Serena's Choice - Coastal Romance Series

by Jennifer Ransom

  After Nonna was settled, Serena went back to her room. She put on a gown and got into bed before checking her phone. Daniel had sent her a message asking when she would be back. Lazy bastard. Having to work for a change.

  Jeff had sent another text. “Where are you?” he asked.

  Serena thought for a moment before she texted Jeff back.

  “I’m in Luna Bay. My mother passed away unexpectedly. I’ll be gone for a few days.”

  Serena turned out the lamp on the bedside table. A few minutes later she heard the signal that said a text had come in. She picked up her phone.

  “I’m sorry, Serena,” Jeff texted. “I wish I’d known. Is there anything I can do?”

  She texted back, “No, everything is being taken care of. Thanks. I’ll let you know when I get back.” She wasn’t sure she was going to do that, but it was a way to end the text conversation. She did not want to continue it.

  Serena fell asleep thinking of everything she and Nonna would have to take care of the next day.

  Chapter Three

  The funeral home put the details of the arrangements in the local newspaper. All of Rossetti’s staff and friends from Luna Bay and the coastal area attended the vigil. Nonna found Adrianna’s baptismal candle, and it was placed on one side of the casket.

  Serena arrived early, and she and Nonna spent time with her mother. Adrianna looked peaceful and beautiful, lying in her casket. Her long dark hair was flowing onto her shoulders and arms. Nonna placed a rosary in her child’s hands.

  There were so many people at the vigil that Serena was distracted from the reason they were all there. She talked to people she hadn’t seen since high school. Regular customers of the diner kept up a steady chatter. When it was over, she and Nonna went home exhausted. The next day would be the hardest, the day of the funeral.

  At the funeral, Serena and Nonna held tightly to each other’s hands as Father Maconi sprinkled holy water and asked for eternal rest for Adrianna. The sweet smell of incense filled the chapel. Finally, the casket was moved to the nearby cemetery. The grave was blessed with holy water and incense.

  “O God, by Your mercy rest is given to the souls of the faithful," Father Maconi said in a voice that was becoming feeble. “Be please to bless this grave. Appoint Your holy angels to guard it and set free from all the chains of sin and the soul of her whose body is buried here, so that with all Thy saints she may rejoice in Thee forever. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.”

  But Father Maconi didn’t stop there. He continued with another prayer, one for women.

  “We beseech Thee, O Lord, in Thy mercy, to have pity on the soul of Thy handmaid do Thou, Who hast freed her from the perils of this mortal life, restore to her the portion of everlasting salvation. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.”

  A few people followed to the graveside, while the rest left to return to work or attend the after-burial celebration of Adrianna’s life at Rossetti’s. Serena was so numb by that point that she didn’t notice who was there and who had left. As she took Nonna’s elbow to leave the graveside, someone touched her arm. She turned. It took her a second to realize that the person standing there was Jeff.

  “Jeff?” she said. She had never noticed how blue his eyes were. She realized then that she’d never seen Jeff in the daylight. “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m here to attend your mother’s funeral, Serena.” He hugged her, then turned to Nonna holding out his hand. “I’m Jeff Richardson, a friend of Serena’s from Atlanta,” he said as Nonna took his hand. “I’m very sorry for you loss. I wish we could have met under better circumstances.”

  “Thank you,” Nonna said. Serena could tell Nonna was a little bewildered as to who Jeff was. She had never mentioned him to her grandmother. What was there to say? I’m going out with someone sometimes and we have sex together? Hardly.

  “We’re going to the diner now for a celebration. Can you come?” Serena asked Jeff.

  “Of course. Can I follow you there?”

  When she and Nonna were in the car and Jeff was following, Nonna said, “You’ve never mentioned Jeff before.”

  “I guess not,” Serena answered.

  “He must think a lot of you to come all that way.”

  “He’s a friend,” Serena said. “I’ve known him for a few months. He’s a customer at Bridgewater’s.”

  “Oh,” was all Nonna said.

  Rossetti’s, closed for business that day, was full of people there to celebrate Adrianna’s life. Jimmy and Olive, a married couple who had been cooking for Rossetti’s for several years, had made a lot of the diner’s signature dishes. Lasagna, meatballs, baked rigatoni, shrimp and polenta, herbed roasted chicken, garlic shrimp with angel hair pasta, and red snapper with lemons were mounded on platters set on tables lining one wall. Antipasto plates full of Italian cured meats, cheeses, olives, and marinated artichokes were against another wall. Baskets held focaccia bread with sundried tomatoes and olives, seasoned with fresh rosemary. One corner of the diner was devoted to wine, both red and white.

  It was loud and crowded in the diner, and Serena was grateful that so many people had loved her mother. Adrianna was a gifted cook, and her creations had lifted the souls of many customers. What would Rossetti’s do without her? Things seemed in bad shape as it was. Adrianna’s cooking was genius, but she had been no good at running a restaurant. And Serena supposed Nonna had ceased to see the condition things were in. They had been operating on reputation and Adrianna.

  While Serena was contemplating the condition of the diner, she heard the strains of a slow, jazzy piano. Through the crowd of people, she saw Joe Campbell, the piano player who had been with Rossetti’s for more than three decades. Adrianna grew up with Joe and so did Serena. Elena was a young mother when Joe started running his hands across the keyboard and singing classic jazz at Rossetti’s. He had played with the greats in his day, but he gave it all up to settle in Luna Bay. “That’s a hard life, the music business,” he had told Serena once. She thought Joe must be over eighty.

  Serena wove through the people, her eyes on Joe. When she stood beside him, he looked up and smiled. Through that long day, Serena had held herself together, but when Joe looked at her with his loving brown eyes, she lost it.

  “Oh, honey,” Joe said. He patted the piano bench and she sat beside him. Joe put his arms around her and she cried against his shoulder.

  “We’re going to miss your mother, honey. It’s going to hurt us so much we think we can’t stand it. And we’re never gonna forget her. But for now, Adrianna would want us to help each other. And we will.”

  Joe patted Serena’s head while she cried. When she was finished, she kissed Joe’s cheek. She took his brown, musical, magical hand in hers. “Thank you, Joe,” she said as she looked into his warm eyes. “For always being here.”

  Throughout the two hours or so of the celebration, Serena noticed that Jeff was being very attentive to Nonna. He brought her plates of food, glasses of wine, and he looked like he was really listening to her. More than once, Serena saw her grandmother talking close into Jeff’s ear as he leaned down to hear her. Once, he looked over at Serena and motioned her over.

  “Your grandmother has been telling me about your family,” he said. “About the diner. It’s really interesting.”

  Serena didn’t know what to say to that. Jeff had never shown any interest in her at all. He’d never asked her questions about her childhood, where she was from—all the things a romantic couple would ask. Come to think of it, Serena had never asked Jeff anything about his life, either. It was as if they had an unspoken agreement to keep things impersonal, not really get to know each other. So, Serena didn’t know how to deal with this new and interested Jeff. She wanted to keep her wall up, the wall where he didn’t know anything about her. The wall where she could keep herself private from him, separate from him, protected from hurt. Now, Jeff had invaded her personal life on the most personal of all days, her mother’s funeral. She couldn’t
deal with it.

  “Really,” Serena said noncommittally.

  Jeff looked at Serena for a second, deep into her eyes with his newly blue eyes.

  “Yep,” he said.

  As the celebration wound down and everyone but the staff and Nonna and Serena had left the diner, Jeff said, “Can I follow you both home? Just to make sure you get there all right?”

  “Well, of course we’ll get there,” Serena said, somewhat sarcastically. What did he think? She couldn’t find her own way home?

  But Nonna jumped in. “That’s very nice of you, Jeff. Thank you.”

  Jeff gave Serena a told-you-so look, and then laughed.

  “It’s okay, Serena,” he said. “I don’t bite.”

  She laughed. “Okay,” she said.

  When they reached the cottage, Jeff got out of his car and helped Nonna out of Serena’s car. He walked her up the front steps.

  “Thank you, Jeff,” Serena said, thinking he would leave and go wherever he was going that night.

  “Jeff,” Nonna said. “Please come in for a glass of wine.”

  “I’d love to, Mrs. Fontana,” he said.

  “Please call me Elena,”

  “I’d love to, Elena,” Jeff said. “That’s a pretty name.”

  “Thank you,” Nonna said. “It means ‘shining light.’”

  “That seems right for you,” Jeff said, taking Nonna’s arm and leading her into the cottage.

  Nonna led Jeff to the couch. Serena followed like a lost puppy. “I’ll get the wine,” Nonna said as she walked to the kitchen. Jeff and Serena sat silently on the couch. A few minutes later, Nonna returned with a small tray holding three glasses of red wine.

  Everyone took a sip. “This is good,” Jeff said.

  “My cousins in New York send it to me. It comes from Italy. I guess they take pity on me down here on the bay. But it’s true. It’s harder to get stuff down here.”

  After a few minutes, Nonna asked Jeff where he was staying for the night.

  “I haven’t gotten a place yet,” he said. “But I’m not worried. There are a lot of places on the coast.”

  “We’ve got plenty of room here,” Nonna said. “Why don’t you stay with us for the night? I’d really like it if you would.”

  “Well,” Jeff said looking over at Serena to make sure it was all right. She gave him a slight nod. “That would be nice. Thank you.”

  “I’m going to bed now,” Nonna said. “It’s been a long day. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Jeff stood and took her grandmother’s hands. “Goodnight,” he said. Nonna reached up and he leaned down to give her a hug. He was a giant compared to her small grandmother.

  “I’m going to change,” Serena said. “We can sit on the back porch for a while if you want to.”

  “Okay,” Jeff said. “I’ll go get my bag while you change.”

  In her bedroom, Serena looked at herself in the mirror of her dresser. The days since her mother had died had been filled with activity. Now, that was over and Serena would be left with her solitary thoughts. The woman that looked back at her from the mirror was changed. She had crossed a threshold. She was now a child without a mother. She looked away from the mirror and got her jeans and a T-shirt out of the dresser.

  Jeff was sitting on the couch when she went back downstairs. His gray duffle bag sat on the floor beside him.

  “Let me show you where you’ll be staying,” Serena said. Jeff followed her upstairs and Serena led him to the spare bedroom, a very small room but it had everything that was necessary. She couldn’t put him in her mother’s room. She had only gone in there to find a dress for her mother to wear in her coffin. That had been painful enough.

  “I’m afraid it’s pretty small,” Serena said.

  “This is fine,” Jeff said. He said he would join her downstairs after he changed out of his suit.

  Serena got a bottle of chilled white wine from the refrigerator and pulled down fresh wine glasses from the cabinet. She put the wine in a deep bowl with ice and took it to the porch. By the time she walked back in the kitchen from the porch door, Jeff was there. He picked up the two wine glasses and followed Serena back out to the porch.

  “Is that a pier I see?” Jeff asked after they had settled in their seats.

  “Yes, it’s a little pier. We’re on an inlet from the bay.”

  “It’s nice,” Jeff said.

  Serena had lit a small lantern and she could see Jeff’s face in the faint light.

  “I was surprised to see you today,” she said. “I never expected you to come. I don’t even know how you knew when the funeral was.”

  “I Googled it,” Jeff said. “I found it in the Luna Bay News online.”

  Of course. The Luna Bay News had gone online several years ago. Serena read it every day when she was in Atlanta.

  “I remember when my nonna died,” Jeff said.

  His what? His nonna? That was what Italians called their grandmother. What did he mean his nonna?

  “Your nonna?” Serena said. “Are you Italian?”

  Serena realized she didn’t know anything about Jeff. Not anything.

  “Yes. Well, I’m one-fourth Italian. My nonna married a Scottish man and my mother married my American father. So I’m one-fourth.”

  “I never knew that,” Serena said.

  “I know,” Jeff said. “I grew up in Philadelphia and my nonna took care of me while my parents worked. Your grandmother reminds me of my grandmother. It was hard when she died.”

  “I’m sorry,” Serena said.

  “It was a long time ago,” Jeff said. “I was fifteen at the time. I still miss her, though.”

  The early October night was still. It was silent except for an occasional deep-throated croak from a frog. A quarter moon shone down on the inlet. Serena had spent her life on that water. She had fished countless times from the pier.

  “Let’s walk on the pier,” Serena said, standing up.

  She and Jeff walked through the grassy yard and onto the pier. It was dark except for the moonlight.

  “This must have been a great place to grow up,” Jeff said. “I grew up in a city and hardly ever saw the coast.”

  “It was pretty great,” Serena said, remembering. She grew up in the diner, like her grandmother and her mother before her. She grew up on the water, the inlet, the bay, the ocean.

  Her mother tended the garden, both at the cottage and behind the diner. Serena remembered that when she was very small, her mother pinched the herbs between her fingers—basil, oregano, rosemary, lemon mint—and put her fingers to Serena’s nose. “That’s rosemary,” she would say. Or, “that’s basil.” Serena could smell the herbs in her memory. She missed her mother so much.

  And then her tears began to fall. Tears for her mother, for her childhood, for her grandmother. Jeff put his arm around her and pulled her to his chest. She wept against him as he stroked her hair. “I’m sorry,” he said.

  Finally, Serena quieted and pulled away from Jeff. He had never, in their six months of knowing each other, put his arm around her. It was a new and different feeling and she didn’t quite know what to make of it.

  “Let’s go back to the porch,” Jeff said, taking her hand.

  They sat on the porch drinking wine late into the night. Jeff told her about his grandmother, who spoiled him rotten. He told her about his childhood in Philadelphia, law school at Emory in Atlanta, and his work for the big firm now.

  Serena told him about growing up on Luna Bay and learning to cook in the diner. She told him how her grandmother and mother had encouraged her to go to culinary school and have a career. They had scrimped and saved and sacrificed for Serena. She told Jeff about Bridgewater’s and Daniel and how difficult he was.

  By the time they went to bed, Serena and Jeff knew a lifetime about each other.

  “I’ll see you in the morning,” Serena said at the door to Jeff’s room. “Thank you so much for coming.”

  Jeff kissed he
r goodnight. “See you tomorrow,” he said, closing the door to the spare room.

  Serena woke up to the rich smell of coffee brewing. She had slept heavily through the night and felt refreshed for the first time in days. She quickly dressed in jeans and a light sweater before she went downstairs.

  Jeff and her grandmother were sitting at the kitchen table, both holding cups of coffee.

  “There you are, sleepyhead,” Nonna said.

  Serena blushed.

  “We were waiting on you to get up before I started breakfast,” Nonna said.

  “Let me get breakfast,” Serena said.

  “No, no. You sit down and have some coffee,” Nonna said, getting up and walking to the stove.

  Serena sat down and looked over at Jeff. He smiled at her.

  “Elena has been telling me about the early days on Luna Bay,” Jeff said.

  “Oh?” Serena said, stirring her coffee.

  “It’s interesting how the highway system after the war created new businesses,” Jeff said.

  “I didn’t realize you knew anything about highways,” Serena said.

  “I majored in modern American history in college,” Jeff said. “It’s interesting to talk to people who lived it.”

  A few minutes later, Nonna brought plates of scrambled eggs and bacon and toast to the table. Serena spread her toast with butter. Halfway through the meal, Nonna got up and poured fresh coffee into everyone’s cup. When they were finished, she gathered the plates and put them in the sink. She wouldn’t let Serena or Jeff help her.

  “I guess I’d better get on the road soon,” Jeff said. “I’ve got to be at work bright and early in the morning.”

  “I hate to see you go, Jeff,” Nonna said.

  “Me too, Elena. It’s been good to meet you.”

  Jeff went upstairs and came down a few minutes later with his duffel bag. He hugged Elena, then held her hands in his.

  “Thank you for coming,” Nonna said. “I hope to see you again sometime.”

  “You will,” he said. Nonna smiled at him.

  “I’ll walk you out,” Serena said following Jeff to the door.