Welcome to Moonlight Harbor

by Sheila Roberts

“Whoa, you’re already up to a hundred and seventy bucks!” cried Vanita.

  Small potatoes. She needed more than that. Jenna kept playing.

  “Two-hundred and eighty,” Vanita reported. Then, “Oh, no. It went down.”

  Jenna pulled away her hand. “I should stop.”

  “Keep playing,” Celeste commaded. “Go big or go home.”

  The numbers began to climb again, the machine partying with every match of the bars, serenading them with synthetic drums and violins. Jenna’s rooting section began to go crazy and that brought some observers.

  “You know, I won nineteen thousand dollars just last week,” a woman reported.

  The numbers continued to go up, right along with Jenna’s heart rate. This was insane. She should quit before she lost everything she’d won. She could envision a little Tyrella sitting on her shoulder, saying, “No good can come of this. Gambling is dangerous.”

  Well, all of life was a gamble.

  “Oh my gosh, look what she’s up to!” Vanita squealed.

  The pressure! Jenna was going to pass out any minute. Or have a heart attack. Or both.

  “Quit while you’re ahead,” advised one woman.

  “No,” said the nineteen-thousand-dollar winner. “You’re on a roll.”

  “Winner, winner, chicken dinner,” Celeste said. “And a new roof.”

  Jenna hit the max button again.

  Finally, to her astonishment, she did hit it big. Eighty thousand dollars. The machine lit up like the Fourth of July and locked. Jenna gasped.

  “You just won eighty thousand dollars!” Celeste shrieked, and grabbed her and hugged her as their crowd of onlookers hooted and applauded.

  “I can’t believe it,” Jenna said. “Somebody pinch me.”

  “Don’t tempt me,” Brody said with a grin.

  “Thank you!” Jenna said to Celeste and Vanita. She was laughing and crying. Then she was jumping up and down.

  “We did it!” Celeste cried, and she and Vanita hugged Jenna and they all jumped up and down together.

  Then Jenna turned to Brody. “Thank you!” she cried, and kissed him. It was a quick kiss but it packed a wallop. Whether that was because she was high from having won a bundle or because she’d just kissed a handsome man was hard to tell. Either way it was quite a kiss.

  “No, thank you,” he said, still grinning.

  “What happens now?” she asked him.

  “Security’s been verifying your win. You’ll probably see them any minute.”

  Sure enough. Two security guards appeared bearing a bucket of ice with a bottle of champagne in it. “Congratulations,” one of them said to Jenna.

  “I won,” Jenna said to her. As if she couldn’t see for herself. Well, Jenna was seeing for herself and she still couldn’t believe it.”

  “What happens next?” Vanita asked the guard.

  “I get a new roof,” Jenna crowed. “A roof, a roof. I get a roof!”

  “We have a form for you to fill out,” said the guard. “We’ll need your social security number and your address.”

  “Millionaire Acres,” Celeste cracked, and she and Jenna hugged each other again.

  Not only were there papers to be filled out, there were pictures to be taken. And Facebook announcements to be posted. Winner, winner, chicken dinner, Celeste typed under the selfie of all of them that she posted on Jenna’s page. Guess who’s buying margaritas for everyone?

  Margaritas, nachos, more dessert, they had it all. The food was on the house, thanks to the casino host, who was Jenna’s new best friend. Jenna opted to pick up a check the next morning rather than leave the casino with that much loot in cash, even though a security guard would have escorted them to their car.

  “Anyway, that way when I come back tomorrow I’ll know I didn’t just dream this all,” she said when they finally walked back to Brody’s car. “Are you guys sure you don’t want some? You all contributed to the cause.”

  “I don’t need any,” Brody said.

  “It’s yours,” Celeste said to her. “That’s why we came down. Remember?”

  “I know, but I feel guilty.”

  “You shouldn’t,” Vanita said. “It’s not like you’re spending it on yourself.”

  “Well, in a way I am.”

  “Investing in your business,” Vanita reminded her. “You’re not going to buy a car or a boat.”

  “Although a boat would be nice,” said Celeste.

  “And it seems like a lot,” Brody said, “but the tax man is taking a big chunk.”

  Oh, yeah. Him.

  Still, she’d have enough money left to save the Driftwood Inn, and that was all she cared about.

  Brody dropped them off, Celeste and Vanita singing the Velvet Revolver version of “Money,” complete with bass riff, Jenna giggling and turning in circles.

  “We’d better be quiet,” Jenna said as they made their way up the front steps. “We don’t want to wake Aunt Edie.”

  Aunt Edie was asleep, but she hadn’t gone to bed. They spotted her in the living room, in Uncle Ralph’s recliner, an afghan over her lap, the TV playing some ancient movie.

  “Should we tell her now?” Celeste whispered to Jenna.

  “Maybe we’d better wait until morning,” Jenna whispered back. “The excitement might be too much for her. She’ll never get to sleep.”

  As it turned out the excitement was too much for Jenna. No beach fires that night, so she had to content herself with lying in bed, planning the grand reopening of the Driftwood Inn.

  The first rays of sunlight were drifting into the room when she finally fell asleep and it was nearly nine in the morning before the smell of coffee woke her. “I smell breakfast,” she mumbled.

  “Good,” Celeste mumbled back from her side of the bed. “Go have some for me.”

  “You don’t want to be there when I give Aunt Edie the good news?”

  “Okay. Give me a minute to pry my eyes open.”

  They showered and dressed and left Vanita still dead to the world, hurrying downstairs as if it were Christmas morning. In a way, it was.

  Pete was lounging at the kitchen table, inhaling a cinnamon roll and Sabrina was at the stove, stirring a batch of Aunt Edie’s made-from-scratch hot chocolate, and Roger was supervising from his perch and begging for whiskey.

  “My, you girls had a late night,” Aunt Edie greeted them. “Did you have fun?”

  “You’re not going to believe what happened,” Celeste said.

  “Aunt Edie, I think you’d better sit down,” Jenna said, and led her aunt to the kitchen table.

  Aunt Edie looked suddenly worried. “Jenna, you didn’t lose a lot of money, did you?”

  “Just the opposite. I won.”

  Aunt Edie was beginning to connect the dots. Sit down...won. “How much did you win?” she asked, her voice tremulous.

  “Eighty thousand dollars,” Jenna said, and the excitement of the night before came bubbling up again.

  “Holy crap,” Pete said, setting down his coffee mug to gape at her. “Who wins that much at the casino?”

  “Me,” Jenna said. She’d have to tell Tyrella all her praying had worked.

  “We’re rich!” Sabrina exclaimed. “Can I have a cell phone?”

  “We’ll see,” Jenna said.

  “I am fourteen. And we can afford it now.”

  “Yes, we can.” Which didn’t mean her daughter would be getting one. Not until she was driving and really needed one.

  “I can’t believe it,” Aunt Edie said, shaking her head. “It seems too good to be true.” And then she began to cry.

  Jenna rushed to kneel in front of her. “Don’t cry, Auntie. It’s all working out.”

  “I know. Oh, Jenna, there are so many things you could do with that money.”
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  “I want to help you,” Jenna said. “I want to bring the Driftwood Inn back to life.”

  “You dear girl,” Aunt Edie said, and hugged her.

  “Now we can go home and visit Daddy,” Sabrina said, joining them at the kitchen table with her mug of hot chocolate.

  Oh, boy. This again. How long was she going to have to cover for Damien?

  “As soon as we get the motel up and running,” Jenna promised. Surely after a few more weeks Damien would be missing his daughter enough to grant a visit.

  Sabrina frowned. “I only want to go home for a weekend.”

  “We’ll talk about it later,” Jenna said.

  “I could go back with Aunt Celeste,” Sabrina said, looking brightly at Celeste, who wisely kept her mouth shut.

  “We’ll see,” said Jenna.

  Sabrina scowled. “I know what that means. It means no.”

  “It means we’ll see,” Jenna said, her patience leaking.

  “Fine,” Sabrina snapped. She set her mug on the table with a thump and stamped out of the room.

  “Pretty is as pretty does,” Jenna called after her, quoting one of her mother’s favorite sayings.

  “You’re so mean,” her daughter’s voice echoed back at her.

  “You can take a weekend off and go home,” Aunt Edie said to Jenna.

  “This is my home now,” Jenna told her. “And we’ll go back to visit her lame-o father when we have things squared away here and not before.”

  So there. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

  Chapter Seventeen

  To Do:

  Buy thank-you gifts for Celeste, Vanita and Brody

  Call Top Dog Roofing

  Pinch myself!

  Jenna still could hardly believe her good luck of the night before. Was it really true or had she dreamed it?

  No, it was true. When she went back to the casino there was the check, waiting for her. She went straight to the bank on Monday, waved it under Sherwood Stern’s nose and deposited it in Aunt Edie’s business account, to which they’d added Jenna’s name.

  Old Sherwood was suddenly so helpful. “Anything you need, just let us know.”

  What she’d needed he hadn’t been willing to give. “I think we’re fine now,” she said.

  “Well, we’re here for you,” he told her.

  Right.

  She met Tyrella going into the bank as she was coming out, and shared her good news.

  Tyrella wasn’t quite so jubilant.

  “You don’t sound very excited for us,” Jenna said in surprise.

  “Of course I’m happy for you. I’m just not a big fan of gambling, is all. I remember when that fancy resort was nothing more than a Quonset hut on the beach. Now look at it. How do you think they got their money? You were lucky you didn’t lose a fortune.”

  “But that’s just it,” Jenna said happily. “I didn’t. You did say you were going to pray. And you said you had no idea how the money was going to come.”

  “You’ve got me there, sister. I’m glad for you. But take my advice and stay out of the casino from now on.”

  “I will,” Jenna said, and crossed her fingers behind her back.

  Then she skipped off to call Top Dog Roofing and do some shopping. Her fellow gamblers had all been insistent they didn’t want a share of her winnings, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t buy them all thank-you gifts.

  At the Beachcomber, she picked up goodies for her sister and friend—candles embedded with tiny starfish and shells, necklaces with a silver shell dangling from them and matching earrings.

  Her next stop was Cindy’s Candies, where Cindy Redmond was happy to guide her in her choice. “Brody is crazy for saltwater taffy,” she said, handing Jenna a little wooden basket to fill with taffy from the huge bin in the center of the shop.

  Jenna walked around it, reading the flavors in the various sections. “Peppermint, buttered popcorn, coconut, lime, orange, huckleberry, chocolate. This is overwhelming.”

  “He likes them all, but I know for a fact he’s partial to coconut,” said Cindy. “Fill a basket for yourself, too, so you can celebrate your big win. On the house.”

  Jenna filled a basket for Brody, then took a small amount for herself, not wanting to take advantage of Cindy’s kindness. She vowed to pass the goodies on to her daughter so she wouldn’t give in to temptation and eat them. In addition to taffy, she also purchased chocolates in the shape of clamshells for Celeste and Vanita.

  At In the Suds she bought them fancy soap and scented oil, and picked up a couple of T-shirts from Something Fishy sporting a crab. The slogan over it said Never Crabby at the Beach. That was for sure. Not anymore.

  She decided to round out her goody collection with gift cards from Beans and Books for the next time Celeste and company came down.

  Rita Rutledge gave her a warm welcome when she walked in. Rita was only a couple of years older than Jenna, a casual dresser, happy to wear jeans and a Beans and Books T-shirt with her logo of an open book and a cup of coffee. She was divorced with a son in college and waiting for her dream man to walk through her doors, someone who was a reader and a coffee addict, she’d informed Jenna at the chamber meeting.

  “Did you come in for your free latte?” she asked.

  “That, too,” Jenna said. “Actually, I also want to get a couple of gift cards. Thank-yous for my sister and girlfriend. And Brody.” Brody liked coffee. She’d get him some champagne, too.

  “Brody, huh? Well, well. You move fast.”

  “It’s not what you think,” Jenna said. “They all bankrolled me at the casino last night and I won big.”

  “You did?”

  Jenna nodded. “Enough to get a new roof for the Driftwood.”

  “Wow. That is truly amazing.” Rita turned to the Gen-X man in the jeans and casual shirt and flip-flops. “Did you hear that, Aaron? This sounds like a story for the Beach Times.”

  He looked up from his phone, where he’d been busily texting. “What?”

  “Jenna, this is Aaron Baumgarten. He’s the star reporter at our local paper.”

  “The overworked reporter,” he amended. “There’s just me to do local and sports and Piper Lee, who handles the home and garden stuff.”

  “And who writes the advice column. She writes as Dear Miss Know-It-All, and her identity’s supposed to be top secret,” Rita said. “But we all know it’s Piper.”

  “How much did you win?” Aaron asked. Jenna told him and he let out a whistle. “That’s a nice chunk of change. What are you gonna do with it?”

  “I’m going to finish renovating the Driftwood Inn.”

  “She’s Edie’s niece,” Rita added. “She’s come down to help run the place. This would be a nice human interest story.”

  “You’re right. Plus, it would be the biggest news since Clem Jackson got stranded on Pebble Point at high tide. How about we do a story on you? We could get a picture of you standing in front of the Driftwood along with your aunt.”

  “That would be great,” Jenna said. A good way to get the news out that the old Driftwood would soon be back in business. And Aunt Edie would probably love having her picture in the paper.

  “How would this afternoon work for you?” Aaron asked.

  “Fine.” She could hardly wait to get home and tell Aunt Edie that they were about to be famous.

  Before she went home to share the news, she stopped by the drugstore for gift bags and tissue paper and assembled her thank-you gifts. On her way back, she bought champagne and delivered it and his other gifts to Brody at his office.

  “You didn’t have to do that,” he said, but she could tell by his smile and the way his eyes lit up when he saw the expensive bottle and the taffy that he was pleased nonetheless.

  “And you didn’t have to give me money or pas
s up the chance to take your share of the winnings,” she said. “I owe you a lot more than champagne.”

  “Yeah?” He gave her a lecherous grin. “Like what?”

  “Like lifelong gratitude.”

  “That’ll do for a start. How about dinner out?”

  “If you let me pay.”

  “If you think I’m going to turn down dinner with a beautiful woman just because she’s offering to pay, you can think again,” he joked. He held up the champagne. “Maybe I’ll save this to drink on the beach after.”

  Which would mean there were more tipsy kisses in her future. Brody Green and a moonlight beach. Danger, Will Robinson. Danger.

  “You don’t want to have to share that. Go ahead and drink it all,” she said lightly, then laughed at his phony disappointed expression.

  Back at the house, Celeste and Vanita were thrilled with their gifts and Aunt Edie was delighted to get in the paper. “I’d better go put my face on.”

  “You look great,” Jenna told her.

  “Oh, no. I need more lipstick,” she said. “And I can’t be caught in this old sweatshirt.”

  “She’s so cute,” Vanita said as Aunt Edie went up the stairs to get gorgeous.

  “She’s a treasure,” said Celeste. “She and Uncle Ralph were one of the best parts of our childhood.” She popped one of Cindy’s chocolates in her mouth. “Oh, I’m in heaven.”

  “You didn’t need to do this,” Vanita said to Jenna as she, too, raided her little box of chocolate shells.

  “Oh, yeah, she did,” Celeste said, pulling out another chocolate.

  “Where’s Sabrina?” Jenna asked. “I’ve got goodies for her, too.”

  “She’s on the beach with Caroline. I heard something about taking selfies in their bathing suits.”

  “Oh, boy,” Jenna said, thinking of inappropriate Facebook posts.

  “Don’t worry,” Celeste said. “We already warned her to keep her bathing suit on. By the way, she’s been working on me to take her with us when we go back tomorrow.”

  “Pass me that chocolate,” Jenna said, and sunk onto the seashell chair.

  “Give me whiskey,” said Roger from his cage.

  “That, too,” Jenna said. “I swear, she never gives up.”