Sunset on Moonlight Beach - Sheila Roberts Page 0,1

was Edie Patterson. In short, she was adorable.

Yes, Jenna thought, looking at them and all the people who had come to mean so much to her, what more could a girl ask for?

Sex. Getting a sex life sometime before she died would be great. She’d been divorced for almost four years. Surely she was ready to take a chance on love again.

And who better to take it with than tall, blond, blue-eyed Mr. Gorgeous, Brody Green? Successful, charming, well-off, he was Moonlight Harbor’s catch of the day, and Jenna had caught him the first time they met. Most people already considered them a couple, friends with benefits.

Except there weren’t any benefits, hadn’t been anything beyond a couple of hot kisses, one of them fueled by alcohol and moonlight when she first came to town. Brody was more than willing to offer benefits, and waiting patiently for her to say the word. So far she hadn’t been able to.

Her eyes strayed to Seth Waters, who’d been renting a room at the motel ever since he hit town and started his mold removal business. Dark, swarthy, pirate Seth Waters, who knew how to make the sparks fly. She’d tried his lips on for size, too, but that relationship was stalled. No, more like stuck forever right where it was.

Aunt Edie was a big fan of both men, but Brody had been her buddy for years and he was her favorite. “I don’t know what you’re waiting for,” she’d said to Jenna when another Valentine’s Day came and went and her left-hand ring finger was still bare.

“You’re waiting because the time isn’t right yet,” her mother said when Jenna had repeated Aunt Edie’s words. “When it strikes the hour for love, you’ll know.”

Jenna was beginning to wonder if her love clock was broken.

Nothing wrong with her appetite though. She popped another one of Annie Albright’s bacon-wrapped dates in her mouth.

Annie had her own catering business and a food truck. She’d come a long way from the days of waitressing at Sandy’s Restaurant.

“What’s going to be your first order of business now that you’re on the council?” Ellis asked Jenna, catching her in mid-chew.

The others all looked at her expectantly.

After revamping the Driftwood, she’d felt ready to change the world. At least the world of Moonlight Harbor. Not that her town needed much changing, but she did have ideas.

“I’m sure going to be pushing for looking into building a convention center. It would be great for our local businesses if we could bring tourists to town all year long, and a convention center would help us do that. Then we could hold our winter festival indoors.”

The first Seaside with Santa festival had been a disaster, and even though the chamber of commerce had tried again, moving it to earlier in December, luring people to the beach when the weather was iffy was still a challenge. Tourists could be such wimps.

“A good idea,” Ellis approved. “I’m not sure you’ll get everyone in town on board with it though. It costs money to build convention centers and people might not want to make that big of an investment.”

“Yes, but if we all make more and benefit in the long run it will be worth the pinch in the short run,” Jenna argued.

“Good luck with even getting to that,” said her friend Nora Singleton, who owned Good Times Ice Cream Parlor as well as the fun-plex and go-cart track next to it. “People are more concerned with having more sidewalks in town and solving the deer problem.”

“They’re only a problem for our local gardeners,” said Jenna’s pal Courtney. “The tourists love ’em.”

So did Jenna.

“I love them, too,” said Tyrella Lamb, who owned the hardware store. “In venison stew. I hope you’re listening, Councilwoman.”

“I won’t be able to get a law passed that you can run around town with a rifle, shooting deer,” Jenna said to her.

“Who needs a rifle? They walk right up to you, the stupid things. I could club one to death.”

Sabrina gasped. “That’s terrible.”

And out of character for a woman who was normally so kindhearted.

“No, terrible is what they did to my rhodies last spring,” Tyrella said. “They aren’t even supposed to like rhododendrons and they ate every bud.”

“But they’re so cute,” protested Sabrina.

“And they were here first,” Courtney added.

“First come first served...on a platter,” Tyrella retorted, unrepentant. “The population is out of control. You all just wait. If something isn’t done pretty soon we’re going to start seeing cases of Lyme disease down