Page 400 of The Sinner: James

Slowly, I run the flame over the tip and suck in a short drag before releasing the smoke quickly.

“Yeah... Different he is. He got sneaky,” he says.

I laugh.

“No, no. Seriously. You’ll know what I mean when you see him. I’m happy for him. He’s changed. He cares for her. I talked to him before I left. And don’t tell him you know this from me, but he will be a great father. The man walks on clouds––he is so happy.”

“So, you were right.”

“I’m always right, motherfucker,” I say.

He chuckles.

“When are you coming back?”

“Good question...” I say before taking another drag. “I may need to fly back to Monte Carlo after I’m done in Singapore. At the end of the week, most likely. It’s part of the reason Ed was so hush-hush about everything. If he returns home next month, I must continue what he started in Monaco. And I need to do it as quickly as possible.”

“Why?”

I loosen my tie knot before grabbing my drink, pulling an ashtray close to me, and propping my legs on the table.

A smile tugs at my lips.

“I may not have much time.”

He stays quiet for a few good moments.

“What are you talking about, James?”

His voice beams with concern.

I take a long breath before speaking again.

“Do you remember that one summer––I think we were eight or nine when we went camping and put up our tent by the water? It was the middle of July, and we were all by ourselves.”

“Yup. I remember.”

“That day was perfect. There was no breeze, the temperature was mild, and the sky was cloudless.”

“Uh-huh.”

“We spent the entire day swimming before eating our food by the fire in the afternoon. The evening was perfect too. The sky was littered with stars, the place was quiet, and fireflies swarmed the woods. Had we left that moment, it would’ve been a perfect day. One of the best memories we’d ever had.”

“I hear you, man.”

“Then, the wind started to blow, spinning and throwing branches at us, and suddenly, we couldn’t see the stars anymore. The sky became a dark backdrop with no lights whatsoever. The rain came down like a torrent, sweeping our tent off the ground. We almost lost Ed in that gush of water.”

Silence comes from the other end of the line as if he knows the point of my story.

“You probably know what I’m talking about. I pondered this thought a while back...” I say before inhaling smoke and letting it out in a long exhale.

I take a swing of my drink.

“The perfect storm,” I murmur, staring blankly at my glass.

“What are you saying, man?”

“We’ve had a good run, building tremendous wealth all these years. Everything is bigger and better than we anticipated. We found our women. Rain, Dahlia, and now, Thea. We’ve seen growth, abundance, peace, and calm. We’ve had fun,” I say, smiling. “But when good things last for a long time, a shifting point is waiting to happen. A moment when you go from the perfect time of your life to a string of bad luck. Call it the fuckery of life, but that’s how it always happens. Sometimes you see the signs, and sometimes you don’t because everything is in the background, brewing. And the signs are hard to catch and even harder to read. It happened to my father after my mother left. The stocks plunged, and the economy went down that year, and that’s how he got caught in a downward spiral. His business took a hit, affecting his finances, and his personal life went to hell.”

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