Chapter Ten
Drinking coffee from a rose-painted china cup felt disgustingly prim. And though The Marion Hotel was as tranquil as the tranquil shores of Pearl Island, Lauren found it awkward, even three weeks after returning home to find herself sitting in the main dining room at a linen-covered table, with a lace-edged linen napkin in her lap, drinking from fine china and crystal goblets. She wore a smartly cut blue suit with a lace teddy underneath—that, too, seemed odd after dressing in bikinis, shorts, and tee shirts for the better part of four months. With her life in the South Pacific suddenly ripped asunder—no closure, no grand finale, not even a gentle winding down—plunged back into the University environment seemed, at times, absurd. It was certainly mind-blowing. Now, she wasn’t
