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“I appreciate you meeting me for breakfast, Brad.”
“Sure thing, Ron.”
The two men sat under a large canopy to shelter themselves from the rare showers that pelted the island from large, grey clouds. The static sound of droplets assaulting the patio pavement enveloped them in a cocoon.
“How are you and Alice doing?”
Brad smiled and shrugged.
“We’re actually doing well. I um...”
His fingers played with the napkin next to his plate.
“I imagine you heard about what happened between me and...”
Ron smiled.
“My wife? Yes. She told me. And don’t worry about it. I encouraged you, remember?”
“Yeah, I do. So, I kinda took a page from you and Jessica’s playbook. I just thought about how you were honest with each other about her activities.”
Ron swallowed hard.
Not really, he thought.
“And I just couldn’t deal with my nagging conscience every time I looked at my wife. So, I told her.”
Ron’s eyes widened.
“You told her?”
Brad glanced up from his napkin and nodded. Ron leaned back in his seat. His breathing stopped, and his hands gripped the chair. A gust of wind blew across the patio, sending a mist into their dry space. It made Ron question if the moisture on his forehead came from the rain or a cold sweat emerging on his skin.
“What did she say?”
“Well, she was angry for a day. Didn’t talk to me. But, after thinking about it, she came back and said she would have done the same thing if she had a pecker.”
Ron gasped, and the tension in his body loosened.
“Then she wanted to know details. She’s very taken with your wife. Sometimes, I think she might be bisexual, but she would never admit that. She thinks gay people are, well, you know.”
Ron’s eyes stared off into space, but he huffed out a brief chuckle.
“Yeah, I know.”
“I’m glad we met. I needed to get that off my chest. But don’t worry. Alice said she wouldn’t tell anyone.”
Thank God, Ron thought.
“Was there anything you wanted to talk about?”
Ron shook himself from his stupor and sat up.
“Yeah, actually there is.”
He rubbed the back of his neck and blinked at his plate.
“I’m sure it won’t surprise you to hear that Jessica continues to get into trouble.”
Brad grinned.
“No, it wouldn’t. What else did she do?”
“She messed with the wrong couple.”
Brad’s lips parted as he lifted his hand to his mouth.
“Not the Muslims.”
“She knows how to play with fire.”
“She really does. Ron, you both might be in danger. I heard the wife comes from a radical extremist group within their religion. The kind you hear about on the news.”
He raised his eyebrows and stared at Ron.
“You know the kind?”
“Yeah, I do. And I’m not surprised.”
“So, what are you going to do?”
“Well, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
Ron leaned forward, hunching over his plate, and folded his hands above it. His forehead rested against his thumbs, and he took a deep breath before looking up at Brad.
“I need to get a message to Rayan, the husband. And I need you to help me.”
