Chapter 2 #3
“That’s nice.” Vince sipped his coffee.
“First cruise I was on, I saw a lady by the name of Sookie Green, and boy, I’d just love to…
” Henry chuckled. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’d love to spend time with her.
I’m seventy-five years old and had prostate cancer a couple of years ago.
The surgery to get rid of it ended the sex stuff, but it doesn’t end the want to have someone to cuddle with at night.
And I wouldn’t feel like I was cheatin’ on my sweet wife if there wasn’t any real sex.
” He lowered his voice. “I tell myself that she wouldn’t want me to be lonely, but truth is I figure she would scratch Sookie’s eyes out if I got serious about her. ”
Vince drank the last of his coffee and started to get up, but then Henry pointed to his left.
“There’s Sookie now. Looks like the old gals have taken a pretty little red-haired woman in with them.
They do that on every cruise. Kind of reach out to help some lady who’s here all alone so she won’t be lonely. ”
Vince recognized his wife and slumped back down into his chair. His heart skipped a beat and then raced ahead with a full head of steam. His hands were so clammy that he almost dropped the coffee mug. He figured she would have returned the tickets she had bought for a refund, but evidently not.
They hadn’t talked in two weeks, not since the night he had come home and found the note saying she was moving into a cheap hotel to have some space to think about their marriage.
She had only sent him one short text since then saying that they needed to talk, but she wasn’t ready to do so yet.
When and why had she decided to come on the cruise that was supposed to be her anniversary present to him—for them?
Seeing her across the distance made his heart ache and his chest tighten like it did the first time he laid eyes on her at a friend’s wedding reception.
“So, what happened that made you take off your wedding ring?” Henry asked.
“A lot of things, and nearly all of them have been my fault.” Vince looked down at his finger and remembered the night he’d taken it off in a fit of anger.
Now he wished he had it back. He kept stealing glances at Ava.
He hadn’t forgotten how beautiful she was—inside and out—but seeing her close enough to drink in her whole essence and yet not being able to even talk to her was painful.
Only a complete idiot would have put anything ahead of her happiness, and he had the crown for being that fool.
“You wantin’ to get a second chance with her?” Henry asked.
“I’d love one, but I might have blown any hope of that.” Vince shifted his gaze toward the horizon where the water and sky met.
“Well, I’d guess that you ownin’ up to that would be a good start. You should call her when we have cell service here on the ship, or else figure out what stateroom she’s in and just call that room and pour your heart and soul out to her,” Henry said.
“It’s complicated,” Vince whispered.
“Love always is.” Henry chuckled. “Did your mother like your wife?”
Vince wondered if Henry was a mind reader. “Why would you ask that?”
“Because what problems me and my wife had was centered around my mother not liking her.” Henry chuckled.
“There weren’t many women on earth that Mama thought was good enough for me.
After all, I was born on one of the biggest ranches in West Texas, and I would be inheriting it from my daddy, who got it from his father, and so on and so forth, all the way back to the time before Texas became a state.
According to my mother, I deserved a woman better than my Nellie, but the heart wants what the heart wants, and mine wanted Nellie. ”
“How did you handle it?” Vince stole still another look at Ava.
“My daddy was a smart man. He gave me two sections of land and a hundred head of cattle as a wedding present. He told me that when I learned to run that much of a ranch, he’d deed over some more to me.
By the time he passed on, all he had left was one section left to give to me.
Mama never did like my Nellie, but that was her loss,” Henry said.
“Now how about you, Mr. Vince Cargill? What’s your story?
We’re on this ship for a week, and then we’ll never see each other again, so tell me, why are you looking so sad?
And why did your eyes come near to popping out of your head when you saw that red-haired woman that Sookie and her posse have taken up with? ”
“My mother has rubbed shoulders with royalty in Scotland. My father is an oil baron who inherited a huge company that’s been in our family since the first oil was struck in Texas over a hundred years ago.
” Vince spilled his story to a man he barely knew—and it felt so good.
“I’m an only child, so the company will fall to me.
My folks are trying to groom me to take care of it when the time comes.
Right now, I’m the company lawyer for the Texas office. ”
“Ranchin’ or oil. The story stays the same when it comes to mamas and their baby boys.
The way that Nellie was treated is the reason why she didn’t say a word when our kids left the ranch, and she made damn sure she was good to her son-in-law and both daughters-in-law.
Those three loved her as much as our kids did,” Henry said.
“You got to do what makes you happy. Money ain’t the most important thing in the world, son. ”
Vince took a deep breath, let it out slowly and said, “That woman that Sookie is sitting beside is my wife, Ava. I didn’t even know until right now that she was on this ship.
We’re separated right now. We were supposed to do this vacation together, and I figured she wouldn’t come since I refused to go.
My grandfather told me to go alone, sort out my priorities, and come home ready to get back to work.
Now there she is and I’ve got to figure out how to deal with it. ”
“What’s your heart tellin’ you, son?” Henry asked.
“It’s confused right now, but I know I don’t want to lose her,” Vince admitted.
“Then you’d better do something about that or you’ll be plumb miserable for the rest of your life,” Henry told him.
“You are so right,” Vince whispered.