Hurricanes in Paradise Read Online Free PDF

part of the Atlantis that you desire to.”
    “Well, I don’t really need much of anything. I’m just going to enjoy my room and maybe walk on the beach a little here or there. Have me a piña colada or two,” Winnie said with a wink, “and spend the rest of the week ignoring phone calls from my children.”
    Riley opened the folded piece of paper she had in her hands. “Well, you might be able to ignore their calls, but it seems like they’ve packed your schedule with quite a few things. You’re swimming with the dolphins tomorrow—”
    “I’m what? I’m not swimming with fish! If God wanted me to swim with fish, he’d have given me fins, not a life preserver,” she said, jiggling the flesh around her waist.
    Riley laughed. “Well, that’s not all. You also have a day at the spa and tickets to a concert on Thursday night.”
    “A day at the spa I can do. A concert? Who’s playing?”
    “We have a special concert by Harry Connick Jr. on Thursday night.”
    Winnie raised her eyebrows and pressed her lips together. “I like him. He reminds me of Sinatra. I met Frank once, you know.”
    “Really? Ol’ Blue Eyes himself?”
    “Yes,” she said, batting her own eyes at Riley. “He said my eyes were the most beautiful blue he’d ever seen.”
    “Well, I’d have to agree with him.”
    “My Sam liked them. Said they reminded him of the blue of the sky on a cloudless day. As if it were painted just for him.”
    She saw the shift in Riley’s eyes. Compassion maybe. “I’m sorry for your loss, Mrs. Harris. Please, if there is anything you need, I’m here to serve you. I have a feeling you will enjoy yourself.” She nudged Winnie’s shoulder with her own. “And I have a feeling you’re a mess.”
    “A perfect mess,” she giggled.
* * *
     
    As soon as she got to her room, Winnie peeked out of the sliding doors to make sure they had honored her request. They had. There was no sign of the Beach Tower from her window, just the breathtaking ocean that only exists with this kind of beauty in the Bahamas. Seeing it now made her feel as if she were back on those white sands fifteen years earlier with Sam’s hand in hers as he hummed their favorite song and they dug their toes into the cool sand.
    She shook away the memory, scolded it like a ninth grader, and batted back at the grief that had shamelessly tried to reach the surface. She wouldn’t allow it. She hadn’t allowed it for three years, so why in the world would she begin today?
* * *
     
    “Have you found your replacement?” Laine Fulton asked her assistant of only one month with her controlled tone.
    There was stammering on the other end. She hated stammering. “It’s not a multiple-choice question. Have you found your replacement?” Her words came out deliberate. “Because turning in a book cover without me approving the final copy pretty much guarantees you’ll need to. So why don’t you take this week while I’m away to find one. You can e-mail me résumés. I’ll expect to see some by tomorrow.”
    Laine hit the End button on her iPhone. She pulled her Tumi carry-on behind her. Her black patent flats with wide silver buckles strode across the carpeted corridor in an unbroken stride. She stuck twenty dollars in the hand of a young man leaning on the arm of his luggage cart and told him to grab her bags. When he had pulled both of them off the carousel, he followed her outside.
    The afternoon Bahamian sun quickly warmed her gray, skinny-leg 7 For All Mankind jeans and black Dolce & Gabbana tank sweater as soon as she exited the airport. When all your clothes were dark, mixing and matching was easy.
    “I’m Laine Fulton,” she said, extending her hand to the man holding a sign that bore her name. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small black ponytail holder. Though her white-blonde hair barely grazed the top of her shoulders, she could still pull it back, leaving her bangs to brush the corners of her eyes.
    “Welcome