“I think we should head back to the hotel,” Mike said, as the four of us walked up the street to the center of the park. He and Cassie continued to hold hands. Allison must have noticed because she reached down and grabbed mine.
“I suppose,” Cassie said, wistfully, “There isn’t anything more we can do at the park?”
I noticed Mike’s wince before he could hide it. I hoped I wasn’t nearly so obvious. I’d spent most of the afternoon torn between excitement over what was happening with me and Allison and obsessing over what might be going on with Jack and my own wife. Now that Mike made going back to the hotel an option, I realized I very much wanted to check in on Emily.
“Unless you want to meet Doc McStuffins, there’s not much else to do,” Mike said.
“They’re building a bunch of new rides,” Allison said, “But right now it’s kind of empty.”
We came back to the area in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater. As if it had been placed there to reinforce Allison’s words, a sign hung on the building advertising a new Mickey and Minnie ride coming in the near future.
“I suppose I could find a way to enjoy some more pool time,” Allison said, giving me a little wink. I knew she was thinking of our drinking game from the night before; all the things we almost did before we got distracted.
Could we have found something else to do and spent more time at Hollywood Studios? Probably. But when you think of all the things that we could accomplish elsewhere, I know why we decided to call it a day.
I texted Emily, “Heading to the hotel.”
“Good,” she wrote back, almost immediately. “Miss you.”
Those two little words, sent back so quickly, made me feel infinitely better about everything.
When we got on the bus to the Poly, surprisingly, we actually split off to our seats in a way that made sense. Allison grabbed Mike’s arm and pulled him to the rear of the bus, leaving me to sit closer to the front with Cassie.
As they passed us, I heard Allison ask her husband, “You having fun?”
I realized that they were debriefing about everything that had happened. That was probably a good practice. I planned to do the same with Emily when we got back. It was one thing to agree to do stuff beforehand, but once things happened, a little check-in couldn’t hurt. I wasn’t an expert on these things, far from it, but it seemed like the only safe path forward for our marriage was one without any secrets.
Since she was sitting with me, I guess Cassie decided we should try to talk, too. “You having fun, Paul?” she asked, parroting Allison, as the bus rumbled down the road. A jangly ukulele solo played quietly in the background.
At first, I thought that the blonde woman was teasing me for not talking. You know, like most people. But Cassie was smiling so hard, it hurt my face. I could tell by the crinkles in her eyes that it was genuine. The beautiful woman truly seemed to be permanently friendly. I imagined it would get old after a while, but in the moment, it felt nice to have her shining down on me. Plus, I thought, afterwards, we could grind her up and cure clinical depression.
I nodded my head. “Disney is nice.”
“I meant with Allison,” Cassie said, “I bet Jack and Emily are having a good time. Your wife is so sweet and super cute. Jack’s into her, I can tell. I don’t mean that in a mean way. Just that you should know. My husband has a way about him.”
I’d already figured that part out. I could tell that Cassie was trying to reassure me, so I let it go. In a strange way, Cassie seemed legitimately happy for Emily and me. Like we’d gotten a new puppy or something.
“I can tell you’re nervous,” Cassie said, “Don’t be. Jack will take super good care of Emily. And I can tell Allison really likes you. It kind of works out perfect, if you think about it. But only if you let yourself relax and enjoy it.”
“You’re right,” I said, meaning it. “Thank you for saying all that. I appreciate it.”
Cassie’s face broke into a wide smile. “I made him say a whole sentence!” she shouted. Allison cheered from the back of the bus. The two women whooped the whole way home like they’d won the Super Bowl.
*
As soon as we got back to the hotel, I realized we were in trouble.
The first raindrop hit my cheek as I got off the bus. Another came soon after. Suddenly, we were caught in a torrential downpour, sprinting to the lobby, desperate to escape as water cascaded down on us like we’d stepped under Niagara Falls.
Fortunately, it wasn’t far. The lobby doors slid behind us, leaving the storm safely outside. The place was filling with people like us from all sides, racing to escape the rain. Like the reverse of a crowd fleeing a sinking ship.
The four of us huddled in a corner of the lobby by a set of small rattan seats, dripping and shivering. The icy cold air conditioning felt particularly insulting now.
“Florida being Florida,” Allison said with a shrug, “It’ll stop in a sec and be back to sunny like nothing happened.”
I texted Emily again to see if she’d gotten caught in the sudden storm, but I didn’t hear back. The worry began to gnaw at my mind once again. I found myself cycling through a bunch of scenarios, but I pushed them back. Whatever was happening, I was sure Emily was fine. Just hopefully not too fine.
Mike, Allison, and Cassie all dripped next to me. We stood there in the lobby like vagrants, our clothes soaked and heavy, unsure of what to do. Despite Allison’s prediction, the weather outside wasn’t slowing at all.
“We might need to rethink our pool plans,” Cassie said.
“We were going to get dinner at Disney Springs tonight,” Mike said.
“I don’t want to go out in this,” Allison said.
“We can figure it out, maybe eat something here instead,” Mike said, “There’s always Kona Cafe. Or take the monorail to another resort maybe?”
My pocket vibrated and I saw I had a two-word text from my wife. “With Jack.”
“That’s perfect,” Cassie exclaimed when I showed the group.
Personally, I was less sure of how flawless it was. I’d been so amped up for an answer to my text, but when I finally got one, it only made me feel worse. My imagination was running wild with what my wife might have meant by the word ‘with.’
“We should head back to our place and meet up with them,” Cassie said, “It’s not that far.”
We all agreed. At that point I would have consented to walk back to Pennsylvania in a blizzard for a meetup with Emily. I told myself I trusted her. I did. But that couldn’t slow my creeping concern.
Mike pulled his backpack off his shoulders and dug in, finding four plastic ponchos. It kind of felt like putting on a condom after we’d already had sex, but I guess it was better not to get wetter than we already were.