Hurricanes in Paradise (31 page)

* * *

Tamyra pulled the handle of the slot machine mindlessly. In the span of an hour she had lost five hundred dollars. A smarter gambler would have changed machines. But she wasn’t smart at anything. She deserved the loss. And with each coin that was sucked into the bottomless abyss, her thoughts of worthlessness were affirmed.

She swatted at her cheeks. Tears had been falling since last night. And the casino noise hadn’t distracted them. Of course there weren’t many people at ten o’clock in the morning to pay much attention to a woman crying on a barstool in front of a slot machine. An elderly woman had looked at her oddly as she had passed through on her way to breakfast. Breakfast. Tamyra felt her stomach growl. She had hardly put a fork in her food last night when Winnie had split, and she hadn’t eaten anything since. But years of beauty pageants had taught her how to deprive herself despite even the sharpest hunger pains, so she didn’t offer it much condolence either.

“There you are.” Winnie’s voice penetrated the few clanging bells already ringing in the casino. “I’ve been looking all over for you this morning. And—Lord have mercy,” she said, grabbing the cup that held a couple fleeting coins. “How many were in here?”

Tamyra pulled the handle again. “Lots.”

Winnie waved her hand in front of Tamyra’s face. “You have officially OD’d on a slot machine. I knew those things weren’t good for you, and you are proof. Now get your hind end out of this chair and get to the gettin’.” She pulled at Tamyra’s sleeve until she had her out of the chair.

Tamyra looked at her little friend. “I’m so sorry, Winnie.” Tears fell freely again. “I should have never done what I did last night.”

Winnie swatted at her and pulled her down the hall. “No, you shouldn’t have. But it’s okay. It was good for me on so many levels, but obviously bad for you on . . .” She paused and studied Tamyra again. She was still in her same clothes from last night. “. . . on sooo many levels. Have you been in here all night?”

Tamyra rubbed her swollen eyes. “No, I tried to sleep but I couldn’t. I finally came down here this morning and just thought I’d do something mindless.”

“Well, you’ve let this get way out of hand.”

“But I do that a lot. Get in the way. Insert myself. Voice my opinion. That is probably why Jason hit me.”

Winnie released her arm quickly and was in her face—well, close to her chest—before she could even take a step back. “If I ever hear you say something like that again, I’ll whup you myself. That is the most ridiculous, inane thing I have ever heard. No woman ever deserves to be hit. Do you hear me?” Her hands were wrapped around Tamyra’s arms now. “Do you hear me?”

“Yes, yes. I hear you.”

“You are a beautiful, talented, engaging, and passionate woman. A man should never stifle that. He should only enhance it. If a man shows up trying to shut you down, it’s because he isn’t secure himself. A secure man wants a real woman. That kind of woman makes him alive. Brings out the best in him. A man that is threatened by a strong woman is no man at all. And don’t you ever forget that.”

Tamyra wrapped Winnie in her arms, all but lifting her off the ground. “Thank you. I was so afraid you would never speak to me again.”

“I can’t breathe,” Winnie muttered.

Tamyra released her and couldn’t hide her laughter.

Once Winnie caught her breath, she shook a finger at her. “You are afraid of too much.”

Tamyra caught something frightening in Winnie’s eyes. “What?”

“Go get your bathing suit on.”

“Winnie, you know I don’t—”

“I said, go get your bathing suit on. You tortured me last night. Granted, it was probably for the best, but this will be for the best too. Now, go. Don’t stop. Don’t talk. Don’t say a word. Go get your bathing suit on and go get it on now. Meet me at the elevators in thirty minutes. I’ll have Riley and Laine, and you, my dear, are about to get over some fears.”

Spidery veins of fear began at the base of her neck, until she felt as if they would poke her eyeballs out of her head. “I can’t. . . .”

Winnie spread her feet apart and put her pudgy hands on her cushy hips. “You will, and you will now. I won’t debate. Now go.”

If it hadn’t been for Winnie all but dragging her to her room, she would have never been able to do it. But for such a petite sister, Winnie could wield one big stick.

18

Thursday morning . . .

The doors to the elevators opened and Riley stepped off. Mr. Connick and his entourage were safely in their rooms and everything had run smoothly. An on-time arrival, a smooth delivery, and room service was scheduled to arrive promptly at noon. It was only ten thirty, so the other VIPs from Miami wouldn’t be arriving for another two hours. Riley all but ran smack-dab into Laine as she rounded the corner dressed in a blue and white Ralph Lauren knit bathing suit. The halter top tied around her neck, and her white terry cloth pants had a matching polo player in blue on the edge of her waist.

“Well, finally. Go get your bathing suit on. You’re needed at Aquaventure.”

Riley kept walking, and Laine joined in step. “Laine, this is the busiest day of the week. I just checked Harry Connick Jr. into his room, I have twenty VIPs arriving here in two hours, and I have to make sure everything runs perfectly for them. I do not have time to go to Aquaventure.”

“Are you still my host?”

Riley turned and gave her a quick glare. “Do not even try that today.”

“I will tell. I will call Max right now and tell him you are not doing your job.”

She watched as Laine reached for her phone. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“I got you a date with Christian last night; don’t tell me what I would and wouldn’t do. You are needed at Aquaventure for an intervention.”

“You are needed in a program for ‘pains in the butts.’”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

“One hour, Laine. One hour is all I have. If anything goes wrong, I really will lose my job. Honestly.”

Laine wrapped an arm around her as they both continued to walk. “Sweet little Southern belle. I promise you, if you lose your job, I’ll give you a new one. You can be my assistant.” She smirked.

Riley pointed a finger at her. “One hour.”

Laine stopped in the middle of the corridor and raised her hands in mock surrender. “I still want to hear how that date went.” A smile broke out across her lips.

“And for the record, you’re not wearing black.” Riley turned before Laine could say a word, but she knew she was scanning her attire rapidly at this point, and it allowed her a small taste of satisfaction.

* * *

Mia was standing over the fax machine reading a piece of paper when Riley walked into the lobby. “I’ll be back in one hour, Mia. Please make sure everything goes smoothly. No one should be here before I get back.”

“You’re leaving for an hour?”

“It’s Laine. She’s demanding that I go with her somewhere.”

“You couldn’t tell her what a busy day this was?”

Riley walked into her office and rummaged through her bottom desk drawer. “I did. I told her everything I could possibly tell her. I will be one hour. I promise. Just one hour,” she called. Her hands caught her black bathing suit and she stuck it in her bag. She walked back to the door.

Mia looked hesitant. But no more hesitant than Riley felt inside. “Can I reach you by phone?”

“No, not for the next hour. I promise. One hour and I’ll be back.”

* * *

Riley found the ladies waiting for her at the entrance to Aquaventure. For an African American, Tamyra was as white as Riley had ever seen her. “What are y’all doing to her? She’s going to have a heart attack.”

Tamyra shook her head wildly.

Winnie took over, her voice as bold as the red bathing suit she had on. “This is for her own good. It’s time for this woman to get past her fears.” Winnie bent down, getting nose to nose with Tamyra, who had a death grip on the edges of a lounge chair. “All of them.”

Winnie tugged at her.

She didn’t budge.

“Come on, Tamyra,” Laine coaxed. “This is for your own good. It’s your last hurdle to overcome.”

Tamyra still wasn’t budging.

All sympathy left Riley in that moment. She walked over to Tamyra, grabbed both of her hands, pried them from their death  grip, and in three quick steps had her in the wave pool. She snatched a two-person inner tube, then used all of the power in her thighs, along with the buoyancy of the water, to hoist Tamyra onto one side of the tube. She shoved another two-person tube to Laine and Winnie and said, “Get on!” By this point everyone was obeying.

“Gracious. Someone must not have put sugar in her tea today,” Laine said.

Riley’s head snapped to Laine, and she raised a finger. “Not a word from you. Do you hear me? Not one word.” She pulled the inner tube toward the conveyer belt that would send them to one of the towers, down a course of waterslides, and into the wave pool that coursed through the entire property of the hotel. It was a favorite of most guests, but she could tell by the look on Tamyra’s face she could have left and never missed it. She grabbed hold of Tamyra’s legs, which dangled from the inner tube. “I will be with you the whole way. You’re going to be fine. Just breathe.”

Then she hopped onto her side of the tube, convinced that she hadn’t convinced Tamyra at all. So she didn’t plan on telling her that she was surrounded by twenty million gallons of water or that this was a pretty long ride.

The technology was rivaled by very few: inner tubes laced their way up conveyer belts, through meandering funnels of water, up water escalators, and were pushed through canals by water surges. The scenery was breathtaking, and the color in Tamyra’s face and knuckles had even begun to come back. Right until another conveyer belt came into view that looked as if it ended at the throne of God Himself. That was when the slow, guttural moans began.

Riley turned to Winnie. “If she jumps off, you’re going after her.”

Winnie crinkled her nose. “It’s okay, Tamyra. Just imagine you’re in your bathtub.”

That was about the time that something unleashed, and a prison door broke open inside Tamyra. The tiara came off, and with it self-control. “This is not my bathtub! This is death! You are sending me to my death!” Her voice was shrieking and her terror was unmistakable. “I know I’m dying already, but my word, woman, I wasn’t planning on doing it today!”

Riley reached over and tried to grip her hand. Tamyra jerked it away but then seemed to realize that also removed it from the handle she had been grasping for dear life. She flung it back onto the handle and gave Riley a dirty look. Riley withdrew her hand and looked back at Laine and Winnie. “You two are unbelievable.”

Laine tilted her head in that cocky way she had. “Well,
you’re
here, aren’t you?”

If Riley were in the habit of flipping people off, this would have been the prime opportunity. Tamyra’s groaning started as they came to the top of the final conveyer belt that would deposit them at the waterslides. “Honestly, Tamyra, it will be over in a minute. And you don’t ever have to get back in water again.” Riley hoped the words would soothe her.

But Tamyra was no longer responding. She had gone to the place of fear where breathing was altered and eyes were glazed. A young lifeguard pushed them to the top of a chute that would propel them down a waterslide. Riley had wisely placed them in the lane that took them to the most elementary slide, but she knew that it would still be far more than Tamyra had ever wanted to experience.

Without time to say a word, they shot through the darkness of a tunnel, their inner tube bouncing and colliding with the walls, the water surge beneath them carrying them through the blackness until it pushed them into the open slide. Riley looked back and saw that Tamyra’s eyes and fists were clenched so tight, she wasn’t sure what it would take to eventually pry them open. The tube continued to bounce and careen down the slide with rapid speed, and Riley felt the adrenaline of the thrill rush through her. Gabby loved this ride. She would fly through here with the shrill squeals of a six-year-old and beg for more when they finally came to the bottom.

As the tube made its final plunge from the slide into the wave pool, Riley reached over to touch Tamyra’s hand. “It’s over, Tamyra. Now it’s just the wave pool.”