Chapter 3

Emery's ship docked five days later, and I didn't go to the harbor to meet her.

In the past, I'd start preparing three days before she came ashore. I'd put fresh sheets on the bed, pack the fridge with her favorite foods, and stash hangover pills in the car.

This time, I stayed home and went through the ledger. I was scanning the Beauhaven port page into the computer when the front door unlocked.

Emery walked in, dragging her suitcase behind her, still in uniform. The first thing she saw was the ledger open on the table, and her expression cooled immediately.

"Corbin Wilder, are you investigating me?"

"Are you afraid of me investigating?"

She tossed her cap onto the couch. "I just got off the ship, and you're already picking a fight?"

"I'm not picking a fight."

She walked over and pulled the ledger away from me. "Where did you get this?"

"The family copy of the voyage ledger. It's always been kept here."

She glared at me, visibly annoyed. "Don't touch anything from the ship again."

I laughed. "Funny, you didn't seem to worry about touching ship property when you used the supply channels to send Noah Ford a custom accessory set."

That shut her up. A few minutes later, she tried a different angle.

"That set of accessories isn't what you think."

"Then what is it?"

"Noah helped me out in the past. He's had a rough few years, and I just wanted to give him a gift."

"You gave him accessories," I said. "What did you give me?"

Irritation flashed across her face. "Do you really have to compare yourself to him?"

I didn't say anything. She dug through her luggage, pulled out a small bag, and set it on the table.

"I brought you something."

Inside the bag was a refrigerator magnet from a harbor gift shop with the price sticker still on the back. It cost her two dollars.

I put the magnet back in the bag, and Emery's expression darkened further.

"You're not happy with that either?"

"Do you honestly think I should be?"

She rubbed her temples. "Corbin, I'm exhausted from being out at sea. Noah understands shipping, and he understands the pressure I'm under. What's the point of you obsessing over every little detail?"

In her eyes, a full custom set of ocean-wave accessories was just a trivial thing, and six years of marriage apparently wasn't worth much more.

I took out my phone and pulled up the registration records for Tidewater Apartments, holding the screen up for her to see. "You said he's a client. Since when does a client live in an apartment registered under your name with a temporary access pass?"

"Who told you that?"

"The security guard."

She snatched my phone out of my hand and scrolled through the photos, then stopped when she realized I'd already backed everything up.

"What exactly are you trying to do?"

"I want a divorce," I said.

She froze, and then a second later, she laughed. "Corbin, don't try to scare me with divorce. What would you even live on without me?

"You've been out of the workforce for years, with no employable skills whatsoever. Without me, you're nothing."

I looked at her. "You never bothered to ask what I'm holding onto."

She tossed the phone back on the table. "You've been cooped up in this house too long. You haven't seen enough of the world, and you think too simply."

That night, she moved herself into the guest room. At 1:00 am, I could hear her muffled voice through the wall. The door hadn't been shut all the way, and she was keeping her voice low.

"Don't worry, he can't stir up anything serious. He'll throw a fit for a few days and get over it.

"Keep the accessories. Don't send them back. I bought them for you.

"My dad will handle him. He wouldn't dare actually go through with a divorce."

I stood in the hallway without making a sound. So, in her eyes, all of my hurt and all of my grievance was just a passing tantrum she expected to blow over in a few days.