Page 4 of Natural Deception

Vanessa sits on a towel with a muscular young man.

Oh, shit. Is she flirting with this guy? Is he flirting with her? I can't tell. They're both smiling, but I only heard Vanessa laughing. Her buff new friend can't be more than thirty, if that. He has a tattoo on his left arm, but the abstract pattern and colors don't scream "tough guy" to me. It seems more like he asked his little sister to choose a design for him.

I'm turning into such a fossil. Pretty soon, somebody will screw a name plate onto my chest that declares I'm the oldest example of the now-extinct computer geek species ever dug up from a tar pit.

Vanessa notices me, and her eyes go wide. "Craig?"

"Glad you remember my name. I am your husband, after all."

The buff young guy scrambles to move further away from Vanessa. "Oh, hey, sorry. I didn't know---"

"He is not my husband." She scowls at me. "We're divorced."

"Yeah, still don't think I want to get in the middle of this." The young guy gets up and gives her a tight smile. "See you around."

I cross my arms. "But we haven't even been introduced yet. I'm Craig Hathaway."

"Uh..." He eyes me like I might go thermonuclear any second, but then relaxes. "Nice to meet you, Craig. I'm Zach Moore. We can all be friends, right?"

"Yeah, sure." My tone probably didn't convince him.

"Well, I'll see you around."

Zach hustles away.

Vanessa jumps up and scowls at me again. "Whatever kind of game you're playing, I want no part of it. Go home."

"I paid for two weeks on this island."

"Just so you could harass me."

"You know I'm not like that. But since we're both here, why don't we talk about...things."

She sets her hands on her hips and gives me a suspicious look that I know well. "You are up to something, Craig. I don't like it. You never used to be so cagey, and you weren't the type to do anything sneaky. But I'm getting that vibe from you now."

How can I respond to that? She's right, of course. I am being cagey and sneaky, though for a good cause---in my opinion. She probably won't agree. That means I need to ease her into the idea that we belong together. The divorce was a mistake.

"We're not kids fresh out of college," Vanessa says. "We are adults heading toward retirement age. Please don't patronize me. Just be honest and tell me what is going on. Did you know I'd be here on this island? Did you have something to do with that?"

No, I can't answer that question. But I don't like lying to her, which leaves me with only one option---to sort of tell the truth. "Since we're both here, why don't we spend some time together and see what happens? We've been out of each other's orbits for too long, and it might be nice to just be friends."

She taps her fingers on her hips. Then she relaxes. "All right. Let's have a friendly chat."

"Great. We can go to the dining hall---"

"No. Let's talk at the waterfall. I saw it on the map of the resort, and it looks like it's a private place to hang out."

"Sure. Let's go there."

Chapter Three

Vanessa

We walk side by side while wending our way down the trails until we find the waterfall. It turns out to be a small clearing just big enough to hold two chaises. The fronds of a palm tree shade most of the space, but I also see other types of trees as well as flowering plants. This island really is beautiful and a true paradise on earth, the perfect place for weathering a midlife crisis.

I can't believe I just thought those words.Midlife crisis. It sounds so...trite and pathetic. I have a career I love and a family I love. What have I got to feel bad about?

Craig stretches out on one of the chaises.

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