Page 28 of Bubbles at the Beach House Hotel

“You’re right. I’m as bad as Will for letting the business interfere with a short vacation. And if this works, I will campaign for a longer, more exotic one.” Rhonda beamed at me.

“Maybe after Vaughn is through filming his latest movie, he and I can take a vacation.”

Rhonda slung her arm around me. ‘We each deserve a break.”

We walked back to our office excited for when we could fit in the vacations we all wanted.

###

That afternoon, we’djust finished reviewing plans for the Halloween dinner/dance we’d scheduled when my cell rang.Amy.

“Hi, Ann. I hope you and Rhonda can come over for bubbles. My treat. We’re celebrating another beautiful day here in Florida, and it wouldn’t feel complete if you two weren’t here.”

“Thanks. We’d love to come. How was the Everglades trip?”

“Fantastic, but we’re glad to be home here at the hotel,” said Amy.

I was dying to mention Henry’s departure but kept quiet. When the topic came up, I wanted to see how Caro felt about it.

“That was Amy?” Rhonda asked after I ended the call.

She got up. “I’ll be right back.”

Rhonda returned with a bottle of champagne to match the one delivered to the guesthouse earlier. “We’ll need this.”

###

When Heather greetedus at the door, Rhonda handed her the chilled bottle of champagne.

“Thank you,” Heather said, holding up the bottle for the other women to see. “Look, everyone, more bubbles!”

“Yay,” said Lisa. “We’ve had a great day. This makes it even more pleasant. Come sit down. We’re watching the news, trying to catch up.”

Jane walked into the living room. “Hello. This is a nice celebration.”

“Where’s Caro?” asked Rhonda.

“I’m here,” Caro said, entering the room. She didn’t look miserable. She seemed upbeat.

I glanced at Rhonda, who didn’t hesitate to ask the question circling my mind.

“Why aren’t you upset?” Rhonda asked Caro. “We heard Henry left for a couple of days. We thought you’d be miserable.”

“He had some personal business to tend to, but he’s promised to return,” said Caro.

Lisa put an arm around Caro. “He’ll be back.”

“Time to celebrate,” said Amy, holding up a bottle of champagne. “Who wants to do the honors?”

“I will,” said Heather. “I know how.”

“You’ve had plenty of practice here,” said Jane, and everyone laughed. “Tomorrow, we’re going to the spa for bubbles of a different kind.”

Heather slid the cork out of the bottle with a soft pop.

“Perfectly done,” I said. One of our wine stewards had shown me how to do that. He’d explained that when opening a bottle of champagne, there should be no loud, fizzling pops, just soft, gentle ones.

The seven of us gathered on the lanai, sitting in lounge chairs by the pool.