Hurricanes in Paradise (8 page)

Laine laughed. “Well, good for you, Mrs. Harris.”

Riley leaned back in her chair, almost grateful that she had been removed from being Laine’s sole conversationalist.

“My friends call me Winnie. And I would love to tell my friends that Laine Fulton is now among them if I could. So please call me Winnie.”

“Winnie it is.”

Derrick returned with their drinks, and Laine ordered without asking. “We’d like one of each, please.”

Derrick’s head popped back. “Do you mean of the main courses?”

“No, I mean we’d like one of each appetizer. Then give us a moment to loosen our belts. Then we’d like one of each of the main courses and a sampling of the sides. And when we’re about to bust, we’d like you to bring us one of each of the desserts.”

Riley could tell by Derrick’s expression he wished he were having dinner with them. He snapped his order book shut and raised both eyebrows. “One of each it is.” He retrieved the menus and went off to do something Riley guessed he had never done: order every item on the menu for one table.

Winnie laughed like a giddy schoolgirl. “I’ve always wanted to do that since I saw that movie
Last Holiday
. Only I didn’t want to have to be on death’s door to finally have the chutzpah to do it.”

“I’m glad I could make a dream come true and that you’re not dying, so you can actually enjoy it.”

“Plus, all you girls need to put some meat on your bones. I’ll enjoy just watching each of you eat.” Winnie raised her eyebrow at Riley but then quickly turned her attention back to Laine. “Have you ever been to Memphis, Laine? Best barbecue you’d ever eat. And Graceland.” She reached over and slapped Laine’s arm. “That’s what you should do. You should write something about Elvis. Then come on down to Nashville and write about the Grand Ole Opry, drink some sweet tea, go to the Loveless Café to eat biscuits like your mama makes.”

Riley watched Laine raise her eyebrows.

“Your mama doesn’t cook biscuits, baby?”

Laine chuckled softly.

“Baby girl, come down to Nashville and let old Winnie introduce you to living. Where are you from?”

“California.”

“Well, California is like another country. Come spend some time with me and you will be wearing rhinestones and singing ‘Rocky Top.’”

Riley saw the shift in Laine. It was evident she didn’t want to be the one answering questions. “What brought you here, Winnie? to Paradise Island?” Laine asked.

Winnie stirred sugar into her tea. “My children were bound and determined I needed to get away. My husband, Sam, died three years ago. He was sick the year before that. And I haven’t felt like traveling. They felt like it was time.” Her voice softened.

Riley spoke. “Well, we’re glad you’re here, Winnie. Tell Laine what you do.”

Winnie sipped her tea and crinkled her nose. “Just can’t make it happen this way.”

“Excuse me?” Laine said.

“The tea. You just can’t turn unsweet tea into sweet tea. I don’t care what they say.” She set her glass back down. “I’m a high school principal. I had retired when I was sixty-five. Then the school board called me two years ago and asked me to come out of retirement. I had been home a year without Sam and I needed to get out. And the students needed me.”

“I bet you’re great at it,” Riley assessed.

“You know, it’s my gift. I’ve learned through the years what I can and can’t do, and I can motivate people to see their potential. When I came in, it was the lowest-performing high school in the state. The No Child Left Behind program gave us two years to turn it around. When I arrived, they had a 67 percent dropout rate.”

Derrick and a couple waiters began to lay down the appetizers in front of them. But Laine wanted more of Winnie’s story. “What have you learned in the last two years?”

Winnie removed her eyes from the sweet potatoes they set in front of her. “I learned my babies were hungry. And a baby can’t learn when he’s hungry. So we make sure every child has breakfast, and then we fill each classroom with snacks. We feed their bodies so we can feed their brains. Last year our graduation rate was 78 percent.”

Riley couldn’t hide her shock. “You did that in two years?”

“In two years,” she said as she scooped out some sweet potatoes and put them on her plate.

Each woman began to sample a little bit of everything. Amid
ooh
s and
aah
s as they tasted the various delicacies, they shared their impressions of the resort and discussed the weather—specifically whether the tropical depression would disrupt their week.

Finally Laine turned her attention to Tamyra. “So, Tamyra, right?”

Riley watched as Tamyra lifted her glazed eyes to meet Laine’s. A softness fell across Laine’s face when she took Tamyra in. “Tell us about you.”

Tamyra reached up and ran her fingers down the side of her glass. They pushed at the condensation until it made a clear puddle on the tablecloth below. “Not a lot to tell, honestly.”

“Don’t let her fool you,” Winnie piped in. “This young woman is a beauty queen.”

Tamyra turned her expressionless face to Winnie, then back to Laine. “I give up my title in two weeks.”

Laine took a drink of her martini. “Happy?”

“Ambivalent.”

“Know what you’re going to do when it’s over?”

Riley watched it all intently. Laine’s questions came with the fluidity of a friend at a standing weekly dinner.

“Not sure what I’m going to do tomorrow, honestly.” Tamyra shifted in her seat as Derrick and another waiter began to remove the emptied appetizer plates from the table.

“What would you like to do?” Laine pressed. Riley wasn’t sure how far she’d get.

“Two months ago I could have told you,” Tamyra said, putting her fork down by her plate and looking straight at Laine. “But six weeks ago, I sold everything I had, retreated to a friend’s little bungalow in Cozumel and spent time reflecting on my life and my future. Then they moved back in and I wasn’t ready to go home. A friend told me about the Atlantis a while back, so I decided to give myself one more week away from home, and this is where I decided to spend it. Next Saturday I’ll go back home. And that is absolutely all I know today.”

Riley moved her elbows from the table while they finished clearing the dishes to ready them for the main course. “You sold everything you had?”

“Everything but what I could fit into a rental car, because I sold my car, too.”

Now Riley had questions of her own. “How does a young woman like you make a decision like that?”

“One day can change everything.”

Winnie reached over and patted her hand. Riley could all but see her mothering rise to the surface. “Yes, it can. And it can all turn around in a day too.”

Laine absently moved her notebook farther from her plate.

Winnie didn’t miss it. “What do you write in there?”

Laine turned toward Winnie, removing her gaze from Tamyra. “In here?” She patted her notebook.

“Yeah.” Winnie scooted up as if she were about to get something worth delivering to the
National Enquirer
.

“I write the details of what I see, the texture of the food, the ambience of the lighting, the feel of the room. My readers want to think they’re here. So I bring them here with my words. That’s why we’re trying everything. I’m not sure what my characters may want to eat.”

“You do that! I just got through reading chapter after chapter and you so had me right there, as if I could step out and touch the man-made shore of Dubai.”

Laine nodded. “Well, thank you, Winnie.”

“So you just let the story determine itself?” Riley asked.

She glanced at Riley. “I let the story take me wherever it wants to go.”

Winnie wrinkled her nose. “So you don’t have to know how it ends for your publisher to be willing to say he’ll publish it?”

The chuckle came out as a puff. “I’ve sold thirty million books, Miss Winnie. I don’t even have to tell my publisher what my story is about. As long as he knows I’m somewhere researching for a new book, he’s happy.”

Winnie laughed. “Of course he is.”

Derrick and two other servers laid the main courses on the table. But there wasn’t enough room, so they agreed to serve them in two rounds. Winnie looked at the filet in front of her. “I was craving beef.”

The main courses were half-eaten when Riley finally leaned back in her chair again. She was certain her stomach had never been so full. She was also keenly aware that Laine had barely had to talk. Winnie had carried most of the conversation talking about Laine’s books, giving Laine ample time to down another martini.

Near the end of the meal, Winnie put her fork down and looked at Tamyra. “You don’t eat meat?”

“I’m a vegan.”

“You’re a what?” Winnie leaned across the table, her blue eyes wide. “
Vegetarian
, I know.
Vegan
, I’m clueless. I teach kids who would be grateful for a pack of peanut butter and cheese crackers, and I come from a family who thinks fried foods are a food group. So help me out with
vegan
.”

“We try not to consume animal products of any kind.” Her expression didn’t encourage further dialogue.

Winnie’s furrowed her brow. “Does that include milk?”

“I try to stay away from dairy whenever I can. But sometimes it sneaks in there. I just try to eat food in its most natural form.”

Winnie raised her denim-clad arm and pushed at the hidden hanging flesh underneath. “Probably why you look like that and I look like this.”

For the first time that evening, Tamyra laughed.

Derrick came and served the desserts, which kept mouths full so that Winnie’s groans of delight were about all that was heard. Until Laine had finished and decided to inquire of Riley next.

“And what about you, O gracious hostess.” Laine’s words came out slightly sarcastic. “Where did you get the name Riley?”

Riley exhaled slowly, grateful that was the question she asked. “I got it from our mayor.”

Winnie’s brow furrowed.

“Joe Riley. He’s the mayor of Charleston and one of the longest-running mayors in the nation. And he is one of my daddy’s good friends.”

Riley caught Laine’s raised eyebrows when she said the word
daddy
. She decided that was enough information.

“So your ‘daddy’ and the mayor go way back.”

Apparently Laine wasn’t going to let that be enough. “They graduated from The Citadel together in ’64. Then they both went to law school at the University of South Carolina. One became mayor; the other is one of the longest-serving senators in South Carolina. Daddy thought . . .” Riley paused for a minute. She had never been self-conscious about calling her father
Daddy
until right now. “Well, he thought I would be a boy. I wasn’t, but he kept Riley anyway.”

“That is a wonderful story of friendship,” Winnie offered. “My daddy named me too.”

Riley smiled, grateful someone else had a daddy. Must be a Southern thing. “He did?”

“Yeah, Mary Poppins came out in 1934, three years before I was born, and one of the main characters was Winifred Banks. My mother always bought my brother and sister a book a week, and one night when my dad was reading to them, he came across old Winifred. And that was that,” she said, clapping her hands together, causing her rhinestones to catch the light and dance reflections across the table.

Derrick interrupted the stories with the bill and began to clear away the dessert dishes, his smile never leaving his face. The tip would be huge and he was already celebrating. Riley reached down and tugged at the waist of her jeans, hoping to give herself more room to breathe. Laine had taken notes throughout the entire dinner. Riley wasn’t sure if they consisted of the conversation going on around her or the small bite of each item she had sampled. She hadn’t missed one. Laine charged the bill to her room.

Riley spoke first. “Thank you for an amazing dinner.”

“Yes, it was great. Thank you,” Tamyra said.

“Sister needs a wheelbarrow,” Winnie announced. “Yes, my big, broad behind needs to be wheeled right up to my room. The way I’m going to have to waddle out of here, these people are going to think I’m wasted.”

Laine laughed and stood up from her seat. “You’re each welcome. Thank you for sharing your stories. They were wonderful to hear.”

“We’re too famous for television,” Winnie announced.

The laughter continued as they walked toward the entrance of the restaurant. Riley turned to speak to Tamyra. She wasn’t there. Riley turned farther and saw her still at the table. Tamyra slipped what looked to be a pill in her mouth and took a drink of water. Riley turned quickly and followed Winnie and Laine.

Riley knew there were parts of each lady’s story that had been kept to themselves. Tamyra had talked about her practiced parts. Winnie had told stories of her husband, her children, and her students. Laine had talked about basically nothing. Riley had shared briefly about how Max had talked her into moving to the Bahamas. Her story was just as strategically shared, but she was here for them, not the other way around.