Change of Plans

Chapter 1

"This is just perfect," I muttered, lacing my words with a quiet sarcasm, and watching as the woman disappeared into the mall to make use of the restroom.

Rowan looked up from his phone and gave me a surprised look.

"Don't tell me you're still worked up over this, Maya."

"How do you expect me to react?" I asked with a deep frown. 

He sighed with a small shake of his head, clearly not in the mood for an argument. "It's not a big deal."

Not a big deal?

So I was expected to act ‘normal’ after coming out of the mall only to find Camille Duncan with him again? Just last night, he had to go over to see her in the hospital because she was having terrible nightmares and now, she was in our own car.

And to make matters worse, he had agreed, without my consent, to go over to her apartment and pick up whatever it was she wanted to pick up rather than head straight to the island we had arranged to go to earlier so we could meet up with the fireworks display tonight. Not that my consent mattered much when it came to him, but at least he should have considered asking.

"Don’t be dramatic Maya. You know Camille’s situation. She recently lost her husband," he explained with a calm voice that only made me more irritated. "I was only willing to help. Can’t you just show a little compassion?"

“I haven’t? I’ve been respectful of her grief, reached out, checked in. I sent flowers on behalf of both of us… or is there some other meaning of compassion I'm not aware of?”

Rowan frowned again, clearly losing his patience. 

"Come on. She’s been through a lot. I can’t just turn my back on her now."

"But there’s a line between helping and letting her turn to you for everything! And you’re forgetting who’s standing right here, always the one left waiting. Always." I shot back quietly and leaned my head against the window. 

"We had plans, Rowan. You would have sent someone else."

This vacation to Lovers Island was supposed to be his apology for all the dates missed, all the dinner canceled at the last minute, and all the promises broken. And just like other times, something else came up that was more important than heading straight to the Island.

I took a deep breath, trying to keep my voice steady as I met Rowan's gaze. "Look, I understand that you and her husband were close. I didn’t even know him, but I still felt it when he passed. And I’ve never stood in your way when it came to helping his wife." 

My tone was soft as I placed emphasis on the ‘never’. 

"But it’s been three months, Rowan. You…you just drop everything whenever she calls and needs your attention—sometimes even in the middle of the night. Don’t you think that’s... a little too much?"

He glanced at me, his expression softening, but before he could reply, I noticed his expression change as he looked towards Camille Duncan, his good old friend who he just happened to run into while I was away at the mall for a few minutes.

"So sorry for keeping you waiting. Did I waste too much time?" Camille asked as she slid into the backseat.

"Not at all," Rowan replied smoothly. "Right?" He asked me.

"It's fine. There's no rush," I held back a sigh and passed her a brief smile before resting my head against the window and closing my eyes.

Maybe if I sleep off, the whole thing would be over quickly.

But my quiet time was short-lived. Camille suddenly let out a loud sigh.

"It has been so difficult to live with the reality of this, Ro, I feel so overwhelmed."

My eyes popped open and I blinked, hard.

Ro? Seriously?

"The whole house feels so empty and creepy without him. I miss his banter, his jokes. God! I miss his presence! I've felt so lonely with no one to talk to," she whined.

"I'm sorry you've had to go through all that, Camille, but we're here for you now, okay?" Rowan replied in a calm soothing voice that sounded foreign to me.

"We" were here for her? Clearly, I was just the plus one in this equation. I've been very cool about him helping a grieving friend but when that affected this special moment that I had dreamed of with Rowan for years, it was a little difficult to act like it didn't hurt.

"I know, and that's why I'm very grateful to you both. Thank you for deciding to help me, I don't know how I would have handled all this by myself," Camille continued and as I checked the time, I made every effort not to break down in front of them. There was supposed to be a fireworks display at the island tonight and I wanted to see it with Rowan, hoping that it would remind him of our honeymoon at Monaco. He had been emotionally unsure of himself then, both of us not really knowing how the marriage was going to turn out, and when his work became more demanding, I had been totally pushed to the side. I lived like an afterthought in his life.

"That's what friends are for," Rowan replied, smiling at her through the rear view mirror, and then he passed me a look that seemed to say: "That's what I was talking about."

"So many people cut off from me, you know. Lots of his friends stopped coming to visit and even his uncle brought a lawyer to me claiming he had rights to take some of my husband's property. Imagine that!"

"Duncan didn't deserve any of that terrible treatment," Rowan chimed in.

"He didn't!" Camille responded, her voice cracking at the end. "I'm just glad he still has good friends like you, Ro. I wish none of this had happened..." Camille broke out in tears and I watched as Rowan quickly handed her a tissue from his breast pocket.

"It's okay, Camille, nothing lasts forever," he said.

There was a tinge of sadness in his tone and as I glanced at him, perhaps to find meaning in his words, I saw his brows slightly furrowed.

"Thank you, Rowan. I don’t know what I’d do without you and your darling wife."

Not knowing what to reply, having exhausted a lot of ‘thank yous’ and ‘it's fine’, I just smiled at her.

The rest of the drive was quiet afterwards, apart from a few sniffles from Camille, and when I felt my head begin to spin, I cracked the window open to let in some fresh air.

“The AC is on,” Rowan said.

“I know,” I replied with a soft sigh.

We finally reached our destination and Rowan stopped in front of an arched dark alleyway that looked like it led to hell.

Camille stepped out, and then, to my utter disbelief, bent down to talk to Rowan right in front of me, cleavage first. 

I frowned. Hello?

"Sorry to bother again but I might need some help with the things I want to move," she said.

"I thought we were just dropping you off here?" I couldn't help the coldness in my tone.

Camille winced at me, as if she had felt the iciness fan across her face.

"I'm sorry for the disturbance but I just need to move some things down the lobby and someone would get them from there. Is that too much to ask?"

"It's not," Rowan cut in before I could respond, and before I knew what was happening, he was out of the car and walking over to Camille's side.

"I'm sure it won't take long," he said and passed the car keys to me. 

Camille smiled at him with appreciation.

"This way then," she turned around and I watched, stunned, as they both disappeared through the alley.

Inhaling deeply, I looked around the street in an effort to distract myself from thinking about the both of them.

Sighing, I raised my wrist to check the time. It was almost noon, and by the time we'll start for the island, it would be evening already! 

I didn't want us to miss our flight. I didn’t want this one to end up the same as so many times before.

Sighing, I adjusted the chair so I could lay back while I waited for them and then began to play with the keys.

What was taking so long? I whined inwardly and checked the time again.

Just a minute had passed since they left. Ugh! So why did it feel like a lifetime?

I didn't even know that I had fallen asleep until I heard the loud ringing of my phone.

I suddenly jerked awake and pushed my messy hair away from my face. Blinking rapidly, I looked around my environment still waiting for my brain to wake up.

My phone rang again and I picked it from the floor of the car where it must have fallen when I dozed off.

Shit! It's past one o'clock!

I quickly answered Rowan's call.

"Why didn't you pick up earlier?" He snapped.

Wow, hello to you too, honey.

"I was..."

"There's a slight delay. Camille and I ran into some old friends and coincidentally, one of them is hosting his engagement dinner. He's a good friend of mine, I can't miss it for anything."

“Wait, what?” I became fully awake now.

"Rowan, we can't have dinner with them, you'd promised we'll make this trip..."

"Don't be selfish, Maya. I may not see these people ever again and besides, we can still take the trip tomorrow. I'm starting to get pissed at your whining since today. You know I can cancel if I want to right?"

I took in a deep breath and pressed my eyelids close to hold back the tears. I really didn't want to take the trip tomorrow because our time had been far spent. I had hoped that we would get to talk about what was going on with us yet I knew he wasn't bluffing when he said he could cancel. I bet he had more important meetings to attend anyway.

"Camille and I are already leaving, I'll send you the location of the hotel."

"But, why..."

Rowan hung up even before I could ask why they didn't come back to the car so we could all go together. I checked our tickets again and realized our plane had already taken off.

Cursing silently, I moved to the driver's side and pushed in the key.

"Just perfect!" I smiled bitterly as I started the engine.