by Josh Karnes
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The rooms were luxuriant and the view was pretty gorgeous. They had arrived just in time for them to have a stunning view of the sunset in the cove right off their balcony. If the Grady family's mess could not be sorted out while immersed in the beauty of this place, then maybe it was hopeless.
Dinner came and went with only simmering tension and thankfully no drama. Somehow James and Melissa managed to avoid getting into a fight before bed, which was rare these days. James thought it was probably just because they were very tired from traveling. Once Melissa’s batteries were charged back up again tomorrow, she’d probably turn the heat back up. Truth is, whatever it was, James deserved it.
It was fully dark by the time dinner was over and moonlit strolls along the beach were not on the agenda, not for the disinterested brothers or for the parents. The not-so-happy couple retreated to their room and the boys to the other, and all resumed ordinary bedtime rituals as if they were back home in Houston: one watched a little TV in Spanish, one read a book, one figured out the internet access and researched what to do on this little island on his smartphone, one lay in bed indifferent while one wallowed in self-pity and guilt.
How on earth James was going to do this, he didn’t know. How do you start that conversation? Do you just sit everyone down and say, “Okay, Gradys. Here’s the situation. Yeah, I blew it, but that’s in the past. Now it’s time to pull together and to move on. Nothing we can do to fix it now. We just have to make the best of what we have now. Gradys Go on three! One-two-three!”? Do you just kind of hope the magic of this idyllic island will smooth over and heal the wounds? Did James really, truly expect for his wife to just move on, forget? “Oh gee, honey, since you took me to that beautiful place and we did those fun excursions, I just can’t even remember those silly things that happened way back when.” Not likely. This isn’t going to work. It really isn’t even worth a try. But they were there anyway. Might as well enjoy it while they can.