“I’ll be here,” Henry said with a nod.
Sookie gave him plenty of time to get to his cabin, and then she hurried down to Minnie and Dotty’s room. She’d rapped on the door, and Minnie opened it immediately and pulled her inside.
“What did you find out?” Dotty asked. “And before you answer, I’m not trusting Henry to pick out the guy for our matchmaking business. That’s my job. Minnie chooses the lady, and you do the planning.”
“Having Henry on the team is an asset for the planning part,” Sookie said. “I found out he just wants us all to be friends. He teases and jokes around, but I got the feeling that he could never be unfaithful to his wife’s memory.”
“Not any more than we can to our husband’s memories.” Minnie nodded. “That said, I don’t intend to share a stateroom with him.”
“Me neither,” Sookie and Dotty agreed at the same time.
***
The next morning, Ava was the last person to step onto the bus that was headed to the forest to see the howler monkeys, and as luck would have it, there was only one seat left—back row to the left, and right beside Vince. At that point she still had choices. She could get off the bus, go shop for a while, and then spend the rest of the day in her stateroom. Or she could suck it up and sit beside her husband. Besides, her new friends would be disappointed if she didn’t use the ticket they had given her for the excursion.
“Are you on or off, ma’am?” The driver asked.
“I’m on. I was just trying to decide where to sit,” she answered.
“Just one seat left, all the way to the back,” he pointed. “I’m leaving in two minutes, so please sit down.”
“Yes, sir,” she said as she took the first step down the narrow aisle.
“Hello,” Vince nodded. “My name is Vince Cargill.”
“Ava.” She wondered what game he was playing.
“You ever been to Belize before?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Have you?”
“No, I’m a bit of a workaholic. This is my first vacation since my honeymoon. I wish I had taken my wife on a cruise back then. I didn’t realize how romantic they could be,” he said with a smile.
“Where is your wife?” Ava asked.
“I’m not real sure, but I know that I’m somewhere between a rock and a hard place,” he answered.
A young guy who had been sitting right behind the driver stood up. He introduced himself as Rovelle and said he would be their tour guide for that day. “Belize is a small country, but a very beautiful one,” he said and pointed out spots of interest as they left. The bus was not air-conditioned, and what few bursts of breeze flowing through the open windows didn’t last long. By the time they made the stop at the edge of a forest, rivers of sweat rolled down between Ava’s breasts, soaking her bra.
“Little warm, isn’t it?” Vince handed her a snow-white handkerchief with his initials monogrammed in gold thread on the edge.
Even though he was her husband, she didn’t feel like she should cram the hanky down inside the front of her tank top and sop up the moisture. She dabbed her forehead a few times and handed it back to him.
“Thanks,” she said. “I will never take air-conditioning for granted again.”
“Me either.” Vince took the hanky from her and shoved it back into his pocket.
In the process of the transfer, his hand brushed against hers and there was that familiar old flash of electricity between them. Ava had never felt that sensation before she met Vince and couldn’t imagine having those kinds of tingly vibes with another man. She had never believed in soulmates, but after the whirlwind romance with Vince, she had changed her mind. Now, she was afraid she could be on the verge of losing that feeling.
You’ve already lost most of it. His job and his mother stole it one tiny piece at a time, the voice in her head reminded her.
He could have stopped it,she argued.If our marriage meant as much to him as it does to me, he could have protected it with everything he had. You don’t fritter away something precious.
The tour guide told them that they would be walking through the forest for about a quarter of a mile. He warned them to be careful about tree roots and rough patches, and when they got off the bus, he led the way down a narrow path that was barely wide enough for two people to navigate.
The pungent scent of what could only be described as forest reminded Ava of the old pond on her grandparents’ farm. The smell wasn’t the same, but it brought back memories of times when she was a child and would stay with them—and of her wedding that had been held there just before her grandmother sold the place and moved into a retirement home.
She had felt pretty as she walked down the aisle on her father’s arm. Not even the expression of disgust on Delores’s face at having an outside wedding not far from a pasture full of cows had ruined her day. She had tried so hard to be what Delores wanted in a daughter-in-law, as a wife for her son, but slowly, chip by chip, the woman had managed to push her out of Vince’s life.
