Flirting with Temptation - By Kelley St. John Page 0,29
me, you best call me Rose.” The elderly woman wrapped her shawl—a shawl, in one hundred degree weather—around her bony shoulders and quickly entered the lobby as though she actually resided at White Sands, instead of at Sunny Beaches, the retirement resort next door. Sunny Beaches wasn’t nearly as nice as White Sands, but then again, the places set up for retirement typically weren’t. But it was nice enough, and even nicer because of all of the sweeties living within its walls.
Rose’s knee-high stockings didn’t quite reach the end of her floral skirt, and one was two shades darker than the other. She had a seashell-embellished comb holding back one side of her soft white hair and her eyes twinkled as though seeing Babette had unquestionably made her day.
“Come on, let’s take a walk and chat in private,” she said, ushering Babette back out the door she’d just entered.
“Wouldn’t you rather come up to my room and visit there?” To Babette, an air-conditioned room sounded intriguing, particularly since she’d sat a while in Sylvia waiting for the valet guys to remember there were other customers besides the brunette in the Jag. Plus, Babette was curious to see the room Kitty had provided.
“Wouldn’t you rather walk on the beach while we’re chatting? You haven’t been here in ages, and I’m betting you missed it.”
Babette grinned. “Good point.”
Rose shuffled down the sidewalk, then glanced back toward the valet attendants. She took a few more steps, then cupped one hand around her mouth and whispered, “I was sitting on my front deck and saw that uppity bitch in the Jaguar cut you off. Of all the nerve.”
Babette snorted. Rose had to be eighty if she was a day, but Babette had to hand it to her; she was still pretty quick when it came to speaking her mind. Babette had missed her visits to Florida, and now she realized she’d also missed her visits with Rose.
“I thought you’d jump out and take her down, and I was coming to help,” Rose continued.
“I appreciate that,” Babette said, holding back the urge to laugh; the woman was dead serious. “But I decided I didn’t want to start a fight on my first day.”
“We could’ve taken her,” Rose said, lifting one shoulder as she made the proclamation, then readjusting her shawl when the motion caused it to slide down a notch. “I got all excited when I saw your car turning in, kind of assumed that’s what you came down here to do, start a ruckus. That is why you’re here, isn’t it? To finally take back what’s yours? But are you just going to start one with her, or are you down here to go after all of them?”
“ ‘All of them’?” Babette had no idea what Rose was talking about. All of the people at White Sands? No, she didn’t plan to start a fuss with the most affluent residents in Destin, because that was who stayed at White Sands, the top dogs. Babette suddenly realized how much more comfortable she had always been at Sunny Beaches than at White Sands. She’d spent quite a bit of time visiting with Rose and her friends. Maybe it was because many of the Sunny Beach residents reminded her of Granny Gert, or maybe it was just because she liked older folks, but in any case, at Sunny Beaches, she was in her comfort zone. At White Sands, not so much.
But being uncomfortable didn’t mean she would pick a fight with all of the place’s inhabitants. “Contrary to popular belief, I don’t think all of the people who stay there are snobs, and no, I don’t plan to fight them all,” she said with a grin.
Rose shook her head and frowned. “That’s not what I meant. I’m talking about her, and I’m talking about all of the other ones.”
“All of the other ones?”
“Jeff’s dates,” Rose said flatly. “She’s the most recent, but he doesn’t see any of them for long, so she should probably be gone pretty soon. A different one every couple of days, I’d say, and all of them hanging all over him like he’s their last chance to procreate.”
Babette’s stomach lurched. All of them. She inhaled, exhaled thickly. A different one every couple of days. There were two main reasons those statements bothered her. One, she was supposed to get Jeff back with Kitty, but Jeff had obviously moved on, and on, and on. And two, the thought of Jeff with all of them