Warrick needed to clear his head as he left Catherine's bungalow and he knew that a long walk and maybe a long swim might just be the first step to doing that. It was clear from his conversation with Tina on the phone that there was still a small measure of hope for their relationship, but she had been right, he had an attraction to Catherine that he'd never really dealt with and it would continue to be a wedge until he figured things out. The problem was he wanted both of them. There was something exciting about Tina; he really knew so little about her that he knew things would never be boring, however, on the flip side, because he knew so little about her they were still fumbling around trying to figure each other out. That was the sort of thing most people did while they were dating. With Catherine, he'd known her for years, knew the inside stories to what made her tick. The fact that they had been friends that long had put down a deep foundation that he was sure if they ended up together they could withstand the storms of life together. The problem was, he wasn't married to Catherine and she wasn't about to let him use her to cheat on his wife.
He really couldn't see a win-win situation here. In either case he was going to lose; one of them was going to lose too; and the way he saw it, it was his fault for being so damn impulsive.
He wasn't sure why he went to see Catherine, why he had just seized the moment and kissed her. Hell, he hadn't just kissed her he had been ready to take things all the way without any hesitation whatsoever. In his mind he was operating the way he did before he and Tina got serious, before they'd gotten married. He silently cursed himself as he walked slowly down towards the beach. Tina and Catherine had both been right, he needed to figure things out in his head because whoever he chose to be with, he needed to be with completely; none of this half assed crap that he'd been dishing out of late.
The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he hadn't really given his marriage a chance; he'd gone into it with the best of intentions, but his follow through had been sadly lacking. Shouldn't he try and finish what he'd started; at least go to counseling with her and see if things could work? He just didn't know.
He was heading down the path towards the beach expecting to find Nick and Sara; maybe hoping that he could bounce a few things off of Nick about the whole situation. But as he rounded the corner where the path spilled out onto the beach they were no where to be seen, instead he saw Mr. LaRourke's assistant Henna Tatoo. He wasn't particularly interested in striking up a conversation, but before he could change his mind about a walk on the beach, she glanced up and waved, so Warrick plodded along the sand until he reached where she was standing.
Henna stared out at the surf crashing gently into the soft sandy beach. "Mr. Brown, how are you enjoying Fantasize Island?" She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.
"It's beautiful here." Warrick wasn't sure what else to say, he didn't want to be rude and he didn't necessarily want to confess all to a perfect stranger either.
"Yes, it is, but you're thinking about somewhere else, aren't you?" Henna arched her brow gracefully and studied the clouded features of his face.
"Am I that obvious?" Warrick gave up all pretense at that point; perhaps a perfect stranger would be able to give him some impartial advice.
Henna pursed her lips slightly and smiled knowingly. "You have a wedding ring on, but you keep twisting it as if you're not really sure you should be here; or there." She had seen this before, people coming to Fantasize Island because they thought maybe they needed something other than what they already had.
"She filed for divorce." Warrick sounded defeated, not that he hadn't considered filing himself, but he'd always thought that no matter how much you fought, at least you were still talking and there was a chance for you.
"But you don't want one." Henna could see it, there was probably another woman that he had known for a long time and the wife was feeling insecure.
"I really don't know what I want." Warrick felt like he was never going to figure things out.
"But you're not sure you want what it is that's come between you and your wife either." She smiled kindly. "Do you?"
Warrick looked at her for a long moment, incredulous that she seemed to be able to read his mind. Finally he nodded. "Yeah, it would change everything and what it is now is something I'm not sure I'm willing to give up." It was true, he valued friendships like the one he had with Catherine a great deal; to jeopardize it with what would most likely be a fling just wasn't worth it. If it was another time, if he hadn't married Tina, if things with he and Tina didn't end up working out, then maybe a real romance with Catherine would be possible. He just couldn't start things off like this. It wasn't fair to Catherine and it sure as hell wasn't fair to Tina. There would always be a nagging doubt in the back of Catherine's mind is he did leave Tina of his own volition for her if he wouldn't just do the same thing to her sometime in the future.
"So you think that by avoiding the situation it will somehow solve itself." Henna was skilled at honing in on the relationship difficulties people had, and the reality of it was that most people that came to Fantasize Island didn't seem to understand that the best fantasy of all was to want what you already had.
Warrick let out a bitter chuckle. "I guess I do." He didn't really know how this woman was getting down to the root of the problem, or how he was finally starting to get it. "Maybe that's why things with Tina have been so hard; dating wasn't hard, but marriage? No one ever told me it would be this hard."
"You should talk to her." Henna concluded.
Warrick shook his head. "Nah, she told me to figure it out and let her know when I got back...she said if I didn't sign the papers then she'd agree to marriage counseling."
Henna smirked. "Mr. Brown, for as much as you think you know about women, you really don't." She narrowed her gaze at him. "If you know what you want, don't hesitate, that's part of what we try and communicate to our guests here. The value of something that doesn't cost a great deal is never known if you never take the risk." With that she sauntered off along the beach and then back up the path towards the lodge.
Her words swirled in Warrick's mind, she was right, he needed to give Tina a call and try and work things out now. If that meant he left the island early, that's what he would do. As much as it hurt, Catherine was really a missed opportunity and there was nothing he could do about it. That's the way life was, sometimes a door opens for a long time, and sometimes it was a split second. He couldn't go back in time and change that. He needed to remember that there was a reason that he had been attracted to Tina; a reason that he'd married her, and right now he needed to focus on that.