His Paradise Wife (10 page)

“
Well, the least you can do
is apologize.”

“
Yeah. I know.”

“
And then, cut the man some
slack, Emily. Who knows? You just might learn to like
him.”

Emily sighed heavily. “Yeah, you’re right.
I’m going to go look for him.”

“
All right girl.
Bye.”

“
Bye.”

Emily began her walk back to the resort,
pondering how she would approach Dante for an apology. But what if
he wasn’t receptive? What if he’d had enough of her? What if he’d
given up and left the resort altogether?

When she walked in the suite, it was quiet
and dark. Her first thought was that Dante had fallen asleep but he
wasn’t on the couch. She continued on to the bedroom and he wasn’t
there either. Then she peeped out onto the balcony. He wasn’t
there.

Back into the living room, she noticed his
bags were still there. Maybe he’d gone to get a drink as she’d
done. Deciding to just wait until he returned instead of going to
look for him, she walked back into the bedroom, undressed and stood
in the shower, thinking about how bitter she’d become in the two
years she’d been without Melvin. Had his death really changed her
so much to the point that being in the presence of any other man
disgusted her – made her see all men as unworthy because the one
man she wanted, the one she thought she would spend an eternity
with had died in an automobile accident on his way home from
work.

She remembered the day of the accident like
it was yesterday...she’d been at home, looking over a business plan
for the boutique when she received the phone call. Melvin had been
in a terrible accident and was rushed to the nearest hospital.

She dropped everything and sped there,
praying the whole way. Her breath almost escaped her several times
as she tried to keep up with the thunderous beats of her heart.

At the hospital, she rushed in, frantically
looking for a nurse or a doctor – someone who could tell her about
an accident victim named Melvin Mitchell who’d just been brought
in, introducing herself as his wife.

The look on the nurses’ faces said it all.
Then a doctor stepped out and said, “I’m sorry, Mrs. Mitchell. We
did everything we could. His injuries were too severe and he lost a
lot of blood.”

Standing under the shower water, she cried
thinking about this. Maybe if she listened to Dante and kept an
open mind about the resort by taking full advantage of the services
they offered for those dealing with loss, it would help her to
finally cope with Melvin’s death and give her the courage to move
on with her life.

Chapter 18

When Emily got up in the morning, Dante
wasn’t there. He’d been there because she could smell soap and
cologne like he’d just taken a shower and headed out. She glanced
at the clock. The time was 8:30 a.m. He was probably at
breakfast.

She rushed to get ready. She wanted to join
him this morning, especially since she didn’t get a chance to talk
to him last night. So after applying some makeup and brushing her
hair, she took elevator down to the ground floor and rushing to the
restaurant, she saw Dante sitting alone. All the other men were
sitting with their wives.

She walked over to his table, took a seat
across from him, watching him glance up at her then back to his
plate.

“
Good morning,” she
said.

“
Good morning,” he
responded, unenthused, still eating.

There was no smirk on his face, no sneaky
look or suppressed smile, she noticed. He was quiet and
disinterested.

Emily inhaled a deep breath and said, “I’m
sorry.”

That got his attention. He looked up at her
confused. After he wiped his mouth with a napkin, he said, “Pardon
me.”

“
I said, I’m sorry. I
shouldn’t have said those things to you last night and I’m sorry
for being difficult this entire week. I’m not usually like
this.”

He cracked a half smile and with raised
eyebrows, he asked, “You’re not?”

“
No. Now does the smile mean
you accept my apology?”

“
Is that what you want it to
mean?”

“
That’s what I hope it
means.”

“
Then, yes, I accept your
apology. And I’m sorry for grabbing your arms the way I
did.”

Emily nodded. “Okay.”

“
You forgive me?”

“
Of course. I’ll try not to
be angry and bitter for the rest of this trip and make a real
attempt to enjoy the remainder of this journey.”

“
Let’s shake on it,” he
suggested, to seal the deal and so that he could touch her hand in
the process.

Emily extended her hand across the table to
him for a shake.

He took her hand into his grasp, and said,
“Are you certain you want to do this because I need you to be all
in.”

Emily felt a flame light up inside of her.
“I’m sure.”

“
Good.” He released her hand
then took a sip of water while studying her for a moment. She
appeared nervous, he noticed. “Have you eaten?” he
asked.

“
No.”

“
Well, there’s a buffet with
a variety of breakfast foods. Would you like for me to make you a
plate?”

“
I’ll get it, she said
standing. “Besides, you don’t know what I like.”

“
I think I would do a pretty
good job of it.”

She smiled and continued to the buffet of
foods. Dante watched her as she walked, paying particular attention
to her curvy backside. She had a nice body, something he noticed
when he’d first laid eyes on her, but now that she was being a
rational and not the cranky, spastic woman she’d been for the last
few days, he could enjoy just looking at her walk – the way her
hips swayed from one side to the other.

* * *

After breakfast, they attended group couples
counseling. In attendance were five other couples, sitting in
chairs that circled the therapist who’d just finished outlining the
stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and
acceptance. She said, of all of these stages, acceptance was the
hardest because it was difficult to face the reality of never
seeing someone that you loved and cared for again. Then she opened
up the floor for people to share their story.

Emily looked around to see if anyone was
going to voluntarily stand up and share their experience. No one
moved. The room was eerily quiet. Dante was sitting to the right of
her and out of her peripheral, she could see him staring at her.
Had he even blinked?

Audrey, the woman she’d met at her boutique,
stood up and decided to share her story, and as everyone listened
keenly, Emily could feel Dante’s eyes on her again.

Dante had been examining her and he didn’t
care if she was aware of it or not. This was the first time he was
this close to her and she didn’t seem to mind it. He had a good
view of her full, ripe lips and could smell her perfume, lotion or
whatever she was wearing.

Emily swallowed hard when Dante leaned close
to her. She could his body heat co-mingling with hers.

Whispering in her ear, he asked, “Are you
going to share your story?”

Emily turned to look at him. He was only a
few inches away from her face. This close up, she could see his
distinctive features. He was clean-shaven, his face so smooth, she
wanted to touch him there. The mustache above his lips enhanced
them, made them full and enticing, so much so that she began to
think about what they might feel like pressed against hers. The
gentle look in his bright, hazel eyes let her know that he really
wanted her to participate.

Holding his gaze, she whispered back, “I
don’t want to.”

His eyes brightened when he watched her lips
move. Had he even heard her?

“
Dante, did you hear
me?”

The way his name rolled off
of her lips had left him somewhat speechless. He loved the way she
pronounced it and he looked forward to hearing her say it more
often, maybe even more frequently following heavy breathing,
panting, and screams of
oohs
and
ahs
.

“
Dante?” she said when she
noticed he looked like he’d drifted off into a reverie.

“
Yes. I heard you. We’ll
talk about it later.”

* * *

“
I’m surprised there wasn’t
an activity planned for today,” Emily said as she sat across from
Dante at another onsite restaurant where he’d taken her for
dinner.

“
There’s not an activity
planned for tomorrow either. It’s time that couples are supposed to
use to get to know each other.”

“
Oh. I see.”

He took a sip of Bourbon and leaned back in
his chair, staring at her as she finished up her meal. She’d
changed into a royal blue dress that accentuated her skin tone and
her curves. He examined her, every bite, every chew – the movement
of her lips was a thing of beauty. And her oval, dark brown eyes
were ones he could gaze upon continuously. He’d dated beautiful
women. Anita was a beautiful woman. But something about Emily
Mitchell set his soul ablaze every time their eyes connected, when
she brushed up against him, smiled at him or touched his hand.

“
What?” she asked, her lips
forming into a smile.

“
Nothing.”

“
Why are you staring at
me?”

“
Just waiting for you to
finish your meal so we can talk.”

“
I can talk and
eat.”

“
I know. I’m just trying to
be polite.”

“
Okay.” Emily wiped her
mouth. “I’m done. Now what’s on your mind?”

“
The things you told me
online about your marriage to Melvin, where they true?”

“
Yes.”

“
So you haven’t been with a
man since he died?”

Emily shook her head. “No.”

“
Why not?”

She shrugged. “I never had the desire to
date or be around another man.”

“
Well that explains a lot,”
he said and flashed the most brilliant smile Emily had ever
seen.

Emily grinned. “I just never, really
recovered from his death and I don’t think I ever will.”

“
See, that’s why you need to
be attending these therapy sessions. You heard what the doctor said
this morning. Acceptance is the most difficult stage of
grieving.”

“
I think I have accepted it.
I’m just not over it.”

“
Then you haven’t accepted
it, dear.”

“
Okay. Maybe not.” Emily
took a sip of water. “Can I ask you something?”

“
Sure.”

“
Why didn’t you tell me your
wife passed?”

“
I did tell you. It was one
of the first things we discussed online, remember. You just chose
to believe it was a lie once you found out that I was really
Armand.”

“
How’d she die?”

He clenched his jaw. “She had pancreatic
cancer.”

“
Oh. You never told me
that...online, I mean.”

“
I know. It’s not something
that I like to talk openly about.” He took another sip of Bourbon.
“I think my acceptance in the grieving process came even before she
died.”

“
How so?”

“
Well, once we found out she
had cancer, we went to see all of these specialists and they were
telling us the same thing – that there was nothing they can do.
They only offered chemotherapy as an option to prolong her life. It
worked for two years and during those years, I accepted the fact
that she was going to die and there was nothing I could do about
it. When she finally did pass, it hurt. It’s been six years and I
still miss her. I don’t think that ever goes away.”

“
No it doesn’t.”

“
I’ll admit, the first three
years were the hardest. The mutual friends we had all seemed to
wither away. All I had was my brothers.”

“
So you’re close with
them?”

“
Yeah. They’re each in
charge of running different departments within the company. I
talked them into moving to Asheville and promised them I would
singlehandedly make sure the company was a success and—”

“
You did it.”

He smiled. “How do you know?”

“
I read an article about you
in the paper.”

His smile widened. “Really? So you’ve been
reading up on me?”

“
Well my girlfriend pretty
much
made
me read
it. She’s a huge fan of yours.”

“
Which girlfriend is that,
so I can thank her?”

Emily laughed. “My friend Melanie. You were
a panelist at the hotel she works at about a week ago.”

“
And how do you know
that?”

“
She told me.”

Dante smiled. “I remember her. She was very
helpful.”

“
Melanie is a very good
friend of mine.”

“
I know.”

“
And how do you know that?”
she asked him.

“
I have my ways.” Dante took
a sip of Bourbon. “So no man after Melvin?”

“
No. How many women have you
been with after Anita?”

“
Wow.”

“
What?”

“
The way you ask the
question suggests that I’ve been with a ton of women after
Anita.”