He Watched the Stars With Her, So I Signed the Divorce Chapter 02

He Watched the Stars With Her, So I Signed the Divorce Chapter 02

The expedition team’s welcome-back dinner was held in a private dining room at a hotel near the harbor.

By the time I arrived, nearly every seat was taken.

Ryan was in uniform. Claire sat beside him with his expedition jacket draped around her shoulders and his ship-issued communications ID badge clipped to her chest.

I recognized the badge.

Before one of his voyages, I had asked whether he could set one aside for me as a keepsake. He told me ship-issued credentials were strictly controlled and could not be given to family members.

Now the badge was clipped to Claire’s chest, as if everyone had silently accepted that she belonged there.

When Ryan saw me, he pointed to an empty seat near the door.

“Sit over there. The head table is for the people who went out with the expedition. It wouldn’t be appropriate for you to sit here.”

Claire looked up and smiled.

“Emma’s here. Ryan, why aren’t you letting her sit beside you? I can move.”

She said it without making the slightest attempt to get up.

“Don’t make a production out of it,” Ryan said under his breath. “It doesn’t matter where she sits.”

I took the seat near the door and switched on the recorder inside my purse.

The dinner had barely started when someone began teasing them.

“Claire captures life at sea, and Ryan keeps the ship connected. You two really do make the perfect team.”

“We always said you belonged together back when you were dating.”

“Ryan really does take care of Claire. No matter how bad the signal got at sea, Claire never seemed to have any trouble getting him on a video call.”

Ryan merely smiled.

“Knock it off.”

He never looked at me.

Claire lowered her head, the tips of her ears turning pink, as if they had touched on something from her past that she could not openly acknowledge.

The servers began bringing out the food.

Ryan picked out a tender piece from the belly of the fish and placed it on Claire’s plate.

“Have this part. It has fewer bones.”

Then he took the iced cocktail from beside her and replaced it with a mug of ginger tea.

“You know alcohol upsets your stomach.”

I looked down at the platter of raw oysters in front of me.

Ryan knew I had a sensitive stomach and could not handle raw shellfish.

During our first year together, he used to ask the server in advance to bring me a bowl of hot soup at group dinners.

At some point, Claire had become the person whose needs he remembered.

Claire picked up her mug and walked over to me.

“Emma, I’ve actually been meaning to apologize.”

“Ryan gets lonely when he’s at sea. Sometimes I call him because I worry about how much pressure he’s under.”

Several people immediately joined in.

“Spouses have to understand the demands of the job. Most people have no idea what that kind of isolation and responsibility does to someone.”

“Emma, don’t take it personally. Claire has been close to him for years. It’s not like she’s some random woman.”

“Ryan has always been a good husband, hasn’t he? Don’t let something this small turn into a marital fight.”

I looked at their self-righteous faces and almost laughed.

“So thirty-one video calls in one month, with even the shortest lasting forty minutes, were all about helping him manage job stress?”

The room fell silent.

Ryan’s expression darkened.

“Emma, did you really have to bring this up here?”

Claire’s eyes immediately filled with tears.

“Emma, you’ve misunderstood. I’m making a documentary, so I need accurate information about life aboard the ship. Ryan only helps me fact-check the technical details.”

I took my phone out of my purse and unlocked it.

“Did fact-checking require him to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to you at two in the morning?”

Her expression slipped for a fraction of a second before turning soft again.

“I was in a bad place that night. He was afraid I might hurt myself.”

Ryan quickly stepped in.

“Emma, Claire really was struggling last year. I couldn’t just stand by and watch a friend fall apart.”

The word friend had become the perfect excuse for every boundary they crossed.

I said nothing more and set down my mug.

I had killed the mood, and no one tried to joke with me again for the rest of the dinner.

Ryan kept glancing my way, irritation written all over his face.

Partway through the evening, I went to the restroom. Claire followed me inside.

She stood in front of the mirror touching up her lipstick, a faint smile on her face.

“You’re recording this, aren’t you?”

I did not deny it.

She twisted the lipstick closed.

“You really don’t need to treat me like a threat. If Ryan actually cared about you, nothing I said could change that.”

I washed my hands as water ran over my fingers.

“You know I’m always the first person he contacts when he’s at sea.”

“He tells me about the night sky at sea, the storms, and when he’ll be back in port before you hear about any of it.”

I turned off the faucet.

“You know he’s married.”

Claire met my eyes through the mirror.

“I do. That’s why I never tried to take him from you. He’s the one who never let go of the past.”

She pulled out her phone and showed me a screenshot.

Ryan: [She hasn’t been texting lately. It’s been nice and quiet.]

The message was dated the same day I stopped sending him even a period.

Claire spoke softly.

“What men fear most isn’t a woman making a scene. It’s a woman with nothing to offer who still refuses to bow out gracefully.”

I dried my hands.

“You can repeat that in front of the judge.”

Her expression changed.

When I left the restroom, Ryan was waiting at the far end of the hallway.

He stared at me with open irritation.

“The second you showed up, you made everyone uncomfortable. Emma, can you stop airing our marriage problems in public?”

I looked up at him.

“Tomorrow, I’m going to stay with my parents.”

His brow tightened, and impatience filled his eyes.

“I only have a few days of leave. How long are you planning to keep this up?”

I walked past him and headed back toward the private dining room.

Inside my purse, the recorder’s red light was still on.