Hurricanes in Paradise (24 page)

“And you said . . . ?”

“I told him not to call me anymore.”

Riley stood back up. “You told him what?”

“I told him that he could never really love me again. Never really trust me again.”

“You told him
what
?”

“Excuse me. I think you just asked me that.”

“Laine Fulton, this has nothing to do with Mitchell. What you mean is
you
can’t love you again. And
you
can’t trust you again. That’s what you’re really saying.”

Laine stood quickly and swiped at her tears. “No, that’s not what I’m really saying.”

Riley stood there unmoving.

Laine broke. “That’s exactly what I’m really saying.” The tears flowed again. “I told him when I got here never to call me again, that it was over. I’m such an idiot. I love him with all my heart. And I realized today that I hadn’t forgiven myself. I hadn’t let go of blaming myself and hating myself for what I did. He forgave me a long time ago. But today, with what you said to me, Riley—it just struck me in my deep place, and something Mitchell said to me a long time ago came back to me, and today, finally, I was able to let go of my own shame.”

Riley walked over and put an arm around Laine. Laine let her head drop onto Riley’s shoulder. “I don’t have a lot of friends, Riley.”

“I’m not surprised.”

Laine laughed softly. “I only needed Mitchell. He was my world; that’s why the affair was so devastating to me. I didn’t know how I could let that happen. But today I realized it. I was so broken inside, Riley. So self-sufficient, so self-absorbed. And when you live your life that way, you open yourself up to anything. And I did. It was my own selfishness that led me into an affair. It was my own distorted sense of importance that allowed my heart to believe the lie that for one brief moment the only person in the world that mattered was me. I broke the heart of the man I love because I believed life was about me.”

“You’ve got to call him, Laine. If you love him, you’ve got to call him.”

“I know. I know, really. And I’m going to. I settled that in my heart this morning. I mean, something happened this morning that I don’t even know what to do with. It was beautiful and powerful and different from anything that has ever happened to me. And . . .” She pulled away from Riley and looked her in the face. “I’m really sorry if I hurt you. I was mean and ugly and all those things. And I’m really sorry.” She was all but blubbering again.

“I’m not really sure what to do with you in this state. You’re not a pretty crier.”

Laine lightly punched her and laughed through her tears. “You need to listen to me. I’m telling you, seriously, you need to watch this Mia girl. It’s just something I feel in my toes. And you need to go out with this Christian guy. I mean it. Go have breakfast with him. I don’t need you.”

“Excuse me.”

“Well, I mean, I don’t like to eat alone, but I’ve got Winnie and Tamyra. Until I can hopefully get Mitchell here,” she said with a smile.

“I’ll think about it. But you don’t worry about Christian or Mia. Mia has been an angel for me this week. Since you have monopolized all my time, I wouldn’t have even gotten through this week without her. And I can go out with Christian anytime. Because, after all, I do work for you for this week, remember.”

“Well, I’m telling you to have breakfast with him.”

“And I’m telling you, you don’t get to boss me around anymore.”

They both stood there and stared at each other. Then the laughter broke free through the heaviness of the moment. “Thank you, Riley. I haven’t told anyone that story.”

“Thank you for trusting me with it. I promise it won’t go anywhere.”

“I know that. I do.”

“I’ll see you in the morning, okay?”

“Okay. See you in the morning.”

Riley listened as the sound of Laine’s heels faded on the stone and wood floor. She pulled out her phone and looked at the time. It was nine thirty. She dialed her girl.

Jeremy answered.

“Hey, is Gabby asleep yet?”

“No, your mother took her out this evening and just dropped her off. I think Gabby OD’d on sweet tea.”

“She knows I don’t let her have sugar this late.”

“Hey, Mom!” Gabby’s voice was vibrant and high-strung.

Riley sat down on the teak bench. “How is my angel girl?”

“I’m great, Mom! Me and Amanda went and had shrimp and grits at Poogan’s Porch, and then Mimi picked me up and we went over to see Granddaddy at the men’s club, where they were smoking cigars and all those things old men like Granddaddy do, and then Mimi brought me back here to Daddy.”

“You had a lot of sweet tea, huh?”

“Mimi said it was the Southern lady’s drink. And you know I want to be a Southern lady, Mommy.”

Riley laughed. “Yes, I’m sure you do.”

“She said she was going to send me to finishing school, but I told her I didn’t need finishing. That you said I was fine just the way I was.”

Riley chuckled again. “And what did she say to that?”

“She said, every Southern girl has a few rough edges. I have no idea what she was talking about, so I said, ‘Okay’ ’cause you’ve always told me to be polite.”

Riley laughed, but she could tell Gabby was squirming. “Well, that was a good girl. Are you enjoying your time with Daddy?”

“Yeah, we’ve had a great time.” She paused. “But I sure wish you were here too, Mommy.”

Riley felt the lump rise. “I know. Me too. But if all goes well with this storm, Daddy can bring you home Saturday and we’ll have Sunday all to ourselves.”

“That sounds great! But, Mommy . . .”

Riley steadied herself for more of her old-soul six-year-old.

“I’ve really got to go pee.”

Riley laughed. “Well, go, go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Love you, Mommy!” The line went dead.

Riley leaned against the small back of the teak bench and stuck her phone in her pocket. A warm breeze swept through the open spaces and fluttered over her. She pulled her arms around her chest and leaned her head back. “Thank You,” she whispered to heaven. “Whatever You did to Laine or for Laine, thank You.”

She was certain heaven responded. Yes, she was absolutely certain.

14

Wednesday morning . . .

“Looks like a storm is headed our way, Miss Riley,” Bart said as he greeted Riley on her arrival.

“So it’s certain?”

“It got upgraded to a hurricane overnight. Weatherman says if it keeps its projected path, it should be here by Saturday afternoon.”

“Well, we will just get everyone here, have a great concert Thursday night, and fly them out as soon as we can.” Riley patted him as she headed to her office.

Mia stood behind the counter, a Starbucks cup next to her as she rapidly thumbed through papers. She looked up, slightly startled. “Good morning, Riley.”

“Good morning. What you got there?”

“Oh, well . . .” She looked down oddly at the papers in her hand. “Just confirmations for our VIPs coming in tomorrow for the concert tomorrow evening.”

“Oh, good. Put them on my desk so I can go over them. That isn’t something we can allow anything to go wrong with.” Riley turned and started toward her office, Laine’s words reverberating in her head.

“So everything went okay with your conversation with Max?” Mia asked as she followed her to the door.

Riley set her briefcase and purse down beside her desk and looked at Mia. She studied her to see if there was any reflection of Laine’s concern. She saw nothing. And why would she? This woman had done her job perfectly since she had arrived. “It went well. Laine called him and sang my praises. He has no idea, so it looks like we will get to work together a little longer.” A smile spread across her face as she considered the absurdity of it all.

“Well . . . that’s wonderful!” Mia said, clapping her hands together animatedly. “I knew you’d be okay. You’re great at this. Absolutely great.”

Riley sat down in her chair, scooted up to her desk, and looked at Mia again. “Thank you. And thank you for yesterday. You know, just for listening. I needed that. A place where I could share what was going on inside of me.”

“We all do, Riley. Glad I could be there.”

“Oh, and our tropical storm has become a hurricane. Not sure yet whether we’ll be in its path, but we’ll need to make sure that we have all our procedures in order to take care of our guests.”

“Oh, I know. Do you think many of them will be flying out?”

“Yes. We’ll probably be bombarded today and tomorrow. But a few will wait to see what category they are qualifying it as.”

“I heard this morning it could be a three or greater.”

Riley shook her head. She obviously needed to watch the news more. “That big?”

“Yes, it sounds pretty daunting.”

“Then, yeah, we may see some leave today, but the majority will probably head out tomorrow.” This was an entirely different beast. The concierge and her office would be swamped with flight changes, questions about refunds, and panicked guests. Sadly, Charleston and its turbulent waters had prepared her for times like these.

“Well, I’ll keep you updated on who is staying, and we’ll make sure all goes well. Let me know if there is anything else.”

“Thank you again.”

Mia closed the door, and Riley leaned her head back against the leather headrest of her chair. Laine wasn’t as good at reading people as she thought. Mia was a really sweet young woman, a great asset to the team, and might end up being a really good friend to Riley long after Laine was gone.

* * *

Riley walked into Mosaic. A stone and glass water wall stood behind the hostess stand like an ocean wave, lit by a blue agate pool below it. Water was everywhere at The Cove, but here it was mixed with modern touches of polished chrome, wenge wood, and limestone, and its light followed the same pattern of storytelling as the rest of The Cove.

Riley took a booth and waited. Just like she had yesterday.

“I told you not to be here,” Laine spouted as she climbed into the other side of the booth and laid her Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses on the edge of the table.

“You don’t like to eat alone, remember?”

Laine smiled. “No, I don’t. So thanks. I haven’t heard from those other two this morning and I was starving. Last night about did me in.”

“Not used to crying on women’s shoulders?” Riley chuckled.

“Not used to crying.”

They walked over to the buffet, and each took a plate from the silver, tiered plate holder. “Did you talk to Mitchell?”

Laine took a slice of watermelon and ignored her.

“Laine,” Riley persisted.

She shook her head. “He’s never home on Tuesday nights. It’s his standing night out with the boys. I’m going to call him tonight. I promise. I’m going to talk to him tonight.”

“You promise.”

“Okay, just because I cried on your shoulder doesn’t mean you can turn into my mother. Plus, I’m still the boss of you for the next three days.” She waited for a crepe to be placed on her plate.

Riley put some mango on the side of her plate. “First of all, I’m too young to be your mother. Little sister, maybe.”

“Little sister, my—”

Riley laughed. “Secondly, you are not, nor have you ever been, the boss of me.”

Laine simply turned and gave her one of those up-and-down looks and puffs of air. Maybe the devil used to wear Prada, but he had officially switched to Dolce & Gabbana.

Their water glasses were filled and orange juice was waiting at their table when they sat down. Their plates were stacked with the best food the Bahamas had to offer. As soon as she picked up her fork, Riley’s phone vibrated on her side. It was a hotel number. “Hello.”

“Riley, it’s Christian.”

Riley felt her heart sputter slightly. “Oh, hey. Everything okay?”

“Just wanted you to know that we are definitely in the path of this storm.”

“It’s him, isn’t it?” Laine mouthed.

Riley raised her right eyebrow as she talked. “Didn’t know it was certain.”