A Forbidden Storm Read Online Free PDF Page A

smiles of a dozen high school girls and boys.   She laid blushing and hurting on the dirty tile floor, the victim of an extended foot and a well-timed shove.   Her face reddened as she grasped a bruised knee, throbbing and preparing to swell.   The hallway was littered with papers and books and Jessica’s pudgy arms and ham-hock legs, and the scene, judging by the reaction of her gathered classmates, was the apex of hilarity.
     
    She sat up as a dark haired girl stooped beside her.   Jess reached out to take a helping hand but the girl ignored her in favor of a stack of papers.   She brandished Jess’s notes to the growing audience and the laughter was a blow to the ribs.   The page was emblazoned with the doodles of a silly teenage girl; Jessica loves Charles, Mrs. Charles White, Jessica White, and a dozen other variations amid hearts and flowers.   The girl looked down and bared her teeth, “You and Charles?   Fat chance, chubby.”
     
    Her classmates corroborated the story when a faculty member rounded the corner.   “She just slipped.   She’s a klutz,” they said.   Jess sat on the floor counting.   Eighteen.   Eighteen students stood in the hall and watched the chubby girl with tears streaming down her face clutch feebly at her injuries.
     
    The amusement continued when she showed up on crutches the next day, her knee in a tension bandage.   It was a lesson that was drilled home over a month of knee wraps and doctor’s visits -a slow-cooked humiliation that over time was cured and compacted into a solid edifice.   “You’re not good enough, Jessica.”
     
    ---
     
    Joel retrieved his wife after snorkeling through the afternoon.   The two walked arm in arm from the beach up a small slope to the resort.   In the distance the setting sun completed the idyllic scene.   Jess was beaming, a by-product of a freshly calibrated demeanor.   A few admiring glances can go a long way towards realigning one’s self-image and Jessica’s was buoyed.   Her growing self-esteem was evident in her stride, now practically a strut, and her body language.   For the first time in her life, the chubby girl was afloat in a sea of positive body image.
     
    Once they hit the cement walkway Jessica realized just how hot the Caribbean sun could be.   She hopped off the paving stones after a couple of steps.   “Ouch, that burns.”   She dug in her oversized beach bag for a pair of flip flops.   After securing her feet in the appropriate beachwear, Jessica stood up.   She gasped.   There at the cabana bar was Martin Timmons.   He lifted his glass to toast the married couple.   Martin’s grin was wide and welcoming.   Joel squeezed his wife’s elbow, “Hey, there’s Martin.   What’s he doing back here?”
     

     

 
    Ch5
     
    Jessica’s confidence fled.   She stopped in her tracks, and Joel had to give her a push to get her moving. Martin sat in the corner at a table under an umbrella.   He grinned at the couple. “I was just about to order dinner.   Have a seat.”   His look was one of quiet amusement and easy confidence.
     
    Joel looked at Martin with surprise.   “I thought you had left.”
     
    Martin ignored Joel; he only had eyes for Jessica even as he addressed her husband’s question.   “Catherine left.   I decided to stay,” he said.   “She had to work back in the States, but I’m not going to cut my vacation short for that bullshit.”
     
    “That’s great Martin.   You can tell us about all the best spots on the island.”   Joel ignored Martin’s comment about Catherine.
     
    “There are some beautiful things on the island I haven’t checked out yet.”   Martin looked at Jessica and a swarm of butterflies which had been sitting undetected in her stomach began to bounce around her insides.   A guilty look towards Joel told her that her husband had missed the double-entendre.
     
    “Sit.   Join me.   The food here is excellent.”
     
    Martin insisted on