Footprints in the Sand Read Free Page B

across the room to inspect the bathroom. A large soaking tub sat beneath a picture window. She peered out and squealed with delight.
    “Are you kidding? My own private pool?” she asked.
    Kathy nodded, smiling. “Come on. Let’s go out there.”
    At the rear of the suite, a door led out to a small, secluded garden. The wooden walls were tall enough that no one without a ladder could possibly see over them. In the corner a small fountain surrounded by orange hibiscus sprayed water into the air. Two padded lounge chairs sat on soft white sand adjacent to the compact lap pool.
    “There’s a retractable awning,” said Kathy, pointing to a switch by the door. “I know how you hate the sun.”
    “Uh, this is everything,” said Piper as she plopped down on a lounge chair. “I’m never leaving.”
    “I thought you’d like it,” said Kathy with satisfaction. She lowered herself into the other chair and put up her feet. “Nothing but the best for my maid of honor.”
    “Wait a minute,” said Piper as she got up and headed inside again. “I have something I want to show you.”
    When she returned, Piper held the little box she’d carried on her lap during the plane ride. Now she opened the lid.
    “Look at this,” she said as she pulled out a delicate white circle and held it up with her long, slender fingers.
    “A sand dollar?” asked Kathy.
    “Yes, but I didn’t find it on the beach. I made it and the other ones in here from sugar. They’re going to decorate your wedding cake.”
    “Oh, Piper!” Kathy exclaimed, her eyes glistening. “How beautiful!”
    Piper studied her cousin’s face. The two of them had known each other all their lives, having been born only three months apart, and while Kathy was smiling now, Piper sensed something else. Was it tension? Worry? Fear?
    “So how’s it going?” she asked. “Are you flipping out yet? I remember when I was planning my wedding. I thought I’d go out of my mind. And I didn’t even get anywhere near the final days.”
    Kathy looked with sympathy at Piper. “How are you ?” she asked. “I can’t tell you how much I admire the way you handled everything, Piper. That had to be so rough.”
    “Yeah, it was pretty devastating at first,” said Piper as she reached over and ran her fingers through the sand. “But I realized I was more embarrassed by the cancellation than sad about the fact that Gordon and I weren’t going to be married. Now I know it was for the best. By breaking off the engagement, he really ended up doing me a huge favor.”
    “How so?” asked Kathy. “You loved him, didn’t you?”
    Piper considered the question. “I did, or at least I thought I did. But whenever I think about him now, I have this feeling of relief. We really didn’t have what it takes to go the distance. Not like you and Dan.”
    Kathy laid her head against the lounge chair’s pillow and looked up at the sky. “I’m lucky, Piper, and I know it. Lucky to be totally sure that Dan is the one for me. I want to spend the rest of my life with him. Now, if we can just get through the wedding.”
    “So many details and decisions, right?”
    “Most of those have been taken care of by now,” said Kathy. “You know how organized my mother is. She’s been great.”
    “Then what’s the problem?” asked Piper.
    Kathy looked at Piper with distress. “Shelley Hart, a girl who works with me here at the inn, has become one of my best friends, and I asked her to my bridesmaid. No one has seen or heard from her for the last three days.”

Chapter 6
    W henever he had something weighing on his mind, Dan Clemens stole away from his office and went to the turtle tank to spend some time with Hang Tough. The green sea turtle had come to the Mote Marine Lab with a serious head wound and a fishing hook in one eye. Though blinded, the giant turtle thrived now in a floor-to-ceiling viewing tank, fed daily with squid, lettuce, and other vegetables. Officials determined that Hang