Destination Wedding ~ A Novel by Deanna Lynn Sletten Page B

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.