Welcome to Moonlight Harbor

by Sheila Roberts

  I shouldn’t have let him. Like she could stop her brother hunting someone down and shooting him? Like she’d have known?

  Had she known?

  Seth’s words came back at her. I found out where the rat bastard lived, went to his place and shot him as soon as he opened his front door.

  He went to kill a man, got close and personal on his front porch and only managed to shoot him in the shoulder? Surely he could have done better at such close range. Okay, something was off here.

  She looked across the parking lot. Seth was throwing his sleeping bag and cooler in the back of his truck, where he kept his power-washing equipment. She watched as he walked back into his room for the rest of his things. Was he a thug or a hero?

  I shouldn’t have let him. Shouldn’t have let him shoot the man? Wrong, wrong, something was wrong.

  He came back out, carrying his duffel bag. Another minute and he’d be gone.

  Jenna bolted down the porch steps and raced across the parking lot. “Seth!”

  He either didn’t hear her or was ignoring her. He walked around to the cab and got in. Jenna hadn’t run so fast in years. He’d started the engine by the time she grabbed the passenger door and climbed into the cab.

  His eyebrows shot up. “What are you doing?”

  “I want to talk to you.”

  He kept his gaze straight ahead. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

  “I think there is.”

  “Trust me, there’s not. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get going.”

  “Where are you going to go?”

  His lips clamped shut. She could see the muscles bunching in his jaw.

  “You just got here.”

  “And now I’m just leaving.”

  She took a shot in the dark, testing her theory. “You didn’t do it, did you?”

  He looked at her as if she were nuts. “What?”

  “Oh, no.” She shook her head. “Don’t play dumb.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Would you mind getting out of my truck?”

  “Actually, I would.”

  He heaved a sigh and looked heavenward. “Jenna.”

  “You can find anything online, you know. Recipes, old friends, old news stories.”

  He made no reply.

  She pressed on. “What your sister said—‘I shouldn’t have let him do it’—she wasn’t talking about you shooting the man. She was talking about you taking the blame for what she did. You took the fall for your little sister, didn’t you?”

  He glared at her. “The hell I did, and don’t you ever say that to anyone. You hear me?”

  Now he did look like a criminal, threatening and dangerous. Jenna scooted up against the door, but she kept going. “She was already on a bad path. How did it start, with some gateway drug?” His breath came out in an angry hiss, but she persisted. “Where was she getting the money for drugs? Shoplifting? Stealing from family and friends? Dealing?”

  “Get out.”

  She was right. He wouldn’t be reacting the way he was otherwise. She jutted out her chin. “No. Not until you promise to stay.”

  His jaw was clenched so tightly she thought he might break it.

  “Hey,” she said softly. “If you want the whole world to think you’re a badass that’s fine with me.”

  “I don’t care what the whole world thinks. I don’t care what anyone thinks about me.”

  “Even if they think that was a pretty noble thing you did?” Jenna asked softly.

  He turned his head away and looked out the window. “I told you what I did.”

  “And isn’t it interesting that the police believed your stupid story?”

  He turned back and glared at her. “It wasn’t stupid. It was true. What do you think, the guy shot himself?”

  “No. Where’d you get the gun?”

  “My dad had one. He left it behind when he split.”

  “So, you took your dad’s gun, walked up on a man’s porch and, standing right in front of him, aimed to kill.”

  “Damn right I did.”

  “And missed?”

  He let out a breath. “Okay, so I chickened out at the last minute and couldn’t do it. So, sue me.”

  “Or how about this? Your sister took Daddy’s gun and went over there to get her fix. Maybe she was out of money and hoped to rob the guy. Whatever. The gun went off and she called big brother. You came running and took over from there. Who called the cops? The dealer? What kind of deal did you make with him? Not to rat him out if he didn’t press charges against your sister?”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Seth growled. “You don’t know anything.”

  “Okay, then. How did it go down?”

  “It went down the way I said it did.”

  “Right. The cops had you, they had the gun, they had a confession. Everybody won.”

  His jaws were clenched again.

  “Except you.”

  “I came out fine. And my sister’s fine now. That’s what matters.”

  “How many years of your life did you lose?”

  “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that my sister’s okay.”

  “Maybe it matters that you get to be okay now, too.” She reached over and laid a hand on his arm. “Don’t leave us, Seth. I won’t tell. Your secret’s safe with me.”

  He shook his head.

  “I need help. I’ll never get this place in shape without you. Please.”

  “You don’t need a jailbird.”

  “You’re not a jailbird anymore, and you’ve got a chance for a good life here. Don’t blow that just because I got nosy.” She wasn’t sure why she was arguing so hard. Maybe she felt guilty for opening Pandora’s box. Maybe it was something else. Maybe it didn’t matter why.

  He took a deep breath. “I shouldn’t stay.”

  “You can’t keep running every time someone learns about your past. Didn’t you tell me only a few minutes ago to keep fighting, that the only way to go is forward? So, let’s go forward. Put your cooler back in your room and come over to the house. Aunt Edie’s making a tuna casserole.” He still hesitated, so she added, “I promise I won’t say anything to anyone about your bad aim.”

  “Ha, ha.”

  “You have to start over somewhere. It may as well be here. And besides, you can’t outrun the internet.”

  She kept talking, kept pressing, until he finally said, “Okay, stop already. I give up.”

  “Good. See you at dinner.”

  She walked back to the house smiling, glad his past was out in the open, glad she’d gotten to the heart of the man. In a way they were kindred souls, each trying to make a new start, trying to get over the mistakes of their pasts.

  What lay out there in the future? What was going to happen to her? It wasn’t prison, that much she knew. Seth was right. Things could always be worse.

  * * *

  The next day Jenna paid a visit to the bank to see if she could find a way to get more money.

  Sherwood Stern, the bank manager, was a master at the regretful smile. He reminded her of the wizard in the old movie The Wizard of Oz. The great and powerful Oz.

  Except Sherwood wasn’t acting very great and powerful. “I’m afraid your aunt’s been having trouble paying back the loan I already made to her.”

  “Yes, but this wouldn’t be to my aunt. This would be to me,” Jenna told him.

  “What collateral would you offer?”

  He looked almost hopeful until she said, “The Driftwood Inn?”

  He pursed his lips and shook his head. “I’m afraid Edie already put that up as collateral.”

  “Isn’t there such a thing as a second—”

  “Mortgage? That doesn’t apply here.”

 
“Perhaps we could add on a little more to the loan.”

  “I’d like to help you,” Sherwood said. “Really, I would. But I don’t think that would be wise, considering the current situation.”

  “Another sixty thousand...” Okay, there would be other expenses. “Seventy,” Jenna corrected herself, “and we’d have the place up and running and would be in a position to pay back what we owe.”

  He was shaking his head.

  “How about this? Could we refinance? You could charge us more interest,” she added recklessly, hoping to sweeten the pot.

  “I’m afraid your aunt’s credit score is too low. The bank won’t take the risk. Unless you yourself have something you could put up as collateral? Some property?”

  “I have a business,” Jenna said.

  “Then you have some assets?” he asked hopefully.

  “Well, I don’t own a building.”

  “Inventory?”

  A massage table, stone warmer, desk and oils and towels and blankets wouldn’t exactly impress Sherwood. “Nothing worth more than a few hundred,” she confessed.

  He looked so regretful. He probably practiced that expression in the mirror. “Ms. Jones, I would love to help you and your aunt, I really would.”

  She doubted it.

  “But I can’t take the risk. I have a board of directors to answer to.”

  “But surely your board of directors all know my aunt. She’s been a member of this community since the sixties. Staying in business that long should count for something.”

  “Her current situation is too big a problem.”

  “But that’s why we come to banks, when we’re having a cash-flow problem.”

  “I’m sorry. I truly am.”

  Just not sorry enough. Jenna returned home feeling even more discouraged than she’d been the day before. All well and good to talk about keeping on fighting, but how could you do that when nobody even let you in the ring?

  One look at Jenna’s face when she walked into the kitchen was enough to make Aunt Edie’s hopeful expression die a quick death. “That penny-pincher Sherwood,” she said in disgust. “And to think I gave him a special discount when he and his wife honeymooned here.”

  They were going to have to have a serious discussion about what to do with the Driftwood Inn. “Aunt Edie, I don’t know what else to do,” Jenna began.

  She had no idea how to rehab a motel. She’d jumped in with no clue and been in over her head from the beginning. Now she was going under and taking her poor aunt with her.

  Aunt Edie quickly turned and pulled a casserole dish from the oven. “Don’t you worry, dear. We’ll think of something. Meanwhile, tonight we’re going to forget our troubles and have a bonfire on the beach. I went to the store and picked up marshmallows and chocolate and graham crackers for s’mores. And we have hot dogs and my best ever beans to go with them. I got root beer for Sabrina and some of those wine coolers all you young people like for us grown-ups. Pete’s already making the fire and I sent Sabrina and that nice young man Seth down with the cooler. All we have to do is bring the bean dish.”

  Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. Jenna sighed. Well, what the heck. They should probably enjoy the beach as much as they could. Who knew how much longer they’d be able to stay?

  She resigned herself to having fun whether she wanted to or not, and escorted her aunt over the dunes, balancing baked beans in one hand and Aunt Edie in the other.

  “I haven’t done this in years,” Aunt Edie said, sounding as excited as a child. “It does bring back such memories.”

  It did for Jenna, too. All those evenings around the campfire, roasting hot dogs, listening to Uncle Ralph go through his repertoire of ghost stories—“The Man with the Golden Arm” and “Johnny, I Want My Liver Back” never failed to send shivers down her spine. And then, of course, there’d been all the silly songs, from “Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall” to “Found a Peanut.” Maybe she’d teach Sabrina some songs tonight. Maybe it would be good to forget her troubles for a little while.

  The men had the fire roaring and Seth was helping Sabrina launch her kite.

  “It’s a perfect night for a beach fire,” Aunt Edie said happily, settling on a log.

  “I got a good blaze going for you,” Pete told her, as if he’d single-handedly collected the driftwood and started the fire, something Jenna highly doubted.

  But, oh well. There would be no quarrels with Pete tonight. No frowns, no worries. Tonight she would hide from the ugly future.

  She set the beans on a makeshift table the men had set up on a piece of driftwood and fell onto the blanket laid out on the sand. The sun was still high in the sky, the late-afternoon air was warm and the breeze was gentle. Her daughter was letting out more string on her kite and laughing as it dipped and soared. It was a perfect moment. She was going to stay in it and enjoy it.

  Pete broke into the wine coolers and gave one to both Aunt Edie and Jenna.

  “Don’t let me have more than one,” Aunt Edie cautioned. “I don’t want to be a bad example for Sabrina.”

  “Aunt Edie, I never figured you for a wine cooler kind of woman,” Jenna said after they’d toasted each other.

  “I really prefer iced tea to alcohol, but once in a while it’s fun to splurge. Party hearty, as they say. And at my age, you don’t know how many years you have left so you need to make the most of them.”

  “You’ve got lots of years left,” Jenna assured her, and hoped she was right. It had felt so good to reconnect with her great-aunt. She wanted to be able to enjoy that connection for as long as possible.

  Sabrina finally abandoned her kite in favor of hot dogs and s’mores and Seth pulled a beat-up guitar case from behind a huge piece of driftwood and began to play, his fingers flying over the frets.

  “Wow,” Jenna said. “Where’d you learn to play like that?” Crap. Probably in prison. That would be the last thing he’d want to be reminded of.

  “I had a band when I was in high school,” he said, and she relaxed.

  Of course he did, with teenage girls standing in front of the stage drooling. He had to have been a cute teenager.

  “Any requests?” he asked.

  “‘Harbor Lights,’” said Aunt Edie.

  “I’m afraid I don’t know that one,” he said.

  “Of course not,” she said, shaking her head. “It would have been way before your time.”

  “Sing a few bars,” he said.

  “Oh, I couldn’t,” she protested.

  “Come on, Aunt Edie,” Jenna coaxed. “You used to have a great voice.”

  “I still do,” her aunt informed her, and began to sing.

  Her voice had gotten thready, but she could still carry a tune, and Seth picked up on the melody quickly and began to accompany her.

  Jenna leaned back against a log, shut her eyes and let herself drift back in time. She was a kid again, hanging out with the grown-ups, no worries, no need for money. No need for anything but to enjoy life.

  Aunt Edie and Seth finished, and Pete applauded. “That was real pretty.”

  “Yes, it was,” Jenna said.

  “Okay, what else?” Seth asked.

  “‘Found a Peanut,’” Jenna requested. “It’s time Sabrina learned some classics.”

  With Seth accompanying, she taught her daughter all the silly campfire songs she’d sung as a kid, including a few of her favorite Veggie Tales ditties. Pete knew some of the same ghost stories as Uncle Ralph had told, and regaled everyone with them as the twilight began to loosen its hold on the day. Then, once it became dark, Seth brought out some fireworks and set them off.

  “Oh, this is fun,” Aunt Edie said, clapping her hands. “But you just wait until the Fourth of July,” she told Sabrina. “People from all over come to set off their fireworks here on Moonligh
t Beach. Miles and miles of fireworks going off—it’s lovely.”

  Sabrina had been smiling up until then. “We always go to Green Lake with Grandma to watch the fireworks. We are going back for the Fourth, aren’t we?” She looked to Jenna in concern.

  “Well.” No, Jenna hadn’t planned on it, not after her conversation with Damien. “I was thinking maybe we’d see if Grandma wanted to come down here. And Aunt Celeste.”

  The plan didn’t meet with her daughter’s approval. “But I want to go home. I want to see Daddy.”

  Him again. “We will.”

  “When?”

  “Soon.” As soon as Jenna could convince him to grow up.

  Sabrina frowned at the fire and fell silent. Minutes later she stood and said, “I’m going back to the house.”

  “Maybe you wouldn’t mind walking me back,” Aunt Edie said to her. “This log is getting a little hard on my bony old bottom.”

  Jenna suspected the last thing Sabrina wanted to do was to be polite and escort her great-great-aunt back, but she bit her lip and nodded, and a moment later they were gone.

  “I think I’ve had enough, too,” Pete said. “These girlie drinks aren’t doing it for me.” He followed them back through the beach grass.

  “I guess we’re in charge of putting out the fire,” Seth said to Jenna, and came to sit next to her on the blanket.

  Putting out the fire? With him sitting so close? Not likely.

  He turned to her. The firelight danced on his face and she thought of pirates and buried treasure. Sex on the beach.

  “No regrets about my staying?”

  Those eyes. She felt like a marshmallow in the flame. Her throat was suddenly dry. She swallowed. “Why should I? We both know the truth.”

  “The truth is what you read in the paper,” he said sternly.

  “Right. Whatever. Anyway, we need the help around here.”

  “You’ve got Pete.”

  “Yes, and we both know how helpful he is. I’m glad you stayed.”

  “Yeah?” He was looking at her lips. Then he was looking lower and she felt like Lois Lane with Superman checking out her boobs with his X-ray vision. If she moved one inch closer...