“The conditions changed.”
“That’s all?”
He looked away.
“Jessica told you she wanted to come back to me, didn’t she?”
Richard said nothing.
“She rejected you at the restaurant. Why couldn’t you leave her alone?”
“I thought she was making a mistake.”
“A mistake?”
“Your marriage was struggling. She told me that herself.”
The familiar jealousy returned, but I forced myself to listen.
“I thought I could offer her something better,” he continued.
“She didn’t want it.”
“I know that now.”
“Then what happened on the boat?”
Richard stared through the window.
Finally, he spoke.
Jessica had asked him to take her directly to the hotel dock.
Instead, during the crossing, he continued talking about his properties, his travels, and the life they could have together.
She told him to stop.
He wouldn’t listen.
The water grew rougher. Distracted by their argument, Richard steered toward a shallow area instead of following the marked route.
