Annie's Rainbow - Fern Michaels [63]
Annie kicked her shoes off and fired up a cigarette. Alone in Paradise with a drink she couldn’t pronounce and a cigarette. Even Elmo didn’t want to be with her. The dogs had gone willingly. Alone. One way or another she’d always been alone.
Annie started to cry. What was it Tom always said? Life’s a bitch, then you die. What a happy thought. She sobbed once, then blew her nose just as a young girl dressed in the skimpiest bathing suit Annie had ever seen and spike-heeled sandals walked past her, a bottle of Budweiser in her hand. She backed up when she heard Annie’s sob.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“Nothing’s wrong. I’m all right. I don’t know, all of a sudden I started feeling sorry for myself because I’m all alone,” Annie blurted.
“That won’t get you anywhere. See, that was your first mistake. You should never come to a place like this alone just like you should never go on a cruise by yourself. I’m on my honeymoon. We got sooooo much money for our wedding that Joe and I decided to come here instead of going to Disney. I haven’t seen a single guy since I got here two days ago. I still look ‘cause it’s fun. Joe looks, too. It’s okay to look, but you can’t touch. Stella Kaminsky,” Stella said, swigging from the beer bottle. “Listen, honey, if you want you can pal around with me and Joe. It’s not like we’re on a real honeymoon you know. We lived together for five years before we decided to get married. I’ll bet we could fix you up. Frizz up your hair, some darker makeup, a better-looking dress, one that says, let’s get it on. You know the kind. You’re kind of dressed like a den mother or something. Is that a real Chanel bag? Of course it isn’t. Someday I’m going to get a real Chanel bag and sport around with it. I guess yours isn’t real ’cause, if it was, why would you be staying in a dump like this?”
“Annie Clark. Is this place considered a dump?” she asked.
“Honey, did you take a good look around in the daylight? It’s downright shabby. If you want to snag a man, you need to go to some fancy place. This is okay for me and Joe because we have each other. With a little work you could probably get something going. I’m free tomorrow morning if you want me to help you. How long are you staying?”
“Ah ... I’m leaving tomorrow,” Annie said.
“Some guy dump you and you came here to get over it?”
“Something like that,” Annie said in a strangled voice. “Are those breasts your own or did you have implants?” Oh, God, did I just say that?
“Straight from the factory. Model number SJ264. Joe paid for them two birthdays ago. Saucy, he calls them. I think they’re perky. What do you do?”
Saucy. Perky. Uh-huh. “I sell coffee.”
“Coffee’s good. So what went wrong with the guy that dumped you?”
“He didn’t like hearing the truth. The truth as I saw it. It really wasn’t any of my business, but I thought I had the right to voice an opinion. I don’t know if I’m sorry or not. It’s getting late. Guess I’ll go upstairs. It was nice-meeting you, Stella.”
“Listen, I’ll be out here by the pool around ten. If you need to go somewhere, I can drive you. We learned to get around in just two days. Joe and I rented a car. If you want to hang out, fine. I’ll wait for fifteen minutes. Howzat?”
“That’s . . . that’s fine.” Annie opened her bag and stuffed the contents into the pockets of her shorts. “Here,” she said. “Consider it a wedding present.”
“Jeez,