Page 18 of Second Chance Summer

Ugh…why do relationships have to be so difficult?

When Jovie calls, I catch her up on Hawaii, hoping for a different perspective than my own. Am I crazy, or were Hendrick and I our old selves again in Hawaii? I may have stopped liking him, but I never stopped loving him, and I still care about him deeply. He’s still my husband. He’s still…

Mine.

She says, “Y’all got along. That’s a good thing, right?”

“That’s what I wanted to discuss with you.”

“With me? I’m flattered, Nai, but I’m no doctor. Maybe you should talk to your mediator.”

“Already did on Wednesday. As a matter of fact, she went over the results she got from Dr. Makalua, and we passed, she said.”

“Passed what?”

“They scored us on the probability that our marriage would make it if we tried again. We passed. And when I called her back, privately, of course, she said if I have these feelings for Hendrick again, I should at least try to see if things could work out between us the second time around. She said it was our second-chance summer. Said that what she calls it when she has couples go away together in the summer to reignite what they had.”

“Ah, so this was strategic on her part.”

“Of course it was. I knew that going in. That’s why I didn’t want to go.”

“But it worked.”

“It did.”

“Cool, then I’ma tell you the same thing Dr. Mumshakalaka told you.”

Laughing, I say, “Girl, you stupid. That is not her name.”

“You know who I’m talkin’ ‘bout tho. So, yeah, you’ve built a life with Hendrick. We all got flaws. I’m sure you do stuff to make his left eye twitch all the time.”

“Girl, please. I’m the ideal wife. Any man would love to have me.”

She pretends to be choking, and says, “Nah, let me stop. You are that girl. You are, but Nai, when you chew gum, you pop it like you scared it’s gon’ jump right out yo’ mouth, and you never use the rearview camera when you back up, talkin’ about is something coming. Like, um…there’s a camera. Hello.”

“Your point?”

“These are just things you do to irk my nerves, and I’ve never lived with you. So, I can only imagine what Hendrick gotta deal with. Listen…ain’t nothing wrong with giving it another try, especially if you’re already falling in love with him again. I’m assuming that’s where we are.”

“Yes, that’s where I—we—are.”

“Okay, then. Fall on up in that piece, and go for what you know.”

“You say that like it’s easy. Like everything is just going to magically work out. What if these feelings I have for him were only brought on by the fact that we were literally in paradise? And we saw the best in each other. What if I only saw what I wanted him to be and not who he actually is?”

“You won’t know if you don’t try. Mic drop. Boom. I rest my case.”

I can picture her dropping an invisible mic and splaying her fingers afterward like she done dropped a gem when anybody could’ve said that.

She continues, “And I know you, Nai. If you ain’t feeling somebody, being in paradise won’t change that.”

“Yeah,” I grin, throwing my dirty clothes into the hamper. “You’re right about that.”

“Has he called?”

“Who?”

“Your boyfriend-husband! Who do you think we’re talking about here?”