Chapter 9
I’d come for closure.
Never imagined seeing Josh–campus legend, poster boy for ambition–cracking at the edges like cheap plaster.
He inched closer, hand trembling toward mine with beggar’s hesitance:]
“Vivian… I know how badly I screwed up-“]
That cheater’s script. I knew every beat by heart.
I cut him off. []
Let me guess After the honeymoon phase wore off, you realized Isla is a spoiled princess.”
“And you
started to miss your live in maid who catered to your every whim and kissed your ego every single day.”
One apology buys you a lifetime servant? Sounds like a good deal.
I held his gaze, drilling into the lies:
“Am I wrong. Josh? Hit the bullseye, didn’t I?“|
“No! Vivian, I love
you
His face bleached corpse white. He fumbled for proof that didn’t exist.
Love’s real–just not in his vocabulary. Never was.]
“Enough. Keep this up, and it’s just sad.”
I stepped back. [
Night wind whipped my scarf like a surrender flag.
We stood divided–Mason–Dixon Line drawn in concrete.
When I turned toward home, he didn’t follow.
Just watched, skin turning translucent as terminal cancer patients I’d seen in documentaries.[]
I didn’t spare him a glance. The curtains snapped shut–final as a coffin lid.]
That night, I curled on the sofa under the ghostly glow of a nightlight. Sleep never came.]
Outside, Josh’s engine stayed dead–I knew he hadn’t left.
Weather warnings screamed of an approaching blizzard.]
Against my will, I pictured him out there–that solitary figure holding its breath in the cold.
Should I take an umbrella?
Then–engines snarled to life.]
Peeking through the curtains, I caught taillights vanishing.
Where he’d stood: a graveyard of cigarette butts, melting a black scar into the snow.
I was still staring at that wound in the whiteness when knuckles rapped the door.[]
It swung open.
Zachary stood haloed in the hallway light, snow melt jewels glistening in his hair.
His eyes were two drowned puppies. A pout trembled on his lips.
I kissed him. “Marry me.”
He carried me to bed, and the snow fell like confetti outside our window. We were married at dawn.
Next day, we registered.
My newly minted husband became my personal shadow.
Millie gagged at our PDA “Get out!” She shoved a month’s PTO at me. “Disappear!]
Zachary whisked me to the Maldives.
Sun–bleached bliss. Powdered sugar sand. And him–all mine.
This sun–drenched, coconut–lazy rhythm. Perfection.
Then the buzzkill materialized.
“Vivian.”
Josh’s voice scraped through my drowsiness.[]
I blinked awake.
His attempt at a smile hung crooked–bleached by the tropical sun into something mournful.]
“Long time.”
Happiness softened my edges.]
He froze.
Maybe because it was my first civil tone in months. His eyes instantly glassed over.
“You look… good. Really good.”
The sentence died midair when sunlight exploded off my ring finger.
I followed his stare, wiggled the diamond toward him:[]
“My rock. Hubby’s taste.”
Knuckles bone–white under his resort tan, he stuttered:[]
“Married. You’re…”
“Yep.” I nodded toward Isla waddling from the surf, belly round as a beach ball.
“Oh, and congrats on the dad gig!”
When Isla latched onto Josh’s arm with possessive panic, I nearly laughed.]
Rising:
“Centuries of bliss,
you two.“[]
Zachary waved from our cabana.]
Josh shook off Isla’s grip, charging after me.]
“One last coconut water? Like that first one you bought me…”
Now? This husk begging for nostalgia he’d incinerated years ago.
“That story’s shelved.“]
I walked. His shout tore through the palms:
“I miss you!”
“I’ve paid in blood, Vivian! Come back-“]
Zachary’s quiet vengeance–crippling Josh’s contracts.]
Without turning. I flicked my wrist toward shore:]
“Isla and the baby’s waiting.”
Isla clutched his waist, guttural sobs muffled in his shirt:]
“Please, Josh… Let’s go home.“]
His footsteps didn’t follow.
I didn’t look back.
