Claire looked at her like she was crazy. “You want me to go on my honeymoon by myself?”
“Yes, except you wouldn’t be by yourself. The three of us could go. St. Lucia is a beautiful place, and it will be good for you to get away.”
“That’s an excellent idea, Amy,” Willow said. “And Claire, you have no excuse. Your reservation is still active. Amy and I will get our own rooms if you want privacy.”
“Mom, I can’t…”
“Claire, this is not up for discussion. Now, pack your bags and get ready. We leave in the morning.” Willow walked out of the room, leaving Claire with no choice.
“I don’t want to go,” Claire said after her mother had gone.
“You heard your mom. You know she’ll make you do it,” Amy said as she sat next to her on the bed. “I promise you’ll love it. Besides, I’ll be there to hang out with you.”
“Yeah, right! You’ll leave all those men on the beach to come hang out with me? Do you think I believe you?”
“Claire, just do as your mom says, please,” Amy said, heading toward the door. “I promise it’ll be fun.”
Long after the two had gone, Claire sat alone in her room, picturing Trent in bed with the other woman, laughing and pretending she didn’t exist. She tossed the covers back, and with anger bubbling inside her, she yanked the suitcase from the closet and started packing. Damn it, she was going to St. Lucia without Trent. Fuck him!
CHAPTER 3
It was an exciting moment for two out of the three passengers in the cab that drove along the interstate to the airport that evening. Claire stared as the outside world raced by, her thoughts doing the opposite, remaining fixated on one event.
“I bet you will love it in St. Lucia,” Willow said as she playfully poked her daughter’s ribs.
“Come on, Claire,” Amy nudged. “Blue skies, white sandy beaches, crystal clear water. That’s got to put a smile on your face.”
Claire looked at the girl with a blank expression. “Perhaps.” It was hard to imagine anything fun when hurt weighed on her like an anchor. Her entire life was drifting by, and as far as she was concerned, she was just floating into oblivion.
The other women temporarily gave up any attempt at lightening Claire’s mood. They reached the airport and wheeled their luggage sets from the car. Luckily, the airport wasn’t crowded. They quickly checked their luggage and joined the other passengers as they waited for boarding.
Claire had the window seat once inside the plane, and she stared endlessly through its crystal partition, taking account of every cloud that passed. Amy had the seat next to her, and Willow had the aisle seat. Willow was busy doing a crossword puzzle, and Amy struggled to find something to watch on the small rectangular monitor in front of her.
“I don’t get it,” Claire said, to no one or to them both.
“That’s how these things operate,” Amy said as she continued pressing the control on her armrest. Then she looked over at Claire and realized she wasn’t looking at the television. “Oh, did you mean something else? What don’t you get?”
“Trent and I have been together for three years. Why would he do this now?”
“Men sometimes do stupid things, Claire. Chalk it up to that. It has nothing to do with you,” Amy told her.
“Yeah, but what if I drove him away? What if he was with that woman because she was sleeping with him?” She had guilt in her eyes, and she looked pleadingly at Amy. “Maybe I shouldn’t have been a prude.”
“That’s nonsense,” Willow intervened. “You did nothing wrong by waiting to marry him before having sex with him, or any other man, for that matter. A good man would have appreciated that.”
“Still, it could have been the reason. Men are more physical than women,” Claire defended. She wanted that to be the reason; nothing else made sense to her.
“If that was the reason, he wouldn’t have waited so long,” Amy told her.
“He wasn’t waiting. He was probably fucking the other woman throughout our relationship. No wonder it didn’t seem to bother him so much, and I respected him for it. Ugh!”
“Enough of this foolish talk, Claire,” Willow interjected. “Trent chose his path, and I am glad you became aware of it before you married him. Trust me, divorce is never easy. You know I went through that with your father. You need to move on. Whatever the reason, it’s already happened and you can’t fix it.”
At that instant, the aircraft dipped a few feet, surprising them and making Claire forget whatever response she had meant to give her mother. They looked at each other with horrified expressions. Some of the other passengers were whispering.