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“But I can’t afford that place on my own! I’ll have to move back in with my parents!”
“I don’t give a shit.” I grabbed his rolling suitcase, opened the front door of the cabin, and pushed the case out into the sand where the rain still fell in sheets, though the thunder had ceased. Jason made a move to physically escort Fred out, but Fred began moving on his own. He stood at the threshold of the bungalow, hesitant to move out into the deluge.
As he stood on the front porch, Fred turned back to gawk at all of us, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. “I came all the way out here! This stuff is all nonrefundable!”
“Maybe you could invite a friend along. I’m sure you can have loads of fun with one of them,” I said, and slammed the door in his face.
Ten
Unbothered
After Fred had been evicted from our cabin, Nikki whooped and cheered. “Holy shit, Gems! That was amazing! I’m so proud of you kicking his sexist ass to the curb like that!”
I smiled with relief. “I’m just glad it’s over.”
“Me, too,” said Jason, and he pulled me into a kiss that made my toes curl. I sank into his embrace as easily as sinking beneath the ocean waves, and let the current carry me towards a place without stress.
When at last we pulled apart, I could feel the intensity of Nikki’s stare from behind me. I gazed into Jason’s handsome face and said, “I think we have a little explaining to do.”
“What the FUCK?!” Nikki shrieked at a pitch so high, I was shocked I could still hear it. “What? When?”
“Nikki—” I began, trying to be gentle in my approach.
“Was this why you were out so late? Or was this a plan from the beginning? Did you arrange this whole thing with me as an alibi? Are you a schemer?”
“Breathe!” I took her by the shoulders and tried to hold her steady as she lost her grip on reality. Siti, still present at the hall to Nikki’s room, looked very confused by all that happened so quickly in front of him. “Siti, I’m so sorry for all this. If you don’t mind, can you wait in Nikki’s bedroom for a moment? I’ll return her to you soon.”
He nodded, relieved, and vanished down the hall.
I guided Nikki to sit on the edge of my bed. “I didn’t want to spring this on you, but it’s already done.”
“I wanted to tell you this morning,” said Jason.
“This morning?” she squeaked.
I grimaced. “So, when you brought Siti back last night, I had to escape because—again—the walls in here are not floor to ceiling and sound travels. So I went for a walk and ended up at Jason’s.”
“One thing led to another…” he added.
Nikki, eyes like saucers, gaped between us. “You slept together.”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you just tell Fred that? He could have left so much quicker!”
“I wanted to make it as clear as possible that my ending things with him was not about falling into the arms of someone else, but because I was tired of being ignored, forgotten, dismissed. He needed to know that not only was it my choice to end our relationship, but that his actions pushed me away. He needed to hear me, to understand that I’m a fully formed human with thoughts and emotions and needs that were not being met. I don’t bow to him. Besides, it’s no longer his business who I’m with.”
She was silent, processing all the new information.
“You kept this from me all day.”
“I was going to tell you this morning, but you bombarded me with all that stuff about giving Fred another chance, and I got angry. Then you wanted to spend the day with Siti, so we had some time to figure things out.”
“What about Annie?” Nikki asked Jason.
“We’ve been separated for over a month. I called her a few hours ago to tell her I’m moving forward with a divorce,” he said.
She blinked at me and shook her head. “This is a lot to take in, and to be completely honest, Siti and I shared a brownie about an hour ago, and it kicked in just as you all walked in off the shore. I’m not entirely certain how much of this was real, or what I’ll even remember when I wake up tomorrow.”
