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I raise my brows. "Round the houses?"
He smiles. "It's a British term. It means I am, as you Americans might put it, beating round the bush."
"Maybe we should give the direct route a try."
"I agree." He leans back in his chair, folding his hands over his belly. "If I'm wrong about this, feel free to tell me to bugger off. But I suspect I'm right. You and I have a similar tendency to avoid direct confrontation. You want to reconcile with your ex-wife, yes?"
"You hit the nail on the head."
"Then would I also be correct in suggesting that you maneuvered Vanessa into coming to Heirani Motu?"
"Damn, you're good." I hook one ankle over the other knee and take a nice long swig of my mojito. The trendy drink is growing on me. "Maybe you should have been a psychologist instead of the general manager at a nudist resort."
"I'm happy where I am. But you're trying to evade my question."
"Guilty as charged." I set down my glass and wince. "I, uh, sent Vanessa a letter informing her that she'd won a free two-week stay at the Au Naturel Naturist Resort South Seas."
The general manager smirks. "What made you choose a naturist resort for your nefarious plot?"
I wince even harder and scratch my cheek. "Well, I got online and searched for unusual vacation options. Took me three weeks of hunting before I found this place. It sounded perfect."
"For what? Seducing your ex-wife, obviously. But I suspect there's more to it."
"Yeah." This might be the most humiliating conversation I've ever had with another man. But he seems to genuinely want to help, and I'm screwing everything up on my own. "I spent the last year getting in shape. I wasn't a flabby loser before that, but I wanted to get buff to, ah, impress Vanessa."
James chuckles. "I had a suspicion that was the case. But did Vanessa do the same thing? Does she seem fitter now?"
"Definitely. Not a lot buffer. She looked great to start with, but she seems to have worked out a little more since the last time I saw her."
"When was the last time?"
"Two years ago."
He studies me for a moment. "When was your divorce finalized?"
"Three years ago."
"And how soon did you realize you'd made a mistake?"
"Six months later."
James tips his head to the side, seeming to study me with even more interest. "Don't do what I did with Holly. I tricked her in a way not unlike what you've done. But you have the chance to nip the problem in the bud. I suggest you think about that. The longer you wait, the more upset Vanessa will be when she learns the truth."
"I know. But I was hoping I could just forget about the letter stunt and move on to genuinely trying to win her over."
James pushes his chair back and rises. "I need to get back to work. But trust me, Craig, the truth will always out."
He strides back into the lobby.
I know I should take his advice. I know it's the right thing to do. But I've waited a long time to get Vanessa alone and tell her how I feel. Nothing has gone the way I'd hoped. If I confess that I deceived her, she might never speak to me again. Being a coward won't solve the problem. I'm a middle-aged man who should know better than to do what I've done.
But I love my wife. I want her back. And I don't see any other way to convince her that we belong together.
The truth will always out. James made that his parting advice to me. I don't know the details of how James tricked Holly, but it definitely worked out in the end. They're married and running this resort together.
I can't tell Vanessa what I did. Not yet.
After finishing off my mojito, I go inside to check out the gift shop. What else have I got to do? I find the usual gift-shop fare, like postcards and novelty shirts, but then I come upon something that confuses me. It's a bin full of party masks. The kind you might wear at a masquerade ball. I've never been to any event like that, so maybe these masks have another purpose that I'm not aware of, being a stuffy old guy.
