On Our Fifth Anniversary, My Husband's Ex Got the Honeymoon Suite I Booked novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: The Water Taxi

A soaked stranger on the dock turns out to be Quinn's fiancé; the lobby confrontation ends with him walked out by security, and Bernice calls to say Quinn is family.

The only way off Halcyon Island that night was the 9:30 water taxi.

I sat on a bench at the end of the dock with my suitcase between my knees and watched the rain start.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

It was Ethan, and then it was Ethan again, and then a text.

"Where are you? Come back, we can talk like adults."

I turned the phone face down on my knee.

The 8:40 taxi came in early, and one passenger climbed off it.

He was tall and soaked through, in a dark rain jacket with no hood, carrying nothing at all.

He walked up the dock looking at his phone, then at the resort lights, then at me.

"Excuse me," he said. "Do you know if there's a second entrance to the resort? The front desk won't pick up."

"It's all one building," I said. "Who are you looking for?"

"My fiancée. Quinn Aldridge."

I didn't move.

He took his glasses out of his shirt pocket, wiped them on his wet sleeve, and looked at me properly.

"Sorry. You look like you've had a night."

"What does she look like?"

He pulled up a photo on his phone and held it out under the dock light.

Black bob, grey eyes, a bright laugh, her head on his shoulder at somebody's barbecue.

Her left hand was around his neck and had a diamond on it.

"She told me she was at a medical sales conference in Atlanta," he said. "Then a resort charge hit our shared card. I took a shift swap and got on a plane."

I looked at the photo for a long time.

"I'm Hannah," I said. "I think your fiancée just answered my husband's door in a bathrobe."

He didn't say anything.

The rain ticked on the dock boards.

"Samson," he said at last, very quietly. "Samson Weir. Which room?"

"Five twenty. I booked it."

"Right." He nodded slowly. "Okay. Would you mind if I borrowed your night for ten minutes?"

I should have gotten on the 9:30 taxi.

Instead I picked up my suitcase and walked back up the dock beside him.

In the lobby, the orchids and the low music were exactly the same.

Ethan was at a corner table in the restaurant, with a glass in his hand.

Quinn sat across from him, dressed now, in a green silk dress, laughing at something he'd said.

He saw me first.

He half stood, with his napkin still in his hand.

Then Quinn turned her head and saw Samson, and her laugh stopped.

"Samson?" she said.

"Hi, Quinn."

"What are you doing here?"

"I'd like to ask you that."

She was on her feet before I'd even drawn breath.

"Oh my God." She turned to the room, her voice rising and going shaky. "Somebody help me. This is the man I told you about. He's been following me for weeks."

Two couples at the next tables stopped eating.

A man in a resort blazer was already crossing the floor.

"Quinn," Samson said. "I gave you a ring."

"I never wore it. I told you it was over."

"You told me you loved me on Monday."

"He's unstable," Quinn said to the man in the blazer, and she put a hand on her chest. "Please. I'm scared."

Ethan stepped between them, and his voice was the one I'd heard on a hundred phone calls with his mother.

"Sir, I think you should leave quietly. Nobody wants a scene."

"Nobody wants one," Samson said, "but we got one."

"He's not following anyone."

That was me.

Every head in the restaurant turned.

I hadn't known I was going to speak.

"I came off the ferry five minutes before he did," I said. "He's never been on this island before tonight. Quinn told him she was in Atlanta."

Quinn stared at me with perfect, wet, innocent eyes.

"Who is this woman?"

"His wife," I said. "The one who paid for your suite."

A fork clinked against a plate somewhere.

Ethan's hand closed around my elbow, gentle, the way he steered me through parties.

"Hannah, stop. You're upset, and you're making it worse for everyone."

I looked at his hand until he let go.

The man in the blazer cleared his throat.

"Sir, I'll have to ask you to step outside with security."

"He didn't do anything," I said.

"Ma'am, the lady says she's afraid."

Two guards came through the lobby doors.

They didn't touch Samson, but they stood on either side of him, and he nodded.

"Fine," he said. "I'm going."

Quinn didn't look at him.

She was looking at me, and under the tears her eyes were completely dry.

I took my suitcase and walked out behind Samson, past the orchids, past the couple with the phone, who had followed us downstairs and were still filming.

On the steps outside, my phone lit up in my hand.

I thought it would be Ethan.

It said "Bernice" instead, and I looked at it for three rings.

I answered.

"Hannah." My mother-in-law's voice was smooth as cream. "Ethan just told me you made a scene. I want you to remember something. Quinn is family."

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