“I did think about it,” he admitted, his voice cracking slightly. “But by the time the dust settled, I was absolutely sure you had forgotten all about me. I figured you had moved on to someone better.”
“Forgotten? Do you have any earthly idea how I lived these past three years?” Emily felt a fresh, hot wave of anger rising in her chest, threatening to completely overwhelm her fragile composure.
“Emily, I just wanted to sit down, explain the truth, and ask for your forgiveness.”
“You really thought I would just hand over my forgiveness? Like it is some cheap souvenir?” she leaned in, her eyes burning into his. “You completely abandoned me and Ethan with absolutely nothing but a fake tragedy, and now you sit here in a resort bar and expect me to just gracefully understand?”
James opened his mouth to reply, glancing down at his empty glass as if he were about to desperately flag the bartender for another round. But suddenly, all the remaining color completely drained from his face. He froze, his jaw tightening.
“Are you okay? Feeling faint from the sun again?” she asked, not bothering to hide her disdain.
“It is about to get incredibly loud over here. Please, just try to ignore it,” James murmured softly, his eyes locked on something over her right shoulder.
Before Emily could even process the warning or turn her head, Rita came storming up to their small corner table like a category five hurricane. Her face was twisted into an ugly mask of pure, unfiltered rage.
“There you are, you absolute jerk!” Rita yelled at the top of her lungs, landing a sharp, ringing slap against James’s shoulder. “I completely knew you were sneaking around down here with some other woman!”
“Rita, please keep your voice down. You have got this all entirely wrong,” James pleaded, desperately holding his hands up in a placating gesture to calm her down.
“I have got it exactly right! You are a pathetic loser who cannot even properly provide for me, and now you are sitting here in a dark corner chasing after other women!” She violently whipped her head around, her furious glare locking directly onto Emily. “Do you even know she has a kid? I literally saw them clogging up the elevator this morning! She is completely using you, you idiot!”
“Rita, that is enough. Stop it right now,” James ordered, his voice taking on a hard, warning edge.
“No, please. Let her keep going,” Emily said coolly, casually crossing her legs and taking a tiny sip of her water. She was entirely unbothered by the screaming blonde.
“You are absolute trash! How dare you talk back to me?” Rita shrieked, lunging aggressively across the small table, her manicured hands aiming straight for Emily’s hair.
James practically vaulted out of his heavy leather chair. He intercepted Rita mid-lunge, firmly grabbing both of her arms and physically forcing her back down into an empty chair nearby.
“Let me go right now!” she screamed, thrashing wildly against his grip.
“Calm down!” James raised his voice, the sheer volume finally cutting through her hysterics. “Emily is not the problem here.”
“Not the problem? She is literally sitting here trying to steal other people’s men!” Rita shrieked, her chest heaving with exertion.
“You are absolutely right about that,” Emily said with a slight, wicked smirk, deliberately egging the furious woman on. “That is exactly why I flew all the way here—to steal back your incredibly loyal, honest man that you so carelessly lost track of.”
“Emily, please stop helping!” James groaned, looking completely at a loss as he struggled to keep Rita planted in the chair.
“Let go of my arms, or I swear to God I will rip her face off!” Rita kept fighting, kicking her strappy heels against the table leg.
“Enough, Rita! Just listen to me. This woman is my ex-wife,” James finally blurted out, his chest heaving.
The words hit Rita like a bucket of ice water. She instantly froze, the frantic thrashing coming to a dead halt.
“Your… your wife?” Her entire expression shifted from blind rage to total confusion. “The one you told me you left years ago?”
“Yes. Her,” James said quietly, refusing to look Emily in the eye.
“Left, huh…” Emily’s tone dripped with thick, unforgiving sarcasm. “I would personally say ‘fell through the ice.’ Or no, maybe ‘tragically drowned’ sounds a bit more dramatic for your little story.”
James remained completely silent, staring at the floorboards. It was glaringly obvious he had not even bothered to tell his new girlfriend the full, convoluted truth about his fake demise. Rita still looked completely stunned, her eyes darting between the two of them.
“Wait a second. That little kid I saw with her in the elevator… he is yours too?” Rita asked, the messy puzzle pieces finally clicking together in her brain.
“He is mine,” James confirmed, his voice barely a whisper.
“But you swore to me you had absolutely no kids!” she gasped, sounding genuinely betrayed.
“I lied,” he said, the words forcing their way out with extreme difficulty.
Rita fell dead silent, her brain desperately trying to process the massive web of deceit she had just stumbled into.
“Do not worry about it too much,” Emily said calmly, smoothing an invisible wrinkle from her dark dress. “James barely has a real connection to that little boy anyway. He has almost completely forgotten what his dad even looks like. So, from a certain perspective, you could argue he was not technically lying.”
“Emily, I really wanted to—” James began, his face flushing with shame.
“What an absolute scumbag you are!” Rita suddenly cut him off, her voice cracking with fresh anger. She shoved his hands away and jumped to her feet. “You ditched your actual wife, you ditched your own kid, and you will inevitably ditch me the exact same way! I am completely done with you!”
Without another word, she spun on her heel and stormed out of the lounge, practically running toward the lobby elevators.
James let out a frustrated groan and instantly bolted after her, abandoning the table entirely. Emily sat alone in the quiet corner, staring blankly at her unfinished glass of club soda. Just a week ago, sitting in her quiet living room, she never could have possibly imagined where this long-awaited, peaceful vacation would ultimately lead her.
“After this trip is over, I am definitely going to need another vacation,” she thought to herself, a genuine, tired smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.
Yet, as she sat there in the dim lighting, she realized she felt strangely calm. James was actually alive. It was a massive, world-altering fact that she could no longer ignore or run away from. He was a profound traitor, a chronic liar, and a coward, but he was breathing. The ghost had finally been put to rest.
Needing to clear her head, she stood up, smoothed her dress, and headed out through the heavy glass patio doors. A quiet walk in the fresh air seemed like the absolute perfect remedy for the sheer absurdity of the evening. The sprawling hotel courtyard was blissfully empty; the vast majority of the tourists were either already asleep in their rooms or down at the beachfront bars. She breathed in the warm, humid evening air, instantly feeling ten pounds lighter.
As she slowly walked along the winding, illuminated stone paths of the tropical garden, she spotted a familiar silhouette. James was slumped alone on a wrought-iron bench beneath a massive palm tree.
“Judging entirely by the miserable look on your face, I take it you did not manage to catch her,” Emily said, her voice carrying a light, almost teasing smile as she sat down on the far edge of the bench beside him.
“I caught her… but she left anyway. For good this time, I think,” James replied quietly, his head hanging low between his shoulders.
“She is upstairs packing her suitcases right now,” he added with a heavy, pathetic sigh.
“Why did you even bother putting up with that ridiculous drama in the first place?” Emily asked, leaning back against the cool metal. “You two could not go a single minute without screaming at each other. I literally heard your toxic arguments echoing up to my room every single night.”
“I honestly do not know what kept me anchored to her. She is young, and I am… well, I am clearly not anymore. I think I just desperately wanted something new. Some fresh energy. A little bit of fun to distract myself,” he confessed, staring at the manicured grass.