Laine tossed her a glare. Riley saw it but still couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Tell me it isn’t true,” she said, her face turning to Laine, her heart pleading.
Laine let out a sigh and her shoulders lowered but she gave Riley a compassionate look she knew she didn’t deserve if everything they were saying was true. “It was bad, Riley. It was really bad. You got drunk. You got out on the dance floor and acted in a way that I know you never would have otherwise. Then you got belligerent, said some rather nasty things, and Max heard you and came over and told you to pack up your office and leave.”
Tears were falling freely down Riley’s face now.
“And you can’t remember a thing?” Tamyra asked.
She shook her head slowly, the cries audible now.
“Did you have drinks with Mia at the bar?”
Riley’s scattered thoughts tried to grasp for a memory. Any piece of last night that she could grab hold of. But all she remembered was the concert and the piercing headache. “I don’t remember drinking anything but a bottle of water that Mia gave me. I just had that brutal headache. And I don’t even remember anything at the nightclub.”
Laine pressed further. “You were at the bar with Mia. You were drinking something, I know that for sure. And then by the time Christian got you to the dance floor, you were out of control.”
Riley wiped at her tears. She couldn’t believe all she was hearing. She had felt so good. So alive. It was as if for the first time in the last six years she was free from all her demons. Healed. And ready to see what was on the horizon for her and Christian. She had been so excited about her job too. And now it was all gone. She couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t believe any of it. And on top of all that, she had disgraced Laine. She reached her hand out to Laine quickly. “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I said that about you. Please, please forgive me. I am so sorry.”
Laine shook her head. “Riley, honestly, it’s okay. I know you weren’t yourself.”
“I would have never said those things, Laine. Even when I used to get drunk, I was never belligerent. So I don’t know what would have made me do that last night. Or act that way. Usually I just shut down and became a recluse. I’ve never done anything like what you’ve described last night.”
“Well, let’s just eat breakfast and we’ll figure this out one thing at a time, okay?”
They all jumped when the umbrella on the back patio came crashing against the glass-paned door. “We’d better get what isn’t nailed down out there put up,” Winnie said as she took a bite of bacon.
Riley jumped up. “My guests. Oh, my word, I’ve got to go make sure my guests are okay. And you! Y’all have to get out of here before this gets any worse! You are all supposed to leave today.”
Tamyra grabbed her arm. “Riley, we’re not leaving. All the flights out of here are done. Plus, we’re not leaving you. And you can’t help your guests. You can only go clean out your desk.”
Riley’s arm dropped at the recognition of how her life had completely changed in the course of one evening. “This can’t be happening,” she said as she collapsed back into her chair.
Winnie put a homemade biscuit on her plate. “Try to eat, baby girl. Try to eat.”
But Riley couldn’t eat. All she could do was bury her head in her hands and weep.
* * *
Riley pressed her umbrella out toward the blowing rain. It was doing little to cover her body, but at least the rain wasn’t beating her in the face. And maybe if she couldn’t see people, they couldn’t see her. She wanted to hide like a child. But she wasn’t a child. She was a grown woman who had made her own bed and would face the consequences of her actions. And this time it would be different than it was four years ago. When she made it beneath the covering, she lowered her umbrella and shook her entire body. Water flickered from her raincoat and umbrella like sparks from a sparkler. She raised her head and Bart was right there with his award-winning smile. That one look assured her that at least everyone didn’t know about last night. The staff moved quickly around her, locking up everything that usually stood out front to welcome visitors to this small piece of paradise.
“This week, Miss Riley?”
“Definitely this week,” she said and smiled as best she could. She rushed to the glass doors of the office and struggled to open them against the wind that blew at her back. Mia stood behind the counter when she came in. Her eyes widened when she saw Riley. She laid her papers down and came around the counter, her face full of sympathy. “I’m so sorry, Riley. What a tragedy all of this is.”
Riley leaned in and gave Mia a hug. Mia returned it. “It’s horrible. And whatever I said or did last night, please know I am so sorry. I have no idea what happened, but with my track record I must have been incredibly intoxicated not to remember anything.”
“You don’t remember anything?”
Riley shook her head. “No, it’s just crazy. And I have been inebriated to extremes before and remembered at least snippets. But I don’t remember anything. After the concert everything else is just gone.”
“So you don’t remember being at the bar drinking and me trying to get you to stop?”
Riley felt the burning sensation of embarrassment sweep through her. She reached her hand up and rubbed her head, then shook it slowly. “No, I had no idea.”
Mia shook her head; her hand patted Riley’s arm. “I tried so hard to get you away from the bar after what you had told me. I knew it
