Secrets in the Sand by Carolyn Brown

            “We could run the company without her for a little while, but she’ll never agree to a trip.” Bonnie did a rat-a-tat-tat on the table with her long fingernails. “You got something in mind, Patty?”

            “Well, I do,” Mindy butted in. “I vote we give her two weeks off for an early birthday present. She’ll be twenty-eight at the end of the month and we’ve retired the band, so there’s no reason she can’t go. Now, where were you thinkin’ about sending her, Patty?”

            Patty smiled, and her eyes twinkled with excitement. “Panama City Beach, Florida. I know it’s not as fancy as New Orleans or Paris, France, but it’s a nice calm place with a little hotel that sits right on the sand. Remember when Ronald and I were dating and went there for a weekend? It was wonderful, and so quiet.”

            “Sounds like a great place for two people to fall in love all over again.” Allie giggled. “I hope to hell Angel can’t see through you as well as I can.”

            Patty gave them all an innocent look. “Me? Why, I just thought our dear friend needed to relax. But not by herself.” She smiled. “Suppose a tall, handsome fellow who filled out his jeans real well, and who just happens to know her from high school… What if he happened to show up on the beach at the same time she did? Angel couldn’t blame me for that, now could she?”

            “And it’s time she took him back or set him free—or else set herself free, which would be even better,” Allie said. “She’ll be here in a few minutes. Let’s take her to dinner and tell her it’s a done deal. You get the plane tickets and plans made, Patty.”

            “I’ll do it,” Bonnie said. “I can have everything ready at six o’clock. Let’s go out for Italian food and tell Angel she can have tomorrow to get things packed and ready. She can fly out of Dallas Wednesday morning, and we’ll even let her take a laptop. But she can only call in once a day unless it’s a dire emergency. Who’s informing Clancy?”

            “Not me,” Susan said. “I’m no good at tellin’ lies or keepin’ secrets.”

            “Well, this is too important to leave to amateurs,” Allie said.

            Bonnie raised her hand. “I’ll call him, and then if she ever finds out, I’ll blame it on Red. And I can keep a straight face when I lie. After all, I deal with the IRS.”

            All four women turned to look at her with raised eyebrows.

            Bonnie shrugged. “And I did a little research and found out Clancy’s father was in the oil business with Red at one time.”

            “Why are we doing this?” Allie asked. “We’ve wanted to shoot Clancy dead for ten years and now here we are, making arrangements to tell him where Angel is for two weeks. Not one damned bit of this makes a whole lot of sense to me.”

            “Angel’s not happy,” Patty said. “And the only thing that’s goin’ to make her happy is getting him either out of, or into, her heart. It’s a love-him-or-leave-him kind of situation. So, we’re just helping her get her life straightened out so we can get on with ours. We’ve got a baby to birth in a few months, a wedding to stage, and a divorce to finalize. We need to get Angel’s love life back on track, so we can do all that and run this oil business like we need to do.”

            “I second the motion,” Susan said. “Let’s all agree before anyone chickens out. Meeting adjourned. See you all later.” She passed the window looking down on Main Street as she moved toward the door. “Here she comes down the hallway. Better look sharp now and get back to work.”

            ***

            At five thirty, Angel got into the elevator, pushed the button for the first floor, and found all her friends waiting in the lobby.

            They chatted about Red coming back to Texas and how they were glad Angel hadn’t caved and sold him their office spaces. When they reached the Italian restaurant on the other end of the block, the waitress seated them at the back and brought a menu. There was something about the way the other five kept exchanging long looks that told Angel something was going on. She looked at Susan’s face first, knowing full well her friend couldn’t keep a secret in a bucket with a lid on it. She shifted her focus over to Patty to find her eyes were twinkling, and just as Angel shifted her gaze to Mindy, she caught her winking at Allie. Bonnie was the only one who didn’t act as if she were sitting on a keg of dynamite with a short fuse.