The Reef Roamer (The Roamer Series Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

had a lot of requests, mostly from the Bahamian government, I think. The Abacos still aren’t very popular, although the diving is good, and they’re anxious to start drawing tourists in.”
    Katherine took the change of subject in stride and let her fingers begin their dance on the keyboard. “How about…two weeks at the Vista and then two weeks on Fantasy Island? I can get you a flight in three days. This Saturday.” Her hands paused. Were they treading on dangerous ground? Katherine was well aware that the Abaco area was where Donald died.
    “Two weeks in each place? I usually stay one week at four different places, for a better overall view and experience of the area. I can see all I need to in a week.”
    “They only have the two places, Jayme. It’s a small island. Tell you what, though.” Her red tipped fingers began their dance again, paused, and then began once more. “There is an out island that is trying to establish a tourist trade. Let’s go for a week in the Vistas, a week on Fantasy, and two weeks on Holm Cay. Three selections instead of four. Holm Cay sounds like a real paradise. A visit from the Reef Roamer would be a real boost to them.”
    “No one knows they’ve been visited by the Reef Roamer until after I’m gone,” Jayme protested.
    “That’s the beauty of it. They all try harder with everyone who visits, because they don’t know who the Roamer is. It could be anyone. They hope that someday the Roamer will visit them.” The concept of the travelogue was Katherine’s, but the tag and the development of The Reef Roamer had been all Jayme’s.
    “Okay, the Abacos it is. I’ll be back on Friday for my tickets.” Jayme stood, stretching out her back and mumbling to herself. “I’ve got to get new memory cards, thumb drives, blank DVDs, and some new battery packs, check the camera and the recorder, call the house sitter and the pet service…” She was still listing things that needed doing as she pushed the glass door open again, stepping into the chilled air.
    Katherine smiled. Jayme would be all right; she just needed something to do. Four years ago it had been the same thing. That was when The Reef Roamer had been born.
     
    ***
     
    They had been sitting across from each other at the weekly Rotary meeting having lunch. Katherine had been having lunch; Jayme had been pushing food around her plate. Jayme had put her fork alongside her plate, deliberately setting it perfectly square to the napkin. Katherine noticed Jayme’s hands were shaking. A glance at her face revealed a disturbing haunted look in her eyes.
    “I can’t stay here,” Jayme murmured to no one and slid her chair silently backward, almost in slow motion.
    Not ‘I have to leave’, or ‘I have to be someplace’, but ‘I can’t stay here’. Katherine frowned, as these thoughts sped across her mind, and then followed Jayme out the back door, unnoticed by most.
    There was a light rain falling in the early autumn afternoon, more like a soft mist, and Jayme appeared not to notice as she sat down in the freshly mowed grass on the bank of the town Millpond. Katherine sat beside her and waited, watching her friend.
    As if she’d known Katherine would follow, Jayme said, “I’ve got to do something, Kath. Anything. Sometimes, like now, I feel like I’m going crazy! Really off-my-rocker, screw-loose crazy. I’m going through the motions of living a normal life, and I don’t have a normal life! My husband is dead, has been for a year, however, it’s as though he’s just not around. I still see the same people, and they treat me the same as they used to; I do the same things and feel the same way. I live the same way, dress the same way, eat the same. Maybe that’s it. Everything is still the same. Wasn’t something supposed to change when Donald died? Am I supposed to change? Do you think I need a nice long vacation?”
    That last question startled Katherine. “Maybe you do. Tell you what,” Katherine’s