“I disagree. I wouldn’t call her,” Murray says, taking a bite of pizza. With a full mouth, he adds, “You need to see her face when you tell her.”
Cal nods. “He’s right. I’d show up if I were you. I wouldn’t throw her over my shoulder though. Not with my bad knees. I’d just tell her the truth.”
Those alarms go off in my head again, and I say, “The truth is—and there’s really no getting around this—what we had would only work out there on that island.”
Jack freezes for a second. “That makes no sense at all.”
“None whatsoever,” Cal adds.
I stare at them, totally confused until Jack says, “Do you know how perfect you have to be for someone to get along day after day, alone, with no distractions?”
“Well, yeah, I suppose so, but…”
“No. No ‘but.’ You have to be absolutely perfect for each other,” Cal says.
“Especially to fall in love out on some deserted island,” Darnell adds. “Away from things like air conditioning. Rosy would be an absolute nightmare.”
“She would,” Murray says, wiping his mouth. “Not to mention all the things people do when they’re dating, like eating at nice restaurants or going to movies. Those things give you stuff to talk about.”
Darnell nods. “That’s true. And you get to see how the other person treats the wait staff.”
“Very important,” Cal says.
“It is. You learn more about a person the first time a server walks up to your table than you will in a hundred hours of talking.”
“Although a plane crash scenario would definitely let you see who someone really is,” Jack says. “And you would’ve seen her at her worst, after she missed her sister’s wedding.”
“Poor girl,” Darnell says, putting his hand on his chest. “Our hearts just went out to her.”
Murray shakes his head, looking forlorn. “You can’t get those moments back.”
“No, you can’t,” I answer. “And honestly, Paige handled the whole thing like a champ. I mean, she was upset, sure, but brave too. Tough. A total survivor.”
“Pretty too,” Darnell says.
“Yeah, beautiful,” I add, having a sip of my drink. Letting out a sigh, I say, “A very beautiful way to complicate the hell out of my life.”
Jack reaches out and pats me on the arm. “Life is supposed to be messy, kid. That’s all there is to it. Now, if you had what it takes to be in love out there, you can make it in ‘real life,’” he says, doing air quotes.
My heart pounds in my chest. Somehow, everything they’re saying makes perfect sense. Of course it should work. We’re a great team. As soon as I let that thought in, all my fears come rushing back in. “What if she doesn’t want to try?”
Murray takes another bite, his words muffled as he says, “What if she does?”
I swallow hard, all my fears bubbling to the surface again. “Do you know what would be involved in trying to make it work with her? One of us would have to move, and I don’t think it’ll be her, which means I’m going to end up two thousand miles away.” Looking at Jack, I say, “So, if you need me, I’ll be way the hell in New York, in some tiny apartment, breathing in smog and freezing my balls off.”
Jack’s face softens. “None of that matters if you love her. Do you love her?”
“Yeah, I do. I love her fiercely. In a way I never loved Lisa.”
Darnell shakes his head. “That’s because Lisa wasn’t all that lovable.”
“Hey,” Cal says. “That’s the mother of my grandchild you’re talking about.”
“And it’s not even true,” I answer. “Lisa’s a good person.”
Darnell glances at Cal, then mutters, “She left you when the chips were down. I don’t exactly call that a good person.”
“That’s not why she left,” I answer, taking a pull of my beer. “She left because I spent our entire marriage keeping her at arm’s length.”
