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Prologue—Teresa

“Mom, I told you, I don’t have time for this.”

“I don’t care. It’s only four days. Three and a half really. You can make time for your sister on her special day.” Her voice softened. “It’s important to her to have you there.”

“I don’t know why.” Even I could hear the poutiness in my voice, as if I were thirteen instead of forty-three. “She’ll have Emma and Dawn there. She doesn’t need me.”

My older sister Evie was turning fifty and she had decided to have a girls’ weekend at a resort in the Florida Keys. Why I had to be one of the girls, I wasn’t sure. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciated the offer, but my sister and I were not particularly close. In fact, we were as different as night and day.

Seven years older than me, Evie was embracing the outrageousness of middle age. She was a serial dater and a chronic flirt who was also loud, unspoken, and prone to dying her hair weird colors. Lately we had seen that she also had some business savvy. After years of bouncing from job to job, she had recently bought a bookstore, turning it into a popular community gathering place and a thriving business. In this day of e-books, that was no small feat.

My sister was always throwing herself into what she called “adventures”. For Evie, everything was an adventure. She could have an adventure going grocery shopping. And turning fifty was going to be her biggest adventure.

“Come on, Teri Bear,” she’d wheedled, pulling out the childish nickname she had saddled me with as a baby. “We’re going to go ziplining and parasailing and snorkeling and dancing.”

“Even if I could take time off from work, which I can’t right now, there’s no way I would do all that crazy stuff.”

I was the cautious one in the family. Evie liked to joke that I didn’t even go to the bathroom without conducting an analysis and putting it on my schedule. The truth was, I was one of those Type A people. I was always working, always planning, always meticulous in everything I did.

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, but I know that you haven’t had a vacation in years. You need a break. Just imagine how great it would be spending the entire day on the beach, reading and drinking frozen cocktails.”

My sister was not wrong about me needing a break, and I couldn’t deny that relaxing on a sunny beach sounded like heaven. I hadn’t taken a vacation in so long I was maxed out on vacation time at work. Our human resources director had sent me an email recently advising me that I was no longer accruing any new time off and needed to “evaluate ways to have more appropriate work/life balance” – code for “take a damn vacation.”

“Teresa Ann Fontenot,” my mother interrupted my train of thought. “You will not disappoint your sister. She asks so little from you.”

I sighed. It was true. Evie was a great sister, always there for me when I needed her. I supposed four days away would be doable, especially when two of those days were the weekend. If I caught an early flight back on Monday I would really only miss work on Friday. Plus, I could bring my laptop and work from one of those beach cabanas. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that a change of scenery would be nice, especially right now when it was cold and dreary here in New York City.

“Fine, I’ll go,” I said grudgingly.

“Good girl.”

I rolled my eyes. I only hoped I was not going to regret this.

Colin

I wiped down the bar and ignored the suggestive looks the blonde in the tiny bikini was shooting my way. After all these years working at the Hamilton Keys Resort, I knew the look of a woman on the prowl. I noted the tan lines on her ring finger and idly wondered if she was recently divorced or having a weekend away from her husband. Either way I wasn’t interested. She was much too young for me, and much too artificial. From her tits to her lips to her hair extensions, there didn’t seem to be any original parts on this one. Not to mention the fact that the entire top of her face was unnaturally still, as if she’d had one too many Botox injections.

I heard voices and turned to see a group of women gathering at one of the tables. The beachfront bar was a favorite for the guests who stayed at the resort. Mere yards from the ocean, it was a good place to watch the waves and rehydrate while staying out of the sun.

I threw a bar towel over my shoulder and ambled over to the table, checking out the newcomers. Three ladies who looked like they were in their forties, and one younger one, maybe thirty-five or so. I wasn’t super good at estimating women’s ages, but all four had some years on them, which I appreciated. At forty-eight, I liked a woman with some mileage. At this age, they knew their own mind and weren’t so baby obsessed like the younger women were.

“What can I get—-.”

My words sputtered out as my eyes locked with the younger woman at the table. She was stunning. She had dark brown hair that fell just above her shoulders in what I knew was an expensive bob. Chocolate brown eyes squinted at me as I took in her pale pink lips, olive skin, sharp jaw, and the cute little button nose that softened her features. She was lean but curvy, with a generous rack that was barely contained by the modest bathing suit she wore underneath one of those flowered sarongs. I glanced down and inhaled as I realized that even her feet were cute, with bright blue polish on her toes. I automatically looked at her left hand, breathing a sigh of relief when I saw that her ring finger was bare.

My eyes raised up to meet her appraising gaze and in that moment I knew. This was the woman for me. I did not care who I had to kill, she would be mine. Judging from the shell-shocked look in her beautiful eyes, I wasn’t the only one who felt like I had just been hit with a two by four.

Someone cleared their throat, breaking the little staring contest my dark-haired beauty and I were engaged in. I felt a flush rise up my face as I took in the amused gazes of the other women at the table.

“We’ll have a pitcher of margaritas and four glasses,” a woman with purple streaks in her hair told me. “And some chips and salsa please.”

“Just water for me.” My new love spoke for the first time, her voice cultured and firm. “I have to work.”

“Teresa Ann Fontenot, you are not going to work here,” Purple Hair chided. “You promised me you’d relax and have fun this weekend.”

My girl shot an annoyed look at Purple Hair. “Fine, I’ll have a drink, but just one.”

“I can make you a virgin one if you’d like,” I offered.