“No. I want to spend some time looking at the ocean, something I don’t do often enough seeing as I live right by it. Don’t fuss. Celia does enough of that.”
Celia was Philip’s wife and had been for thirty-five years.
It humbled Zach. He couldn’t imagine the level of trust and connection that came along with spending that length of time with another person. It was something he’d never experienced. And he knew that was his fault. A psychologist might have said it was because his trust had been betrayed at a young age, but Zach couldn’t remember ever trusting anyone. Especially not psychologists.
“You’re mistaking me with someone else. I don’t care what happens to you.”
Philip grinned and rested his feet on the splintered railing where Zach’s had been a moment earlier. “That’s right, you’re just a big, tough guy with no feelings. I keep forgetting. My bad. On the other hand you’re out here drinking whiskey, which means you’re not as relaxed as you’re pretending. Want to talk about it??
??
“No.”
“You never do.” Philip took a mouthful of beer. “Bound to unsettle a man, though, seeing his ex-wife. I’ve known Brittany her whole life. She always was a little firecracker.”
“Is this conversation going somewhere?”
“Just saying she used to be a hell of a girl.”
“Your point being?”
“You haven’t seen her in ten years.”
“I know when I last saw her.”
She’d been asleep, her hair trespassing on to his pillow, her lips still curved in the smile he’d put there the night before.
He hadn’t hung around to see what her face looked like when he’d wiped the smile away. Making women hate him was his special gift.
“It’s a long time to not see a person. You’ve both changed.” Philip glanced at him. “I should imagine she had plenty to say after all that time. Must have been some reunion.”
Zach was starting to think he should have sold tickets.
“Sorry to disappoint everyone, but it was uneventful. The ground didn’t shake and no blood was drawn. Maybe there should have been. If I’d needed medical attention, maybe that would have kept the islanders off my back. The sight of my carcass by the harbor would have made a few people’s day, I’m sure.” Zach wondered why everyone still took such an interest in his life. “Sadly for them, she was civilized. Polite.”
Philip nursed his beer and stared thoughtfully at the churning ocean. “That bad?”
“Civilized is bad?”
“I’d say so. When a woman is polite and civilized, I worry. Celia has a polite smile that has me checking out the exits.”
Knowing Celia, Zach didn’t argue. “Maybe, but Brittany and I were together for a little over five minutes. In this case it meant she didn’t care enough to be mad.”
“Oh, she cared. Cared enough to throw it all in, marry you and go wherever you wanted her to go.”
“And spend a lifetime regretting what she gave up.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Cambridge, Oxford, PhD, Dr. Forrest—you think I could have competed with that?”
“So you looked her up.”
Caught, Zach had no choice but to admit it. “Once.” More than once, but that he wasn’t admitting. And he didn’t need to. He had no doubt Philip knew.
“She’s done well, no doubt about it, but Brittany would have done well at anything she’d tried. She’s that sort of person.”
“I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t have done well living with some loser who spent his life kicking the system.”