Or maybe he was in his room. She slipped out of the house and across the parking lot to room number two, knocked softly on the door. No answer.
Maybe it was just as well. Who knew what she’d have done in her present state of mind.
She finally went to bed. Her mother was already asleep, breathing softly. Melody Jones never snored. She was much too ladylike for that. Everything she did, she did with grace and calm, even sleeping.
“Oh, Mom, if only I could be more like you,” Jenna murmured. She got ready for bed, then climbed in next to her mother and snuggled close. “Please don’t leave me for a long, long time. I couldn’t survive.”
Mel sighed as if to say, “Don’t worry, I won’t.”
Jenna closed her eyes and finally, finally went to sleep.
On Sunday morning she awoke to the smell of coffee. She opened her eyes. Her mother was still next to her in bed, sound asleep. Had Sabrina gotten up?
She went to her daughter’s room and, finding it empty, smiled. This was a new and improved Sabrina, up early and making breakfast. Aunt Edie would be proud. She’d get some of that freshly brewed coffee and bring it up to her.
To her surprise, she entered the kitchen to find her aunt sitting at the kitchen table, sipping coffee and offering instructions as Sabrina put together a blackberry coffee cake. Her heart caught in her throat.
“Aunt Edie!” She hurried over and hugged her aunt and Aunt Edie patted her arm. “You’re feeling better?”
“Yes, I am. I’m still a little tired, so our girl is making breakfast for us.”
“Blackberry coffee cake, your favorite,” Sabrina said over her shoulder to Jenna.
Jenna fell onto the nearest chair, relief washing over her. “I’m so glad to see you up. You gave us a real scare yesterday.”
Her aunt’s smile fell away. “I’m sorry. It was selfish of me.”
“Selfish to not feel good? Hardly.”
“No, selfish to give up.”
Oh, boy. But what if they had to? “Aunt Edie...” Jenna began.
“Oh, I don’t mean on the inn. If we have to sell it, then we’ll sell it.”
“Sell the Driftwood?” Sabrina turned away from her project and stared at them in horror. “We can’t sell the Driftwood, not when we’ve worked so hard on it. Anyway, you have all that money, Mom.”
“It’s not turning out to be as much as I thought,” Jenna said, and left it at that. Much as she despised Damien she still couldn’t bring herself to paint a bad picture of him for her daughter. He’d already painted a bad enough one.
“Thanks to that horrible man of yours,” Aunt Edie said, and then, realizing what she’d done, looked horrified.
Jenna braced herself.
“Is it because of Daddy?” Sabrina asked, the disappointment plain on her face.
“Things don’t always go as you plan,” Jenna said evasively.
“I hate him,” Sabrina said with all the passion of angry youth, and turned back to her mixing bowl. Hate and love, how easily you mixed them up when you were a kid.
“You do now, but someday...” What? Jenna decided not to finish the sentence. “Anyway, things will work out,” she said, bringing them back to the subject at hand.
“It’s time to let go,” Aunt Edie said with a sigh. “We did make so many wonderful memories here, and I have to admit, the Driftwood Inn has meant a lot to me. I loved being able to meet people and, well, those guests almost became like family,” she said with a smile. “But they weren’t, not really. This is my family.” Her smile vanished and she dropped her gaze. “I so wanted to help you.”
“We wanted to help you, too,” Jenna said earnestly. And they’d all failed.
“I thought the Driftwood Inn could be useful again. I thought I could be useful.” Jenna was about to speak, but Aunt Edie held up her hand. “After Sabrina came to my bedside last night I had a lot to think about. And do you know what I concluded?”
Jenna was almost afraid to ask. “What?”
“That maybe I can still be useful. Just because we have to sell the Driftwood doesn’t mean we can’t stay here in Moonlight Harbor. We can keep the house and I can keep teaching Sabrina how to cook. We’ll all be together, and we’ll all be at the beach. And that’s what counts, isn’t it?”
“Oh, Aunt Edie,” Jenna said, tears in her eyes.
“I know it’s not much to give you.”
“It’s everything,” Jenna said, and hugged her.
Aunt Edie smiled and then heaved a sigh. “I’m still a little tired. I think I’ll go back upstairs and rest. Maybe Sabrina will bring me some of that coffee cake when it’s out of the oven.”
“For sure,” Sabrina said. “Do you want me to help you upstairs?”
Aunt Edie waved away the offer. “I’m not dead yet.”
Thank God.
Mel came down just as Sabrina was taking out the coffee cake. “I looked in on Aunt Edie. She’s in bed but she says she’s feeling better.”
“She is.”
“Good,” said Mel. “Then I can go back and not worry about you.”
“But you just got here,” Sabrina protested.
“I know. Sadly, I have to work tomorrow. But I’ll stay for lunch. How about a beach walk? Then I’ll treat you girls to some popcorn shrimp at the Seafood Shack.”
They gave Aunt Edie some coffee cake and then played hooky from church, something that was more than okay with Sabrina, and walked the beach, looking for agates. This time they didn’t find any, but Sabrina was happy with the beach glass she discovered.
“You’ll have to show her how to make wind chimes,” Mom said to Jenna.
“Can we do that today?” Sabrina asked eagerly.
“Probably,” Jenna said, and her daughter smiled, then raced ahead in search of more beach treasure.
“Being down here is going to be good for her,” Mom predicted.
“I hope so,” Jenna said.
Her mother put an arm around her. “It will be. Things will work out.”
One way or another, Jenna thought wistfully.
They returned laden with beach treasures and, even though her circumstances hadn’t changed, Jenna felt as if a heavy load had been lifted from her shoulders.
“You’ll be okay,” her mother told her, giving her one final hug before leaving.
Yes, she would. If only...
She steered her thoughts away from the Driftwood Inn.
Mel had barely left when the doorbell rang. Jenna went to answer it, figuring it was one of her aunt’s friends. Instead, she opened the door to find a chunky forty-year-old man with brown curls in the process of curling their way off his forehead. He wore jeans that were sure to show a butt crack if he bent over and a faded Nirvana T-shirt. Next to him stood a short, roly-poly woman with stringy, long brown hair and glasses. She was holding a squirming three-year-old boy with hair the same color as his father’s.
The man looked at Jenna in confusion but she’d have known that snub nose and those big, brown eyes anywhere. “Winston. What are you doing here?”
His brows shot up. “Jenna? I haven’t seen you in years.”
“It’s been a while.”
“I want down!” cried the little boy, straining against his mother’s arms.
She set him down and he raced past Jenna into the living room. Oh, boy.
“We came to see Aunt Edie,” Winston said. “Thought she’d like to meet the wife and see Winston Junior.”
Oh, yes, that was just what Aunt Edie needed when she didn’t feel well. “Actually, she’s not feeling too good.”
“Is she okay? Is she dying?”
Did he sound hopeful? “No,” Jenna said, disgusted. She could hear Roger squawking and decided she was stuck letting the invaders into the house. “Come on in,” she said, and stepp
ed aside.
“Call the cops!” shrieked Roger. “Call the cops!”
Jenna got to the living room in time to see little Winston Junior shaking the base of the cage. She rushed over and pulled his hand away. “We don’t do that to Roger. He gets seasick.”
“Give me whiskey,” Roger begged. Jenna knew just how he felt.
Sabrina had come out of the kitchen to see what the commotion was all about and stood staring at the little terror, who was now jumping up, batting the base of the cage like a piñata. “Hey, don’t do that!” she snapped, and the boy pulled his mouth down at the corners with two fingers and stuck his tongue out at her. Such an adorable child.
Winston was in the room now, along with the missus, and he flopped onto the couch. “I see she’s still got the bird.”
“Yes, she does. So, Winston, what brings you to town?”
“Oh, we were just driving through on our way to Oregon.”
Moonlight Harbor wasn’t on the way to anything.
“Thought we’d stop in. I haven’t seen Aunt Edie in a while.”
“You caught her at a bad time,” Jenna said. Meanwhile, Winston’s son was using the seashell chair for a trampoline.
“Can you make him stop doing that?” Jenna asked.
“What? Oh, sorry. Win-Win, sit down.”
The child plopped onto the chair, crossed his arms and scowled.
“Maybe he’d like a cookie,” Jenna said. “Sabrina, can you take Win-Win into the kitchen and give him a cookie?”
Sabrina looked at her mother as if she’d just told her to get on out there in the Coliseum and fight the lions. “Do you want a cookie?” she asked the boy grudgingly. Jenna’s cookies may not have been as good as Aunt Edie’s but she suspected that Winston Junior, like his father, wasn’t that discriminating when it came to food.
“Yessss!” And Win-Win was off and running.
“I wouldn’t mind something to eat myself,” said Winston. He sniffed. “Something sure smells good.”
The aroma of coffee cake still hung faintly in the air. Jenna said nothing. That had been for Aunt Edie. If Winston got near it, the rest would be gone before you could say oink.
“I’ll go get us a plate,” offered his wife, and waddled off to the kitchen.
“Have Sabrina put some cookies in a container to take with you,” Jenna called after her. “That way you’ll have something to eat on the road,” she said to her cousin.
“We’re not in that big of a hurry,” he said. “So, what are you doing here, Jenna? Visiting?”
“I’m living here now,” she said, making his easy smile shrink. “I’m running the Driftwood Inn for Aunt Edie.”
“Looks like you’re in over your head. The place is a dump.”
“I only got here last month,” she said. “It’s taking some time to pull it together.” No way was she telling him they were going to have to pull the plug on it. He’d be all over that, happy to help her sell it and hold his hand out for a chunk of the money. Whether it was food or money, Winston didn’t care. He’d always been greedy for both. She could still see him when they were kids, whining to his parents that they hadn’t given him enough spending money. It had seemed to Jenna, whose piggy bank was always starving, that he had plenty to spend, even when his father wasn’t working. Which was a lot of the time.
“How are Aunt Grace and Uncle Arthur?” Her mom kept in touch with her brother even though they had little in common. Mel was a hard worker. And Uncle Arthur? He’d spent more time drawing unemployment than he had working. Last Jenna had heard he was getting ready to retire from his job as a tire salesman.
“Dad’s retired now. Mom’s still working.”
“And how about you, Winston?”
He shrugged. “I’m in between jobs.”
Of course. Which would explain why he’d stopped by to see good old Aunt Edie. Jenna knew her aunt had loaned him money over the years. Judging from the letter her aunt had included in Jenna’s birthday card she was about through doing that. Which was just as well, considering the fact that they didn’t have any to loan.
“Thought we’d take a run down to see Kelly’s folks while we’ve got some time,” Winston said.
And suck them dry for a while. Jenna was so sick of mooches.
“Well, Winston,” she said, “I hope you guys weren’t planning on staying here. There’s no room.” No room at the inn. Ha, ha.
He frowned. “You can probably find a corner for us somewhere. Aunt Edie’s got that spare bedroom.”
Jenna shook her head. “It’s my office now and I can’t have you sleeping on my massage table.”
The frown dipped lower. “You’ve kind of taken over, haven’t you?”
“No kind of about it,” she said sweetly.
He pointed a pudgy finger at her. “You know, you always were bossy.”
She had to smile at that. “That’s because I’m the oldest.”
“Only by six months.”
She sighed. “Look, if you want to go up and see Aunt Edie, I’ll take you. But she really hasn’t been feeling well, so you can’t stay long.”
“Maybe we’ll let Aunt Edie be the judge of that,” he snapped. He marched up the stairs, Jenna following in his wake. “You’ve probably been telling her all kinds of lies about me,” he muttered.
“What would I tell her? I haven’t seen you in years.”
“Your mom’s probably told you stuff.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Winston. Don’t be so paranoid.”
He stopped on a stair and whirled around to glare at her. “Paranoid? You’re moved in here, happy as a clam and telling me I can’t stay and you’re calling me paranoid?”
“I was invited to move in,” she said.
“Yeah, right,” he said, and started stamping the rest of the way to the landing. “I heard you and the artist were splitting. You probably came down here and gave her some sad sob story about how you couldn’t make it.”
Ah, yes, good old Cousin Winston. He hadn’t improved with age. “I’m making it. I have a business. How about you?”
“I’m going to be doing an internet start-up. I’ll be rich enough to buy this place in two years.”
“Well, go, Winston,” she said, reverting to her thirteen-year-old snotty voice.
“You should be glad I came down,” he said as he marched along the landing. “It’s obvious you need help here.” He pushed open Aunt Edie’s door without bothering to knock. “Aunt Edie,” he greeted her in a hearty voice.
Jenna was right behind him and saw the expression on her aunt’s face. Unpleasant surprise.
“I tried to tell him you hadn’t been feeling well,” she said.
“Winston, what are you doing here?” Aunt Edie asked wearily.
“I was passing through and wanted to stop by and see you,” he said. “You haven’t met my wife yet.”
“No. And I sent you a wedding present four years ago and am still waiting for a thank-you.”
The tips of Winston’s ears went red and even though Jenna couldn’t see his face she knew it matched them. “We’ve been busy,” he said.
“I imagine. With your little boy. I sent a card and twenty-five dollars and never heard a peep.”
Cousin Winston was in deep doo-doo. “Auntie, we really did appreciate that.”
“Yes, I could tell,” she said. “But it was nice of you to stop by. How many years has it been now? Let’s see. I think the last time I saw you was about five years ago. You wanted to start a business designing websites and asked me for money. Which I gave you. And I didn’t get a thank-you for that, either.”
“I’m sorry, Aunt Edie. I had my hands full trying to get it off the ground.”
“And did you?”
“Uh, no. That didn’t work out.”
“I
’m sorry to hear that, Winston.”
“But hey, it’s good to see you. I’m sorry you haven’t been feeling well.”
“I’m better now,” she said.
“That’s good. We wouldn’t want to lose you.”
“I wasn’t planning on getting lost,” she said shortly.
He manufactured a laugh. “Well, I thought maybe we’d hang around for a couple of days, catch up, give you a chance to meet Winston Junior.”
“I don’t think so, Winston,” Aunt Edie said. “I’m not feeling that much better. And really, we’re not in a position to entertain at the moment. Jenna has her hands full renovating the inn.”
“It looks like she could use some help.”
“I’ve got it under control,” Jenna said, and he scowled at her over his shoulder.
“It was nice of you to stop by,” Aunt Edie said, “but I’m sure you need to get on the road to your next adventure.”
“Jeez, Aunt Edie, we just got here,” he protested.
“Winston, this is what happens when you drop in on people unannounced. They can’t always entertain you. I suggest the next time you take it into your head to come butter me up you at least call and see if it’s convenient. And maybe, if I ever get a thank-you for everything I’ve done for you these past few years or hear from you when you don’t want something from me, I’ll be more inclined to entertain you.”
Ouch. This was a side of her aunt Jenna had never seen.
Winston bristled. “If that’s the way you feel I guess we won’t stay.”
“I’m sure you’ll be happier somewhere else,” Aunt Edie agreed.
Winston said no more. He left the room in a huff.
“I never liked that boy,” Aunt Edie said. “He’s always been selfish. Go hustle him out before he eats everything in the cupboard.”
Jenna snickered and followed her cousin out of the room.
He was waiting for her at the foot of the stairs. “You’ve poisoned her against me,” he accused.
“I don’t know, Winston. I’d say you’ve done a pretty good job of that all on your own.”
“Fine. Let this whole place fall down around your ears. And when you need someone to come help you, don’t be calling me.”
Welcome to Moonlight Harbor Page 31