Hurricanes in Paradise (27 page)

“Yeah, yeah. Fine, fine.”

He nodded, though she could tell he wasn’t convinced.

She stuck her fake nail in her mouth and chewed, making a mental note that when she gave her crown away, everything fake about her was coming off. She dropped her hands when Laine rounded the corner.

“Hi,” Laine said.

“Hey, have you heard from Riley?”

Laine smirked.

“She’s going on a date?”

“Gave her no choice.”

Tamyra smiled. “You’re evil.”

“I’m persistent.”

Tamyra nudged her. “I’m evil too,” she said, throwing her hands up to her mouth and giggling.

Laine’s brow furrowed. “Oh, my word, what have you done?”

“I have a dinner companion for Winnie waiting at the restaurant, and it’s not me and it’s not you.” She pointed at them both as she spoke.

“She will kill you.”

“She’ll be in public. She’s a principal. She won’t make a scene.”

“She’s Winnie. She always makes a scene.”

Tamyra cleared her throat when she caught sight of Winnie rounding the corner from the elevators. Her outfit illuminated the hallway.

“Well, hello to my lovely dinner dates this evening. I hear steak is on the menu tonight.” Winnie laughed as they headed out into the night air to walk over to the Royal Towers.

“You’re on the menu,” Laine whispered.

Tamyra nudged her.

Laine got in her ear. “Did you ask Albert if he likes Porter Wagoner?”

Tamyra’s eyes bulged out at her.

“Well, I know you Southerners and the Grand Ole Opry. You might have wanted to make sure he was into all of that.”

“Where’s Riley?” Winnie asked.

“She’s got a date,” Tamyra blurted out spastically. She had to get control of her nerves.

“Good for her. I’m glad she decided to do that. She needs to get out like that. She’s young and beautiful. And . . . well, that’s just wonderful.”

“I think dating is good for people who aren’t married,” Laine chided.

Winnie turned toward her. “Not everyone has the need to date, Laine.”

Tamyra caught her message loud and clear, and beads of sweat formed at the top of her lip. She exhaled deeply when they walked through the doors of the steak house. Deep wood paneling and beams created an immediate coziness in the atmosphere. Her eyes darted around the room until they caught sight of Albert’s white head of hair. Laine gave her name to the hostess, and the three of them followed her across the gold, cream, and gray modern-designed carpet, straight toward his table. A gasp came from Winnie, but Tamyra placed a hand in the small of her back and all but pushed her toward him.

She leaned over and whispered in her ear. “He’s here to have dinner with you and you don’t need to cause a scene.”

Winnie turned around quickly, a fire of Southern wrath blazing in her eyes. Tamyra flinched slightly but knew she couldn’t show any sign of weakness with this little fireball. She grabbed her by the shoulders and hoisted her back around. Laine just kept walking past the table to one on the other side of the room. Winnie went to follow her, but Tamyra grabbed her arm and pulled her to a halt right in front of the deep wood table with its crisp white plates and debonair guest.

Albert stood beside the table. “Wonderful to see you, Winnie. You look beautiful.”

Winnie tugged at the waist of her purple jacket, her hands clasping the rhinestone trim. If it wouldn’t have given away her plan, Tamyra might have encouraged Winnie to go with a little less vibrant color and a little less flash. But she knew Winnie liked her jewel tones, and besides, Winnie without rhinestones was like the Ryman without Little Jimmy Dickens. Winnie’s hand reached up and patted the purple and royal blue scarf that was tied around her neck. “Good evening.”

“I know you didn’t know about this dinner. So I completely understand if you’re not comfortable,” he said, his hand resting on the back of a wood and leather chair. Tamyra watched as his hand nervously patted the gold leather.

“That’s very kind of you. And actually—”

Tamyra interrupted, placing her hands on Winnie’s shoulders. “Actually, she is tired of our company and needs someone educated and entertaining to give her some decent conversation. We can be simple and boring and very one-dimensional. None of which Miss Winnie is.”

His face resonated his agreement. The flush on his cheeks rose with his smile. “That she is not.”

Winnie brushed Tamyra’s hands off her shoulders. “Well, thanks to both of you for knowing so much about me, but I—”

Tamyra leaned over in her ear. “Be nice. You’re a Southern lady, remember. It’s just dinner.”

She heard Winnie sigh. “Albert, I would be delighted to have dinner with you. Tamyra is right; I’m tired of
simple
and
boring
people.” She looked over her shoulder and crinkled her nose like a schoolgirl at Tamyra.

Tamyra patted her back and smiled a huge and satisfied smile. “Enjoy your evening.” She gave no time for retractions. She was at her table in less than four long strides.

“You’re worse than me. At least Riley knew what she was doing,” Laine said with a laugh as Tamyra jerked her napkin from the table and patted it multiple times in her lap, her back toward Winnie.

“What is he doing?”

“Pulling out her chair.”

“Is she sitting?”

Laine leaned onto the table. “Do you want to change seats?”

“Just answer the question,” Tamyra snapped.

“Ooh, beauty pageant girl isn’t all bea-u-ti-ful,” Laine quipped.

“Sorry, I’ve just never done anything like this before.” She picked up her water and didn’t quit drinking until the ice jingled at the bottom of the cup.

“It’s two people on a date, Tamyra. It’s happened before.”

She swiped at her mouth with the back of her hand.

“You’re falling apart. Think I could get you to eat meat tonight?”

Her quirky grin made Tamyra laugh. She could only hope she’d still be laughing when Winnie got through with her.

* * *

Winnie felt the tightness in her chest slowly make its way around to her back. She was certain her bra strap would pop when the tension finally released. If Tamyra hadn’t only recently decided she was going to actually live, Winnie might well have killed her. She took the crisp white napkin from the table and laid it across her pants. The white all but bounced off the purple denim. She lifted her hands and ran them along the straight edges of the stark white plate in front of her and finally willed herself to lift her eyes to Albert.

“You really don’t have to stay, Winnie. I completely understand. Tamyra was pretty persistent and I don’t want you to be uncomfortable in any way.”

She could see the sincerity in his clear blue eyes. She almost felt sorry for him. “No, no.” She flapped her hand at him. “It’s fine. Really. We’ve got to eat, don’t we?” she said with a nervous chuckle.

His smile expanded across his face, accentuating the deep wrinkles around the corners of his eyes. Despite a few on his forehead, he still held a strong sense of his youth. “Well, good, then. Let’s order big ol’ steaks, because I’m starving.”

The vise around her released a portion of its pressure, and she raised her menu. “That would be great.”

By the time the waiter brought their drinks and took their order, they had settled into a conversation about children, the neighborhood, and the pesky yapping poodle who lived two doors down that Winnie had threatened to neuter on multiple occasions. “I told him all his manly wiles would be gone if he didn’t put a lid on it.” She chuckled.

She watched as Albert cut into his steak, laughed at her jokes, and made conversation easy. “I’m glad you took this vacation, Winnie. I know it’s been a rough season for you.”

“I’m sure it’s been a rough season for you, too. Death is a painful process. Especially when you loved someone so long like we did.”

“Yeah, doesn’t go away, that’s for sure.”

“No, I think about Sam every day.”

“Yeah, can’t say there’s a day that goes by that Judith doesn’t enter my thoughts. But that is the beauty of love, isn’t it? And the depth of the pain is a reflection of the depth of the love, I suppose.”

She set her fork down and smiled. “That’s a good way of putting it.” It was so nice to be with someone who understood. She could tell he did. He had loved Judith so deeply. She could see that. And that was the beauty of that kind of love. You could just hold on to it. You didn’t have to let go.

Albert cut into another piece of his steak. “I know Sam would be really proud of you. For moving on with your life and living again.”

Her smile dropped and her voice thinned. “What do you mean ‘moving on with my life’?”

His head snapped up. “I just meant—”

“I don’t know what you think. But I have no intentions of
moving on
—” she added a slight snap of the head as she emphasized her words—“with my life with you, if that is what you were insinuating.”

“I wasn’t insinuating anything, Winnie. I was . . .”

She picked up her napkin and wiped her mouth, then slapped the napkin beside her plate and scooted her chair back with one quick motion. “Tamyra, my side. You and Tamyra were in cahoots with this entire dinner. It was probably as much your idea as it was hers to take advantage of a grieving widow.” She stood up abruptly, her words breaking through the soft Muzak and offering entertainment of another sort to those in the room. “You will not take advantage of this grieving widow. And you should be ashamed of yourself. Your wife would roll over in her grave thinking you were taking vacations just to hit on women like me.”

She snatched her purse from the edge of the chair. It caught hold of the side and wouldn’t release with her tug. She jerked back slightly and tugged it again. This time the chair flew over on its back and her purse fell right underneath the weight of it. This wasn’t quite the exit she wanted. Albert was up and out of his seat, trying desperately to help her. She pushed away his hands and snatched the edge of the chair, finally unhooking the strap of her purse. As she rose, her eyes caught Tamyra’s, which were as wide as a hoot owl’s, from her table across the room. Winnie furrowed her brow at her, gathered her Southern dignity, and stood. Her scarf had slid around to the back of her neck, all but choking her. She jerked it around quickly and headed for the door. By the time she made it into the hallway, she was running with more gusto than her thighs and calves had seen or felt in the last twenty years. They’d all be hating each other by morning. Just like she hated this entire trip.

* * *

“Hungry?” Christian asked as they walked out of the meeting room in the Atlantis Conference Center, a one-billion-dollar expansion that had added two hundred thousand square feet of meeting space for everything from trade shows to board meetings.

“Haven’t met a French fry that wasn’t my friend,” Riley said as she walked through the large main hall.

He laughed. “My kind of girl.”

“Hey, you two, where you headed?” Mia asked as she came up beside them.

Riley breathed in hard. She was not ready to say she was about to go on a date.

Christian saved her. “Just going to grab a quick bite.”

“Oh, I’m starved,” she said, throwing her head back in her animated way. “Mind if I join you?”

Riley saw a possible moment of salvation. “That would be—”

Christian jumped in. “You know, I’ve been trying to steal this woman away for dinner for almost a week now. So if you don’t mind, maybe we can all hang out another night.”

Riley glanced at Mia. Her eyes flickered momentarily. Riley was sure it wasn’t anger. Momentary surprise, she assured herself. But just as quickly as the look came, it was gone. Mia patted Christian’s arm and nodded at Riley. “You take care of this special lady; she’s had a difficult couple of days. She deserves a night out on the town.”

Riley smiled. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, thanks, Mia. That’s exactly what I’m going to give her.”

Riley couldn’t help it. “Everything good for tomorrow night? All the rooms ready to go?”

“Absolutely. I took care of everything. They will be treated like royalty.”

“Let’s meet in the morning at eight and go over everything just to make sure we’re on the same page and to make sure all the guests that are heading out are taken care of.”

Mia placed a hand on her hip and smiled coyly. “You don’t trust me, Riley.”

Riley smiled. “I absolutely trust you. Just can’t risk anything for my own sake.”

Mia swatted her hand. “I’ll see you at eight. Now, no more thinking about work. Christian, make her not talk about work. It’s all she does.”

Christian grabbed Riley by the arm and pulled her toward the exit. “Rest assured, we will not talk about work.”

Riley’s stomach fluttered at his touch. And in that moment she was very grateful that Mia was not joining them for dinner.

* * *