Page 24 of Wait for Me

He had no idea what Marie was doing behind them now, but he didn’t care. This trip, this cruise, was primarily for Jonas. It was part of his boy’s birthday present, and Logan was determined to make it count.

Their cruise had barely started—well, it was the third day—and the last thing Logan wanted was a pouty kid to take home this weekend.

Why can’t Marie just play along?

A hand touched his arm. He didn’t have to look. He knew who that hand belonged to.

I so miss her touch.

But it was over between them.

The hand remained on his arm.

He didn’t hear her say anything, but he knew she was sorry about what she had blurted without thinking. He wanted to tell her it was okay, but it wouldn’t be true.

It wasn’t okay. Their son was only five years old, and took things literally. Logan felt sorry that Marie hadn’t had the privilege of being mommy to Jonas.

Whose fault is that?

Certainly not his. He had done all he could to save the marriage. Marie had wanted out long before they had met the marriage counselor at church.

She had checked out of their marriage as soon as her maternity leave was over, always gone on assignments in Europe. Logan couldn’t imagine what was so important that she couldn’t take time off to be with her son or her husband.

If Logan had known that she would be in absentia, he wouldn’t have married her at all.

Then again…

Here they were, like a family again.

Jonas in his arms.

His wife by his side—

Ex-wife.

Logan watched Marie—oblivious to his thoughts—pull out her phone and take photos.

No, she was filming a video.

He followed her gaze.

She was pointing at the whales, the sea, the sky, and then at the people all around them, then to the mountain ranges in the distance, and then back to the people and crowd.

Back and forth.

Logan wondered what on earth she was up to, panning across the crowd, but he didn’t want to spoil the moment—whatever moment it seemed to be.

On the ride back to shore, they listened to a lecture on whale baleen. Logan thought that Jonas might be excited to see how big and long a baleen really was, but the boy was fast asleep.

And so was Marie.

Her head rested right on his other shoulder. Just like she used to do a long time ago when they had traveled together on trains across Europe. In between her assignments as a translator and his business meetings, they had taken excursions with some friends.

Logan remembered their favorite spot in Budapest, the city where they had their first kiss. It had seemed like ages ago, though it had only been six or seven years.

The memory surprised him.

Maybe, just maybe, there was still something left between him and Marie…

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