At first Caroline thought that she must have fallen asleep in the few minutes between closing her eyes and their arrival at the magnificent Grand Laguna Resort Hotel, and that she had to be dreaming. But after sitting up straight and lowering her window she realized that what she was seeing was, in fact, very real, that there were indeed six people standing outside the main entrance of the hotel, waving in her direction and laughing, their familiar faces looking pleased and self-satisfied. “What’s going on?” she asked Hunter as a valet in a crisp white-and-gold uniform stepped forward to open her car door.
“Welcome to the Grand Laguna,” the valet said, his words all but disappearing into the chorus of “Surprise!” that was rushing toward her.
“Happy anniversary,” said Hunter, the smile on his lips spreading to his soft brown eyes. He bent forward to kiss her.
“I don’t understand.”
He kissed her again. “I thought you might enjoy having some family and friends along to celebrate our anniversary.”
“Hey, you two,” Caroline’s brother, Steve, called out. “Get a room, for God’s sake.”
“Good idea,” Hunter said, laughing as he exited the car. He was quickly surrounded by the three waiting men.
“Isn’t this the most absolutely beautiful place you’ve ever seen?” Steve’s wife, Becky, asked, rushing forward.
Caroline pushed herself out of the car’s front seat, taking a quick look at the ten-story coral-colored horseshoe-shaped building framed by blue skies and palm trees. She had to admit it was every bit as magnificent as she’d been led to expect.
“You’re looking a little overwhelmed,” her friend Peggy whispered, coming up beside her and drawing her into an embrace, her curly brown hair tickling the side of Caroline’s nose. At approximately five feet six inches and one hundred and twenty-five pounds, the two women were almost the same height and weight and fit together comfortably.
“I’m flabbergasted.” Caroline turned toward her husband. “How did you manage this?”
“Blame your brother. It was his idea.”
“Couldn’t very well let you celebrate ten years of wedded bliss without us,” Steve said with a laugh.
Caroline looked from one smiling face to the next: her brother and his wife; old friends Peggy and Fletcher Banack; new friends Jerrod and Rain Bolton. The truth was she’d been looking forward to having her husband all to herself for the week. It had been a long time since they’d had the luxury of intimate dinners for two, time to kick back and relax, to reconnect with each other. But the welcoming committee’s collective delight was as contagious as it was obvious, and Caroline’s ambivalence quickly melted away.
“Mommy! Mommy! Get me out of here.”
“Coming, sweetheart.”
“Allow me.” Peggy opened the back door and lifted Michelle out of the car. “Whoa. You’re getting to be such a big girl.”
“I want some juice,” Michelle said.
Becky had already scooted around to the other side of the car and removed Samantha from her car seat, and was cradling the two-year-old in her arms while smothering the top of her head with kisses. “Hi, there, beautiful girl. How’s my little angel?”
“She’s not beautiful and she’s not an angel,” Michelle protested.
Samantha stretched her arms toward her mother.
“Oh, can’t your auntie hold you for a few minutes?” Reluctantly, Becky handed Samantha over to her mother, then stepped back, tucking her short dark hair behind her ears. Caroline thought she looked tired behind her smile, and wondered if she and Steve had been fighting again.
“What took you so long?” Rain asked as the valet removed the luggage from the trunk. “We’ve been waiting over an hour. I’m positively melting in this heat.”
“Well, melting or not, you look great.”
Rain smiled, a wide smile that revealed just the right number of perfect teeth, and tossed her wavy honey-blond hair over the left shoulder of her floral print caftan. Her eyes were blue, her lipstick red, her bare arms tanned and toned. A former model, she would have been beautiful even without the ton of makeup she always wore. Caroline marveled, not for the first time, that Rain had chosen a man as mousy as Jerrod for a mate. Shorter than his wife by several inches and looking a decade older than his forty years, Jerrod was as nondescript as Rain was striking. They made an interesting couple.
The group approached the tall glass doors that opened into the flower-filled, air-conditioned lobby. Samantha was happily ensconced in her mother’s arms while Michelle was glued to her right thigh, pulling down so hard on her white blouse that Caroline feared she might rip it. “Did you all drive down together?” she asked.
“Steve and Becky came in their car,” Peggy explained. “We drove down with Rain and Jerrod.”
“Is your name Rain?” Michelle asked.
Rain laughed, shaking her blond mane. “It is. My mother was very dramatic. And probably more than a little depressed, if you think about it.”
“I think it’s a silly name,” Michelle said.
“Michelle,” Caroline cautioned as they approached the front desk. “Don’t be rude.”
“I have to pee,” the child announced.
“Shit,” said Hunter.
“Mommy,” Michelle said, “Daddy said a bad word.”