Page 20 of A Different Husband

“Aren’t you supposed to be in St. Lucia on the trip I paid for?” I asked, knowing there should have been three more days on the trip.

“Thanks to you, I had to come back early.”

I laughed at that. How in the hell did I cause that all the way from here?”

Beckett rolled his eyes. “You know exactly what you did. Why couldn’t you just leave it alone? You married another man, it’s not like you can be angry that I took a woman on vacation.”

“We started dating when we were teenagers. I’m 25 now. Even if you take away the time we were minors, you still had seven years to take me on a vacation or even a weekend getaway, and you never did.”

“So, this is about us.” His smug face itched to have my fist introduce itself.

“No, Beckett. It is not about us. I was blind to a lot of shit I should have never put up with, but believe me, I’m over it. People tagged me in that stupid post and I answered their question, end of story.”

“You told them that you paid three quarters of the honeymoon cost.” The way he said it sounded like an accusation.

“Because I did!” I shouted at him before I realized we were still at school. Look, you can’t be here. This is my job. You never liked when I dropped into your office, and I don’t appreciate you coming here and trying to upset me simply because…” It occurred to me that he still hadn’t answered why he was back, beyond trying to point the finger at me. “Why in the hell are you back here and not in St. Lucia?”

“Brandy got pissed off after she found out how much you paid for the trip.”

“Oh, yeah, considering you made her pay half of the total. I guess I can see why she’d be angry, since you managed to turn a profit by swindling us both into paying for it.”

“I didn’t swindle anyone!” He ground the words out through clenched teeth. “She trashed the room and we got kicked out. I managed to get my ticket changed. Not sure what Brandy did.”

“You left her there by herself without a hotel to stay at?”

“She is the reason we got kicked out.”

“Because you cheated her! God, Beckett! What happened to you?” He growled something under his breath that I didn’t catch. “You know what? Never mind. I don’t really care anymore.”

“We need to talk about some things, Courtney.”

“Like what? When are you going to pay me back for the vacation you stole?”

“I didn’t steal it, and no. We need to talk about when you’re coming back and…”

I laughed. “I am not coming back to you, Beckett. The sooner you understand that, the better off we will all be.” I glanced at the clock. “You have killed half of my lunch break. I need you to leave.”

“Please, meet me tonight for dinner. At the very least, we need to talk about swapping each other’s stuff we left behind.”

“Fine. Please leave, and text me where to meet you.”

He tipped his head in some weird, Beckett-style acknowledgment, and then left without another word. Meanwhile, I sent a text to let my husband know his cousin had been here to see me and that he wasn’t done with the conversation.

Courtney: Beckett came to my school today.

Flynn: Did he pay you back for that trip?

Courtney: I wish. I told him I couldn’t talk here, so he asked me to meet him for dinner tonight.

Flynn: Where and when?

Courtney: Don’t know he’s supposed to text me that info. Maybe if I’m lucky, he’ll have my money.

Flynn: Don’t hold your breath, sweetheart. Although, I can lend you a bat if you want to take out his kneecaps, Nemesis!”

Courtney: Don’t tempt me. Gotta go get ready for my next class. See you tonight.

For the firsttime in my life, I hoped that Beckett stood me up. Not that our little dinner meeting was a date, but I really didn’t want to see him twice in one day. Just my luck, he was there before I even showed up. I guess he didn’t want to take any chances on missing me.

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