Hurricanes in Paradise (35 page)

“What’s wrong with you?” She could tell by his expression he wasn’t sure what to do with her.

* * *

Laine was across the room when she saw Riley head out to the dance floor. She had watched her conversation with Mia at the bar and didn’t know how she had even been able to come in here. She knew Riley thought she had beaten this thing. But the woman she was watching on the dance floor wasn’t Riley. That woman was a drunk. She knew she should have pulled her away from the bar. And now Riley was about to make a fool of herself in front of everyone if Laine didn’t stop her and stop her quick.

She sidled up beside her and slipped an arm around her. “You know, Christian, my friend here has had a really long day. I think I just need to get her home and let her get some sleep.”

Riley jerked free from Laine’s hold. “I’m not going anywhere with you!” Her words were biting from her drawn lips. She turned back to Christian and wrapped her arms around him again, pressing her head against his chest. “I want to stay here with Christian.” She sounded like a child. A drunk child.

Laine grabbed her with a little more force. “I said, we’re going, Riley.”

Tamyra came up beside her. “You need some help?”

“Riley, are you drunk?” Christian asked.

Laine felt as if she herself had been slapped. If Riley had been coherent enough to know what was going on at this moment, Laine knew she would be sick. “Christian, she’s just had a long day. I promise, she is just exhausted.”

Max finally noticed the commotion and came over. Exactly what Laine had been trying to avoid. “Riley, is something wrong?”

Riley jerked free from Laine again. “Yes!” The word came out as if it had three syllables. “This woman has driven me crazy all week!” She swung her arm wildly at Laine. “She’s mean and angry and sad.” Riley all but spat her last words.

Laine tried to refrain from her desire to slap Riley. Slapping a drunk wouldn’t help them. Though she’d feel a lot better.

Max interrupted her. “Riley, have you been drinking?”

She let out an arrogant puff. “I don’t drink.” Her slurred words in no way confirmed her declaration.

Max shook his head. Laine could see the disappointment on his face. “I shouldn’t have let you come in here. This is my fault.” His last words were more of a whisper. “I’m sorry, Ms. Fulton.”

Riley’s head jerked toward Max. Laine hadn’t seen that much fire in her eyes since she had let her have it the other day. But that time Riley had seemed hurt. Tonight she was like a wild animal. “Don’t apologize to her!”

Laine watched Max’s face shift to stern and fatherly. “Riley, your behavior is unacceptable. Laine Fulton is our guest and you will give her your respect.”

Riley let out a drunken puff. “She doesn’t deserve anyone’s respect. She’s an adulterer, you know. Yeah, that’s right. She couldn’t keep her marriage together because she is an adulterer.” Laine felt a slap in her gut and hoped Riley’s words were slurred enough that the others couldn’t quite make out what she was saying.

“That’s right! Slept with a stranger. A stranger!” Riley stumbled slightly as the last words came out.

Laine was grateful that Frank’s song was over and the club was now pumped with the sounds of rap.

Winnie had walked over as Riley finished her last announcement and steadied Riley back on her feet. “What in the world? Riley, what is wrong with you?”

Riley jerked free from Winnie and stumbled again yet continued her maligning of Laine. “Yeah, that’s why she’s so angry and demanding. Always telling me where I should be and when I should be there.”

Max stepped up and took her by the arm. Laine saw the hurt on his face. But he was resolved. “Riley, you will have your office packed up by morning and I will expect you on the first flight out after the storm blows over. I’m very disappointed in you.” He spoke his next statement under his breath, but Laine was close enough to hear him. “I’m sorry. I should never have let you come in here.” He dropped her arm.

Laine took Riley by the arm one more time, and this time Tamyra and Winnie helped her. “We’ll get her back to her condo.”

“I can have Mia take her back,” Max said, motioning for Mia to come over.

Laine eyed the woman. “No,” she stated clearly. “
We
will get her back.”

“Yes, we want to handle this,” Tamyra said to Max.

“I’m going to beat your tail, young lady,” Winnie added.

Max nodded at them and left the dance floor. Christian’s face came into Laine’s view. “I’m really sorry, Christian. This isn’t like her.”

“I wouldn’t have thought so. But apparently it is.” The hurt on his face was unmistakable.

Riley jerked beneath her hold, but Laine squeezed harder. She could tell Tamyra had a strong hold on the other side.

“I’ve got the rear,” Winnie announced. And together they escorted Riley off the dance floor. Bodies closed the gaping hole where they’d been as if nothing had even taken place.

Laine looked back as the bouncer opened the door for them to exit. Mia was standing by Christian. She raised her cup in a mimicking motion of one who had hit the bottle a little too hard. Laine watched her a moment longer, then turned to take this pitiful creature squirming beneath her grasp back home.

* * *

Riley squawked her protests as they carried her down the stairs. When they got to the bottom, Winnie came around to the front of Riley and swatted her thigh. “You hush up.”

Riley stopped squirming and leaned back, her eyes blinking hard at Winnie.

“I don’t know what in the world has gotten into you, or what you’ve gotten into, but we are not going to carry you through this hotel. You are going to get yourself together and walk through here without looking like a drunk. Now straighten up,” Winnie demanded.

They watched as Riley tried to stand up straight. Tamyra let go of her side and Riley tottered.

“Stand up straight now.” Winnie was adamant on how this was all going to take place.

Riley tried to steady herself again. Laine felt like she could let  go.

“Now, we will be right here with you, but you are going to get to your room like a lady, not a tramp.”

“She’s the tramp.” Riley pointed at Laine and all but fell over.

“I’m going to slap her,” Laine announced.

Winnie stepped into Riley’s space. “Don’t you say another word. Don’t speak. Don’t mumble. Don’t hum. We want nothing. You’ve done enough damage tonight and you will do no more.”

Laine and Tamyra eyed each other.

Winnie stepped aside and motioned in front of her. “Now, go.”

Riley took a faltering first step and Laine reached out and steadied her. She jerked her arm from Laine’s grasp, caught her footing, and stood up straight. And they walked through the casino.

“You’re good at this, Winnie,” Tamyra said.

“This is what I do.”

“Deal with drunk women?” Laine quipped.

“Deal with desperate people,” Winnie reminded. “This is nothing but a desperate means of avoiding the real issue.”

She had Tamyra’s curiosity. “What is the real issue?”

“Fear. It’s always fear.”

Laine and Tamyra walked beside Riley all the way to her condo, ready to steady her at any moment. When they got there, they led her into her bedroom and lowered her onto the bed. She fell over immediately. “She never should have gone in there tonight,” Laine said.

“It’s just a nightclub.”

“She’s an alcoholic, Tamyra,” Winnie said.

Laine jerked her head toward Winnie. “How did you know that? Did she tell you?”

“Didn’t have to. I know what one looks like.”

“Just like you knew what I looked like.” Tamyra was getting it.

“This is what I do,” Winnie said.

“Well, do you put pajamas on grown women?” Laine asked. “Because I don’t.”

Winnie laughed, then knelt and pulled off Riley’s shoes. She sent Laine in search of pajamas and Tamyra in search of a cold rag. When they came back, she put Riley’s pj’s on her and tucked her beneath the covers. Riley opened her eyes for a brief moment.

“I loveth you. I loveth you all,” she announced.

“Get some sleep, Riley,” Winnie said as she scooted the other two out of the room.

Laine fell onto the sofa. “I can’t believe this. She just lost her job tonight.”

“If you both knew that was her issue, why did you let her go in there tonight?” Tamyra asked.

“I asked her if she needed to, and she said she’d be okay. She just kept complaining about that dumb headache.”

“When did she get so much to drink?” Tamyra interjected again. “We weren’t even there that long.”

Winnie walked over to the couch and sat down. “You don’t have to be at a nightclub to get a drink, Tamyra.”

Laine took off her heels and rubbed the bottom of her feet. “Yeah, she could have gotten one early and we just didn’t see her or something.”

Tamyra sat in the chair beside the sofa. “Well, you should have been paying attention is all I’m saying.”

The three women sat there, heads leaned back, feet propped up on Riley’s sea-grass ottoman. “I ran right out on Albert again. Two for two. Boy, that’s a track record for a woman who hasn’t had a date in fifty years.”

Tamyra laughed. “This one wasn’t my fault.”

Laine crossed her feet at the ankles. “Mine, either. I’m just a pitiful adulterer, but I had nothing to do with you running out on Albert again.”

Winnie reached her hand over and patted Laine’s leg. “You’re a good woman, Laine Fulton. A good woman.”

Laine changed the subject. “Did you see Christian’s face? He was heartbroken.”

“I did see Christian’s face,” Winnie replied. “My question is, did you see Mia’s face?”

Laine sat up quickly. “You saw that too?”

“She’s up to no good.”

Tamyra sat up. “How do you two see all this? Please tell me. I don’t see anything and you two don’t miss anything.”

“It’s because we’re Baptist,” they said in unison. Their raucous laughter didn’t stir Riley from her drug-induced sleep.

* * *

Laine walked along the concrete walkway that skirted a sandy beach and wove around the properties of the Atlantis. The wind had really picked up and whipped the edge of her dress around her legs; the ocean seemed to have gone to a steady roar in the background, though she couldn’t see it. She had left Tamyra sound asleep in the chair and Winnie killing it on the sofa. But she couldn’t sleep. The Mia thing was killing her. Laine had pushed Riley in extreme measures this week, but she also knew something had happened on that date with Christian. Granted she had known Riley less than a week, but long enough to know she was irritatingly honest. Laine knew she herself was irritatingly honest as well, but they were very different in their delivery. And the self-control that Riley had shown simply in dealing with Laine made her all but certain she wouldn’t have gotten wasted like that tonight. Not with everything that was at stake for Max and his guests. None of it made sense.

The only thing she knew was that Mia irritated her. There was this feeling that had nagged her from the moment she met her, and Mia’s immediate gravitation toward Christian confirmed it. Laine hadn’t been a sleuth before, but she’d written about one. So she had plans to see what she could find out.

“Where are you going without me?” Winnie’s voice startled her.

Laine turned. The crashing waves warred behind them in the cloud-covered night. “It’s just bugging me. This whole thing tonight.”

“It’s in your craw, huh?”

Laine shook her head. “In my what?”

“Up your butt. In your craw.”

This woman and her words. “Sure, yeah. All of that crazy stuff. So the only way I’m going to get it out of my . . . craw . . . is to go see what I can find out.”

Winnie put her pudgy hands on the edges of her white studded belt, the belt buckle visible even in the shadows of nighttime; then she grabbed the edges of her jacket and pulled it around her. Her white hair whipped in front of her face. She pushed back at it forcefully. “What are you going to do? Break into their offices or something?”

“I have no idea what I’m going to do. But I’ve got to do something.” Laine turned back and started walking toward The Cove. Winnie’s tiny heels followed at a steady click until they caught up to her. “I didn’t wake you up when I left, did I?”

Winnie handed Laine her phone. “No. Your phone did.”

Laine took it. “Who would be calling me at this time of night?” She looked down.
Missed call. Mitchell Fulton.
Laine felt a rush of heat flood through her. “It’s my husband, Winnie. . . .” Her voice softened. “I mean, my ex-husband.”

Winnie tilted her head.

Laine bit her lip hard.

“Go call him, sweetie. I’ll go back to Riley’s and get out of this wind. You go call your . . . You go call Mitchell, and when you get back, we’ll straighten out Riley’s life.”

“We were supposed to leave tomorrow.”