Free Acapulco Nights by K. J. Gillenwater Page A

meeting her there.”
    “What?”
    James placed the dish of lasagna in the refrigerator, closed the door, and headed toward the stairs, “She’s buying your plane ticket tomorrow. You should probably call her so you two can make some plans.”
    He left me standing in the kitchen alone, my mind whirling. Was this an ultimatum? I wished I could be honest with him about why I’d put off our wedding so many times. If he knew the truth, he would’ve been easier on me.
    The truth .
    That’s when the idea came to me. Why not confront my past and get that divorce. This trip could be my chance to fix things without hurting James. He wouldn’t have to know. He would never have to know.
    *
    I wanted to keep talking. Keep that bathroom door shut as long as I could. Maybe if I stayed in here long enough, Joaquin would disappear, and I could pretend nothing ever happened. At that moment I’d gotten so far off course from my original plan, I couldn’t see how I would be able to fix it.
    While James told me about the cool little gadgets and computer programs he was fiddling with in Dallas, one part of my brain thought about what to do.
    First, I would have to explain to Joaquin I had a fiancé and that episode on the bed had all been a mistake. Lust had taken over, memories of a past long over. Nothing more. Then, I needed to tell him I wanted a divorce. Maybe finding out I had a fiancé would put him off, make him angry enough to drop the intense looks, the heated touches.
    From now on, no more meeting him alone. Clearly, that had been a bad idea.  Next time I talked to him, I would pick a more public place—a restaurant, the hotel lobby, the beach.
    “I miss you, honey,” I blurted out. It was true. I did miss him. I missed his predictable, solid self next to me. When we were together I was safe, loved, appreciated. James would never do anything surprising or erratic. After four years together, I could read him like a book. Each little expression—a raised eyebrow, a cocked half-smile with his one dimple showing—became a window into his mind only I could open.
    “I miss you, too,” James answered back.
    I paused. I could hear only a bit of static on the line. I wanted to tell him more about this trip, but the words wouldn’t come.
    “Hey, look, Suze, when you get back, I think we need to have a long talk.”
    “A long talk? About what?”
    “Us. You and me.”
    “You and me?”
    Joaquin knocked on the door. “Suzie, are you coming out of there?”
    Oh, God.
    “What was that noise?” James asked.
    “That? Oh, that was just Janice. She wants to know when I’ll be off the phone.” Panic rose in my throat. I tried to take a deep breath and calm myself. “We were about to go to lunch before you called.”
    “Suzie?” Joaquin called out.
    “James, I really have to go. Why don’t I try calling you again later?”
    “Later? Okay. But tomorrow I’ll be in presentations all day. Let’s try for the day after tomorrow?”
    “All right.”
    The knocking got louder.
    “Love you, sweetheart,” James said.
    “Love you, too.” I hung up the phone. I didn’t want to open the door knowing Joaquin was behind it. What would I tell him? How could I explain my earlier behavior?
    Best to get it over with quickly.
    I unlocked the door.
    Joaquin sat on the bed, his face clouded, shirt buttoned and tucked back in his pants. He reached for his striped tie and flipped up his collar.
    “Who was that, Suzie?” He tied his tie, looping the end through the knot, then wiggling it upward to tighten it. After he folded his collar back down, he ran his fingers through his hair.
    “It’s a long story, Joaquin, but it’s one of the reasons I came on this trip.”
    “Who was on the phone?” he demanded, anger and confusion plain on his face. When I didn’t give an immediate answer, he made a grab for his suit jacket, his back to me.
    “No one,” I sputtered. “It was nobody.”
    “Nobody?” His back stiffened, and he