Hurricanes in Paradise (13 page)

* * *

The umbrella had been covering them for a large portion of the afternoon. Winnie wasn’t sure when she had fallen asleep, but two hours of slumber had overtaken her. She looked up to find Tamyra gone. She scanned the pool but didn’t see her. Her snoring had probably sent the child running.

“Want a bottle of water?” Tamyra asked, extending one from her hand.

Winnie looked up, feeling a sense of relief at the young woman’s presence. She took the bottle from her. “Thank you. I figured I had snored you out of here.”

“You tried,” she said with a smile. “But I just nudged you a little.”

Winnie unscrewed the cap and took a long gulp. She shifted her body up on the cushion and looked across the pool. A young woman whose booty was toward the sun caught her attention. “I promise you that in this life there are two places I will never allow strings: in between my toes and up the crack of my behind.”

Tamyra covered her mouth as she snorted. “Where do you come up with this stuff?” she choked.

Winnie giggled. “Baby girl, there’s a lot more where that came from.” She looked around to the other side of the pool and almost dropped her water. “Oh, my side. Oh, my side. I’m going to kill them. I promise if the good Lord brings the sun up tomorrow, I’m going to beat the living tar out of them.”

Tamyra looked up. “What is it?”

Winnie stood, frantically grabbing for her towel and stuffing her things into her bag. “I knew it wasn’t about getting me away. I knew it. They can’t leave well enough alone, can they? They’ve got to get their little mangy hands in everything I do. Well, I’m not going to have it, I tell you. I’m not going to have it.”

Tamyra stood and reached for her. “Winnie, what is it? What happened?”

Winnie darted her eyes upward and over to the side of the pool. “That’s what happened.”

Tamyra turned. “What?”

“That. Him. The old man in the lime green bathing trunks.”

“You know him?”

Winnie swung her bag across her shoulder and slipped her feet into her shoes. “He is my neighbor and he has the hots for me. I know it. He lost his wife a couple of years ago, and every time he goes to the mailbox or sees me sitting on my front porch, he smiles at me.”

Tamyra covered her mouth.

“Go ahead; laugh. But I tell you he would have me hosting his dinner parties, given half a chance.”

“And you’ve gathered this because he smiles at you.”

Winnie furrowed her brow. “It’s the way. It’s always in the way, Tamyra. Their entire face smiles. Not just their lips. Their entire face. I’m seventy-two years old. Trust me, I know when a man has a thing for me.” She turned and started toward the walkway leading back to The Cove.

She heard Tamyra behind her in a few moments.

“Sorry, baby girl. I just . . . well, I’m just very angry right now. My kids are little master manipulators. And I’m going to kick me some Harris booty when I get home.”

“I’m sorry this has upset you so much, Winnie.”

She turned to look at Tamyra. This morning the poor girl was a fright and now she was the one trying to give comfort. She reached for her arm. “It’s okay, baby girl. I know I’m a lot of woman. I’ll be okay. Don’t worry about me. I’ll just have to be very careful this week to avoid Mr. Albert Wilson. Because he is not touching this,” she said as her hand displayed her body like Vanna displays a new puzzle.

“Would you like to have dinner?” Tamyra asked.

“I’ll call you, baby girl. Let me pull myself together. I’m not sure what I’m going to do next.” And she wasn’t. What did you do with fear?

7

Sunday evening . . .

Riley collapsed into her office chair and turned on the sound machine that sat on the edge of her desk. She kept it on “waves.” It fit the setting. She leaned her elbows on the edge of her desk and dropped her head down, letting her hands knead the knots in the back of her neck. What a day. Between Laine and the phone call from Max, she’d had to fight against old fears and old haunts harder than she had in a while.

“You okay?” Mia’s voice came from the doorway.

Riley looked up. “Yeah. Long day.”

“Sorry to hear that. Did you get the contract taken care of?”

“Yes, I got it over to legal.”

“Anything I can do for you?”

“Um, yes, actually there is. Could you make reservations for me and Ms. Fulton for six at . . . the Bahamian Club. Yeah, let’s do the Bahamian Club.” She rubbed her temples. “Sorry. I’m so brain-dead, I can’t even think.”

“Sure. Anything else?”

“Yeah, could you ask them to move a little quicker between courses? I’d love to catch at least a little of Gabby’s recital.”

“Sure. I’d be glad to. Again, I’m so sorry about the misunderstanding today.”

Riley shook her head. “No, it’s okay. It was my fault. I didn’t give myself enough time.”

“Well, we’re a team, remember, and it’s my responsibility to help, not hinder.”

Riley gave her a smile. “Thank you, Mia. I really need a friend out here.”

Mia’s smile broadened across her face. “Me too. So no worries. We’ll have each other’s back.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll make that reservation now.”

“Sounds good. I’m going to make sure our other guests are doing okay and then sneak away and see Gabby before I have to meet Laine for dinner.”

“Well, your other two priorities actually made it out to the pool today.”

“They did?”

“Yes, together. But Winnie didn’t make it to her dolphins excursion.”

Riley leaned back in her chair and chuckled. “I didn’t think she would. But at least they were together. That’s a good thing. For both of them, I’m sure.”

“Also, Tamyra was looking for you this morning.”

“Really? She okay?”

“Looked slightly distraught, but I knew you were meeting Laine, and I probably didn’t need to interrupt you.”

“Sure. Yeah, you’re right. I left to go get the contract to legal and you would have thought I had left her for half the day.” She stood up from her desk. “I’ll go make sure Tamyra is okay. Sounds like if Winnie had her, she was well taken care of.”

“Well, try to enjoy yourself tonight,” Mia offered as she walked out the door.

“I’m thinking a trip to the gynecologist for a yearly would be more pleasant,” she whispered to herself, and with that she threw her head back onto the desk.

* * *

Riley knocked on Tamyra’s door but there was no answer. She walked back down the hall and pushed the Down button for the elevator. As the doors opened, Tamyra stepped off. “Hey, just the woman I was looking for.”

Tamyra’s eyes widened. “Yeah?”

Riley watched the doors close behind her. “Yeah, Mia said you came by this morning and seemed kind of upset. Everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah . . . everything’s fine.”

Riley studied her, noting the hesitation. “You’re sure? I’m willing to help with anything.”

Tamyra shook her head adamantly. “No, everything’s fine. She must have misunderstood. I was just coming to see if you knew how I could reach Winnie.”

“Oh, well, good. Mia said you found her and y’all spent time at the pool.”

Tamyra smiled. “We did. Had a nice afternoon.”

Riley patted her arm. “I’m glad. I was hoping you could enjoy it.”

“We really did. Thank you for thinking of me.”

“Well, enjoy your evening.”

Tamyra walked past her. “Yeah, you too.”

Riley watched her walk away and pushed the Down button again. Even though she knew not one word of what Tamyra had just said was true.

* * *

Tamyra turned the handle and walked into her room. She didn’t know why she had lied. There was nothing about Riley that made her feel defensive. She was just as sure now as she was this morning that she could have told Riley what happened and she would have made sure she was taken care of. But something held her back. To reveal one part of her story might mean she would have to reveal everything. And she didn’t want a stranger—even if she seemed like a sweet one—to know all about her. She believed the fact that Riley wasn’t there this morning was just confirmation that she didn’t need to tell her. She had one more week to decide if and when she would tell anyone the whole truth. But she was certain it wasn’t going to be today with Riley Sinclair.

* * *

Gabby’s face lit up when she spotted Riley. She and Jeremy were sitting at a round table at Carmine’s. “Hey, angel girl, how’s your day been?” Riley asked, scooping Gabby up in her arms.

Gabby smacked a wet kiss on the side of her face. “It’s been awesome, Mommy! Me and Daddy went shopping, and I took him to see the Dig.” Her voice was full of drama as she climbed back into her chair.

“You did? Well, how fun was that?” Her eyes shot to Jeremy’s.

He smiled. “Very fun. I didn’t know the Atlantis had so much to offer. We had an awesome day, didn’t we, Gabs?”

Gabby nodded, then took a long gulp of her drink. She flicked the straw from her mouth. “We saw sharks and jellyfish.”

“Pretty amazing, isn’t it?” she said.

Jeremy turned his body in his chair so he could face Riley. “They said it’s the largest open-air marine habitat.”

“It’s supposed to give the guests an idea of what Atlantis was like.”

“Works for me,” Gabby said with a shrug of her shoulders.

Jeremy and Riley laughed. The waiter brought a huge bowl of spaghetti and garlic bread and set it in front of them. Then he scooped some onto each of their plates. Gabby asked for extra Parmesan cheese and he indulged her until Riley gave him a nod. “You can eat all of that and then dance?”

She nodded as noodles hung from her mouth.

“Do you have everything already in the car?” Riley asked, going light on the spaghetti, knowing Laine was liable to order a feast.

Jeremy twirled his spaghetti. “Yeah, we’ve got her all packed up. We have a ten o’clock flight.” He took a bite.

“You didn’t want to just spend the night? I could get you a room. I have connections, you know.” She smiled.

“I have a meeting tomorrow I need to be at and it’s pretty early. That’s why I needed to get us back.”

Riley took a bite of her dinner and then turned toward Gabby. “Honey, I have some kind-of-yucky news.”

Gabby’s eyes widened and she put her fork down.

“I might not make it to your recital tonight.” She started back in quickly. “But I’m going to try really hard and I hope that I can at least catch the last half.”

Gabby twisted her lips and crinkled her nose. “Business?”

Riley let a puff of air come out of her. “Yep, business. But with Daddy being here, I felt it was okay to go ahead and take care of it.”

Gabby reached over and put her hand on top of Riley’s. “No problem, Mommy. I’ll have lots more.”

Riley felt the lump all but block her airflow. “Yes, you will. Lots more. But I still promise that I’m going to try to make this one tonight. I’m doing everything I can.”

Gabby moved her hand and picked her fork back up. “At least we got to have dinner together.”

Riley nodded and looked at Jeremy. They hadn’t had dinner like this in a very long time. “Well, you just know, if I don’t get there, that I want you to have a great time with your daddy.”

Gabby smiled. “We will. It’s going to be awesome! And I’ll get to see Amanda.”

Riley couldn’t help but smile at the sincerity of Gabby’s pure love for Amanda. “I know. She’ll love to see you. And so will Mimi and Granddaddy. I talked to Granddaddy today and he said they can’t wait!”

“They’re all looking forward to seeing her,” Jeremy said, then reached his hand over and placed it on top of Riley’s. “She’ll be fine.”

Riley couldn’t speak. The lump had taken over. She nodded instead. She glanced at her watch and knew she had to go. Kissing Gabby, she left without a long good-bye.

* * *