Hurricanes in Paradise by Denise Hildreth (web ebook reader .TXT) 📕

Riley picked up her glass and took a drink of water. Laine didn’t say a word.

“Not one night sweat. Not one seizure. And not another craving. Josalyn let me know that it was time to let it go. She reminded me of everything I knew, but somehow hearing her say it, it all made sense. She took me to church, where they danced a Holy Ghost jig all around me.”

Laine wrinkled her nose. “I’ve heard about that stuff.”

Riley laughed. “They were harmless. Happy, but harmless. Those precious ladies in white loved me back to wholeness. I spent a month with Josalyn until she finally told me it was time to go home. She walked me right up to Mama and Daddy’s door. We all sat in the living room and cried together. Jeremy came over to see me and asked if he could watch me for the next couple months before he brought Gabby back around. I completely understood his hesitation. But Josalyn took him by the shoulders, said, ‘My baby’s gone and been set free and knows it’s fine time she needs to be seein’ her baby too.’ He knew she would know. And the next day he brought Gabby over. That was the beginning of putting our life back together.”

“And he never tried to keep her from you?”

“Not one day. He knew she needed her mother as much as her mother needed her.”

“So how did you get here?”

“Max had known my family for years. He and my dad go way back. I was working as head of guest relations at the Kiawah Resort’s Sanctuary Hotel, and Max called me with the offer to come here. I saw it as a real chance to start fresh, no skeletons, no whispers over dinner at 82 Queen. A real beginning. And everyone agreed. So here we are. Two years sober. And Josalyn still checks in often. She talks me off my ledge every now and then, prays over me, and sends me back out to face the devil.” Riley smiled slyly.

“Please tell me I didn’t almost send you back to the bottle or that you just called me the devil.”

Riley bit her lip slightly. She could never tell Laine how frustrated she had really made her. “No, you almost sent me to an asylum, which is much less destructive. And there were moments where you could have been the devil himself.”

“I’m so sorry, Riley. I had no idea. You’d never know you have been through all this to look at you.”

“Nor would you know it to look at you.”

Laine gave her a soft smile. “Can I ask you another question?”

“We both know you will regardless.”

“Why didn’t you ever put your home back together?”

She shook her head, put her napkin back in her lap, and picked up her fork, though her food was way past cold. “He’d been through enough. It was really for the best when he decided to marry Amanda. I had hurt him enough.”

Laine shook her head vehemently. “That’s a lie. It’s you. It’s like I said in the very beginning. You haven’t forgiven yourself; that’s why you never tried to work things out with Jeremy.”

Riley let the words fall on her ears. They sounded all too familiar. Josalyn had said the same thing to her over and over. She studied Laine. She’d come so far in her healing, but a sense of shame remained. Could she even get past it? Laine made it sound like she could. And Laine should know.

“You’ve got to let it go, Riley. Once and for all. Then maybe you’ll be free to love again. I know I’m hardly the person to be giving advice on this topic, but there it is.”

The tears rushed out of Riley again with even greater force this time. “I think you’re right. That’s why I never went back.” She’d never admitted the truth before, but now it seemed so obvious. “I never went back to him because I felt like he deserved so much more than me. That he didn’t need to spend the rest of his life with a tainted wife on his arm.”

“Oh, Riley. What messes we’ve both made of our love lives. But it’s not too late. I’ll go get Mitchell and try to undo what I’ve done, and you can start living again by going out with this beautiful man who is crazy about you.”

Riley felt a smile creep across her face. The cold trail on her cheeks moved as she did. “I really like him.”

“I can see that you do. So go.”

Riley picked up her napkin and dabbed at her face again. “I should, shouldn’t I?”

“You absolutely should.”

“I haven’t had a date in ten years! What do you wear? What do you do? How do you act?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t had a date in fifteen years. Just an affair. Now if you asked me who the man in my life was, I’d say it was Google. That’s who I spend most of my time with.”

Riley’s eyes bugged. Then laughter permeated the restaurant. And the storm brewing on the horizon was completely forgotten.

15

Wednesday afternoon . . .

Tamyra had sneaked away from Winnie long enough to set her plan in motion. Winnie was basking in the glow of her third virgin watermelon daiquiri and was on such a sugar high, she was entertaining strangers. Proof that you didn’t have to be drunk to loosen up. Tamyra had called Albert that morning and asked him to meet her in the lobby at one thirty for a few minutes. He had been undeniably gracious, and his Southern kindness seeped through the receiver. He was also prompt, she noticed, as he stood waiting when she rounded the corner.

Albert extended his hand. “You must be Tamyra.”

Tamyra looked at the dapper older man almost at eye level. With her two-inch heels, she virtually matched his six-foot stature. He was neatly packaged—pressed khaki shorts, ironed