Island Promises Read Online Free PDF Page A

we’re going,” Frannie called.
    Riley climbed the ladder to the cockpit and hugged them.
    “Most interesting,” said Walter. “Your combination of tastes, of simple styles, was intriguing.”
    “We enjoyed talking to you, honey.” Frannie tied the wide straw hat under her chin. “Sometimes the crew can be so standoffish that it makes it uncomfortable, especially on the smaller boats.”
    Riley couldn’t help but send a big smile Joe’s way. He’d done little more than grunt through lunch. Anthony had stood guard at the wheel, silent. The guy was carrying this strong, silent type to such an extreme that it was irritating.
    Once Riley had settled upon her “simple, down-home” menu of soup, salad, fruit, and bread, she’d used her reporter’s skills to get Frannie and Wally talking. One thing she’d learned was that people loved to talk about themselves. Normal people, anyway, which explained the silence of the two stone brothers. The travel agents were so busy talking about themselves that they’d barely noticed the food. All those days on planes, in hotel rooms, writing at computer screens, with only each other for company, made them pathetically grateful for a fresh listener.
    As soon as they lurched away in the rickety taxi, Riley threw down her apron, donned the flip-flops she’d found in her room, and grabbed her purse. On one of the settees she found an old Cleveland Indians ball cap and jammed it over her hair, which had taken on a life of its own and tried to jolt the cap back off, tufts springing up everywhere. Instead of the sleek, polished look of a Chicago reporter, her hair now curled and bent in any way it wanted.
    Anthony had scrounged a T-shirt for her along with a pair of men’s shorts that she had to use a rope as a belt to hold up. The fact that she didn’t have to pull the rope too tightly was something she preferred to ignore.
    “It’s been real, boys,” she said. “By the time I get back, I expect you to have your stuff cleared off my boat.”
    Neither of them answered. Anthony was coiling some rope and Joe was folding a sail. Ignoring her was not something she could tolerate. She stood there for a moment waiting, her blood pressure rising, making her cheeks even hotter than the sun had made them. Still they didn’t even act as though she had spoken.
    “We’ll just see what the authorities have to say about you taking over my boat,” she declared. That got their attention.
    “Just where the hell do you think you’re going?” Joe peered at her over the sail.
    “On the way in, I saw a sign for the Police Station. That’s where I’m going.”
    “You don’t want to do that.”
    It was the first full sentence Anthony had spoken in her presence since he’d chided Joe for being mean. The words stopped her in midair, one leg on the boat, the other hefted over the lifeline ready to be set down on the dock.
    “You don’t know anything about these islands and how they work,” Joe said. “Involving the officials is a mistake.”
    “A mistake for you two, maybe.”
    “Look, lady, I don’t know if you’re a scam artist or just delusional, but Anthony here is right. You don’t want to drag the authorities into this,” Joe said.
    Riley considered her options. Her cell phone wasn’t working. She had no money to make a call, no one to call, and no place to go except this boat. They might keep her on here since today hadn’t been a total disaster. But what kind of wimp would that make her if she hired on to the boat she owned? She’d have a hard time feeling sorry for herself, let alone have anyone else sympathize or understand if she became that big of a doormat and let them walk all over her. Decided, she put her foot on the dock.
    “It’s a bad idea.” Anthony was looking at her with something that might have passed for concern on his football player features.
    “Let her go,” Joe said. “There isn’t much we can do. If the lady wants to get herself thrown into an