“Sure,” she answered, fearing that if they spent more time together, alone in this villa, they would end up doing something she would regret. “Which room’s mine?”
Rob pointed across the living room. “I took the one upstairs, so the one down here’s yours. Just through that hallway.”
“I’ll be out in a minute,” Emily said, and went to change.
The room was beautiful—just as perfectly decorated as the room in the Gregory Hotel she and Ezra didn’t spend the night in together. The sheets felt like silk, and there was a towel in the shape of a bird sitting on the bed. Emily pulled out her phone and turned it on. She saw a new text from Ari. Did you make it to Mexico? Are you okay? And then saw that there were seventeen more. Instead of reading them or listening to Ari’s voice mail, she gave her sister a call.
“What’s going on?” Ari said the minute she picked up the phone. “Are you leaving Ezra?”
Emily took a breath. “No,” she said. “I’m not leaving Ezra.”
“So what are you doing in Mexico?” Ari asked. “Are you at a yoga retreat or something?”
“I’m with Rob,” Emily answered quietly, cringing, waiting for her sister’s disapproval.
“You’re what?!” Ari said. “So you’re not leaving Ezra, but you’re having an affair?”
“No!” Emily said. What could she say to make her sister understand? “I’m performing. When I saw Rob, when I played on stage, it was like I finally became my whole self again. And Ezra basically said he doesn’t want me to change. So when Rob invited me to play with him, I came to see if pursuing music was worth potentially giving up my husband. If it really would feel like I imagined.”
Ari was quiet for a while. “I want you to be happy, Em. But . . . are you sure this is the way to figure this out?”
Emily stared out the window at the ocean waves crashing against the sand. “I don’t know,” she said, honestly. “But I needed some way to figure it out and . . .” She shrugged even though her sister couldn’t see her. “I think Ezra and I needed some time apart. We can’t seem to connect right now. We don’t understand each other. And . . . and he told me I should sacrifice my own happiness for other people’s.”
“Well,” Ari said. “I don’t agree with that.”
“Yeah,” Emily said. “Me neither.” There was a couple on the beach asleep together on the same towel. That used to be her and Ezra.
“Do you think he really meant it?” Ari asked.
The man on the beach rolled slightly closer to the woman.
“I think he did in the moment,” Emily said. “Once he has time to think about it, I hope his feelings will change.”
“Me too,” Ari said. Then after a moment she added, “Where are you staying?”
Emily braced herself for her sister’s disapproval again. “At his villa,” she said. “But in a separate room. With a separate bathroom.” She didn’t tell her sister how she could sense Rob’s presence, even through the closed doors.
“Em,” Ari said. She said it the way she said Emily’s name through their whole lives when Emily made a choice her more-responsible sister wouldn’t have chanced.
“I’ll be fine. It’ll be fine,” Emily said. “He’s sleeping upstairs, and I’m sleeping downstairs.”
“And neither one of you knows how to climb stairs?” Ari said.
“We’re adults,” Emily told her sister, watching the waves crash against the shore.
“I wasn’t questioning your age,” Ari said. “Just your decision.”
Emily knew her sister was trying to look out for her, the way she always did. “I love you,” she told her.
Ari sighed. “I love you, too,” she said. “And if you need me, for any reason, just call. I can get on a flight to Cancun pretty quickly from up here.”
Emily smiled. “Thank you,” she said.
“You ready?” Rob called out.
“One second!” Emily called back.
“I’ve got to go,” she told Ari as she slipped off her clothes, “but I’ll call you soon.”
“Okay,” Ari said. “And really, if you need me, I’ll be there.”
“I know,” Emily answered. “And same goes for you. Always.”
Emily slipped on the green bathing suit she’d gotten in the shopping village and threw on the cover-up and flip-flops she’d found, too. Then she opened the door. “I’m ready,” she said.