all so stupid, don't you think?"

Claire sat back against the bench. This wasn't the conversation she'd expected. She absently twirled her charm bracelet in circles around her wrist. "We all have to do things we don't want to sometimes. Sure, the Fishers are a pain, but our daughter is marrying into their family. We have to be civilized about it. And tonight, you were definitely not civilized."

Jim looked up at Claire. His eyes fell to her wrist. He reached over and placed his hand on the bracelet to stop it from spinning. "What is it with you and that bracelet? When did you become so nervous? And when did you start kowtowing to idiots? You were always so calm and confident when we were married. Now you have that annoying habit of spinning that noisy bracelet. What are you so damned nervous about?"

Claire's narrowed her eyes and drew her lips into a thin line. "Well, excuse me for not being perfect," she said. "How dare you judge me? Did it ever occur to you that maybe I changed after my husband of twenty years walked out on me without even the slightest bit of warning? You just came home one day and said, 'Oh, guess what? I found someone else I love better than you'. And then you sauntered out of my life, leaving me to figure out how I was going to manage."

"That was four years ago, Claire. You're doing fine. What are you so worried about?"

"Yes, I'm doing fine. I'm doing better than fine. But guess what? I didn't know I would be fine when you left. I suddenly had no security. I had to hope and pray that the boutique would make enough money so I could earn a living and keep the house. There was no longer a second income and no longer someone to lean on when life got hard. You took that all away when you went flitting off with your younger woman. But even with all that, the worst part was that I had no idea you were unhappy in our marriage. You never said a word. And you didn't love me enough to try to do anything to save our marriage. You just left. So, if you're wondering why I'm not the calm, confident woman I was years ago, then maybe you should think about whose fault it is. Because it definitely isn't mine." Claire stood and stormed up the dock and down the dark street toward the lodge.

***

Jim sat on the bench on the dock and watched as Claire ran down the street. He should go after her. He should make sure she made it safely back to the lodge. But he couldn’t move. And he was pretty sure she didn't want him to follow her anyway.

Jim sat there listening to the sound of the water lapping softly against the dock. Claire was right. He'd been a real jerk tonight. No, he'd been an ass. A complete ass. He knew it the entire time he was acting that way in the restaurant, but he just couldn't seem to stop himself. He'd embarrassed Mandy, he'd embarrassed Claire, and he'd managed to make Craig and his parents angry at him. Shit. He'd managed to make everyone angry at him all in a matter of a couple of hours.

Jim thought back through the day. It had started out fine, despite waking up with a sore back. He and Claire were getting along. She'd let him rub lotion on her back this afternoon. And she'd actually had fun when he'd talked her into bar hopping with the kids. For the first time in a long time, he'd felt relaxed and happy, and it had as much to do with being with Claire as it had with spending time with the entire group. But then Diane had called and for some reason, that had set him off. Diane was good at that. She managed to make him angry quite often. Like all the time.

Jim stood slowly, put his hands on his lower back, and bent backward, trying to loosen his tight muscles. He had a lot of apologizing to do tomorrow. But tonight, he had to apologize to the most important person of all. Claire.

Jim walked slowly through the empty street to the lodge. The small village practically rolled up its streets after ten o'clock. This was not a party island, which was actually part of its charm. There was a lot of drinking, to be sure, but people tended to be back at their hotels at night, or maybe taking a romantic moonlit stroll on the beach. It was a lovely place, and he felt even sorrier for trying to ruin everyone's time tonight.

It was dark inside the room when Jim quietly entered. Claire had left one window curtain pushed aside and moonlight spilled into the room. Across the bed, Claire was curled up under the blankets, facing away from him. She didn't move when he came in. He quietly went into the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face, then readied for bed. When he came out, he saw that Claire still hadn't moved.

Jim sat down on the noisy cot, expecting the creaking sound to evoke a response from Claire. It didn't. Yet, he felt she was still awake. Her breathing was steady, but not the deep breathing of sleep.

"Claire," he said softly. "Are you awake?" When she didn't respond, he continued anyway. "I'm sorry about tonight. I'm sorry about the way I acted and the way I spoke to you. I have no excuse for my behavior. Just because Diane pissed me off, there was no reason for me to take it out on you and everyone else. You're right. I have no right judging you after what I've done to you. I'm sorry, Claire. About all of it. I'm sorry for tonight, for ruining your trip, and most of all, for ruining your life. I never planned it this way. Any of it. Claire? Are you awake?" he stopped and listened, but Claire didn’t move or make a sound.

As quietly as he could, Jim slipped into the cot. It creaked and squawked and his back was already feeling the effects of it. "Goodnight, Claire," he said softly into the dark room.

Chapter Eight

When Claire woke up, she was surprised to see that Jim was already gone. She must have slept so soundly that she didn’t hear him get up or shower. She was, however, relieved. Maybe it was better that she didn't talk to him this morning. They needed some space.

As Claire showered and dressed, she thought about the words Jim had said to her last night after he'd come back to the room. She'd heard him walk in, but had laid there quietly so she wouldn't have to talk to him. She hadn't trusted herself to speak. Earlier, before he'd come in, she'd cried tears of anger, frustration, and even heartbreak. After four years apart, she'd thought she was completely over her ex-husband. She'd moved on. She now had Steven. Yet, his behavior and his angry words at her last night had hurt her deeply.