Winter at the Beach Read online

  “I second it,” Rian said firmly. “Let’s be realistic, people.”

  “Okay, it’s been moved and seconded that we bag bringing in an expert. All in favor say aye.”

  There was a chorus of ayes, some insistent, others reluctant.

  “Against?” Brody asked, and Kiki and Ellis were the lone protesters.

  The motion carried.

  “There’s a guy who specializes in helping towns and cities with struggling economies get on their feet,” Ellis said. “I suggest—”

  Susan interrupted him. “We’re not struggling that much.”

  Rian cocked an eyebrow at her. “Oh, and you’re getting rich over there at Beach Babes, are you?”

  Susan didn’t respond. Instead, she said to Ellis, “We just killed that idea.”

  “We killed the idea of hiring a firm. But this is another possible option. This guy offers webinars on how to build your city’s economy. Those are more affordable.” Ellis quoted the price.

  “Still too much,” snapped Susan.

  “Let’s not take that totally off the table,” Brody said. “It might be worth considering.”

  Discussion ensued, and finally Nora suggested, “Look, since we don’t want to spend a lot and we know the city’s on a tight budget, why don’t we forget the expert and all do some research on our own? Maybe we can come up with ways to improve the town just by poking around online and seeing what other places have done.”

  Susan nodded in approval. “Now, there’s a good idea.”

  “That is a good idea,” Brody agreed. “Nora, you want to put together a committee to do that?”

  Nora pulled a piece of paper from the yellow tablet in front of her. “I’ll pass this around. Sign up if you’re interested.”

  “Okay, that takes care of old business,” Brody said. “Now, I think Jenna has some new business.”

  Oh, boy. She could hardly wait to see what Susan would have to say about this.

  She cleared her throat. “Actually, I have a suggestion for a way to bring down more visitors during our slow time.”

  “We’re all for that,” said Patricia Whiteside.

  Susan clamped her thin lips together and gave Jenna a look that dared her, the newbie, to come up with something.

  Jenna’s nervous twitch put in an appearance. Don’t blink. She blinked one last time and cleared her throat again. “Well, I was just thinking about other towns I’ve visited in the past and one that came to mind was Icicle Falls.”

  Susan rolled her eyes. “The cheesy German town.”

  “A lot of people find it charming,” Jenna said. “It’s awfully pretty, and they’ve done a great job of making themselves as authentic as possible. They always have something going to get people up there. In fact, I did some research online. They have festivals all year long, including a chocolate festival. Their tree-lighting ceremonies on the weekends in December bring in thousands of people.”

  “So, are you proposing we have a tree-lighting ceremony?” Susan mocked.

  “No, but I am proposing we have a holiday festival.”

  “We just had a festival in August in case you forgot,” Susan said snidely.

  What was with this woman anyway? The town had done a good deed by putting on a festival to help Jenna raise money to restore the Driftwood after she experienced a financial setback. It had been such a success that the chamber had decided to make the Blue Moon Festival a tradition, with proceeds going to help other businesses in town in need of assistance. Jenna had benefited and other local businesses would as well, and Susan resented it? She was a crab in the pot. If she couldn’t succeed, she didn’t want anyone else to, either. And everyone knew her shop wasn’t doing that well, especially now that Courtney was selling her own designs over at the Oyster Inn.

  Well, pooh on her. Jenna handed papers to both Tyrella and Brody to start passing around the table. “People love festivals. Remember how many came down for the Blue Moon one?”

  “That was in the summer,” Susan reminded her.

  “I know. But people also love holiday festivals. We’re looking for ways to get visitors down here in the winter. Why not put together a giant holiday party in Moonlight Harbor?”

  Patricia Whiteside was reading Jenna’s handout. “Seaside with Santa, that’s cute. And I like all the suggestions you’ve made for activities. I really like the idea of making use of the pier.”

  “The weekend before Christmas?” Susan objected, frowning at her handout. “Who’s going to want to come to something then? People will be getting ready to go see family, and they’ll be finishing up their shopping.”

  “Why shouldn’t they finish it here?” Jenna argued. “We have all kinds of cute shops. We have great places for them to stay while they shop and plenty of restaurants where they can eat. They may even want to stay here for the holidays. All we need is an event to lure them down. A festival could do it. And who doesn’t like a parade? Look how many people turn out for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.”

  “Look at the floats they have in that parade,” Susan countered. “What sort of floats would we be able to put together down here?”

  “Okay, maybe not the most impressive parade ever,” Jenna admitted, “but I bet we could come up with something.”

  “I could get some of my employees to dress up as mermaids,” said Kiki, “and stick ’em on a flatbed truck strung with fake seaweed.” She grinned, clearly taken with her idea.

  “We need more for our Moonlight Harbor Queen and her princesses to do,” put in Nora. “They love riding in those old convertibles. You’ll let us use your vintage Caddy, right, Ellis?”

  “Well...” Ellis hesitated. “If it rains...”

  “Which it probably will,” said Susan. “Come on, people, be practical. You know what it’s like down here in the winter, all wind and rain.”

  Patricia pooh-poohed that objection. “We’ve survived plenty of storms.”

  “Well, I think it’s a bad idea,” Susan said, scowling across the table at Jenna.

  Maybe it was. Jenna’s left eye began to twitch.

  “I think it sounds great,” said Elizabeth MacDowell. She and her twin sister, K.J., were new members of the chamber. They’d opened their arts and crafts store, Crafty Just Cuz, in September, and it was already one of Jenna’s favorite places to hang out.

  “We do need more business in the winter,” said Cindy Redmond. “There’s no getting around it. And doing something for the holidays could be fun. I say we give it a try,” she added, and Jenna’s eye stopped twitching.

  “We’d have to get moving right away,” Nora said, pulling another sheet of paper from her yellow tablet. “Who can help?”

  “I can,” said Ellis.

  “Me, too,” Brody said, smiling at Jenna. “Jenna, it’s your idea. You’ll have to chair the committee.”

  “Me?” she squeaked. Not that she couldn’t take charge. She was a firstborn, and Responsibility was her middle name. (Although her sister, Celeste, would probably argue that her middle name was Bossy.) She didn’t have a problem with rolling up her sleeves and getting to work, but she also didn’t want to offend old-timers like Susan Frank. “I’m sure someone else...” she began.

  “Your idea, you have to do it,” Susan goaded.

  Jenna raised her chin. “I can do it.” She’d survived rehabbing the Driftwood Inn. How much harder could it be to organize a festival?

  In three months. Blink. Blink, blink, blink.

  “Do I have a motion that we sponsor a Seaside with Santa Festival for the weekend before Christmas?” Brody asked.

  “So moved,” said Ellis. “I’m with you, kid,” he told Jenna.

  “I’ll second,” Nora said and reached across the back of Tyrella’s chair to give Jenna’s shoulder an encouraging pat.

  “All in favor?” Br
ody asked.

  “Aye,” chorused almost everyone.

  “Opposed?”

  “Nay,” Susan Frank said. “I’m telling you all, this is a bad idea. Make sure you put that in the minutes,” she told Cindy.

  “Motion carries,” said Brody. He smiled down at Jenna. “Looks like we’re going to be putting on a holiday bash.”

  “Holiday disaster,” Susan grumbled from her side of the table.

  What did Susan know? Blink, blink, blink.

  Chapter Three

  Jenna received plenty of encouragement and compliments on her idea after the chamber of commerce meeting broke up. Except from Susan, who vanished as soon as she’d paid for her lunch.

  “Never mind her,” Tyrella said as Jenna’s new committee gathered for a quick chat. “Every great idea has its naysayers.”

  The committee consisted of Tyrella, Brody, Nora, Ellis and Kiki, all people Jenna liked and was sure she’d enjoy working with, not a naysayer in the bunch. After traveling the bumpy road of divorce and dealing with the stress of renovating the motel, she was determined to keep only positive people in her life. Everyone on her new committee was that kind of person. They were also practical and seasoned business owners, and she knew they’d be careful not to let her bite off more than she could chew. Except she might have already done that, so it would be more a case of keeping her from choking to death.

  “When do you want to have our first meeting?” Brody asked her.

  “The sooner the better,” she said. The holiday clock was ticking. Loudly.

  “I’m free tonight,” said Kiki. Kiki was a busy woman. In addition to running her kitschy tourist store, she had her knitting group on Monday evenings, her church women’s group on Wednesday nights, the seniors’ bowling league on Thursdays, and her book club met once a month on Fridays. When she wasn’t involved with those activities or at her shop, she volunteered at the food bank at least one day a week. Watching Kiki in action made Jenna tired.

  “I’m always free,” Tyrella said. Yeah, right. Tyrella was up to her eyeballs in church activities and just as busy as Kiki.

  “How about the rest of you?” Jenna asked the others.

  “I can make tonight,” said Nora.

  “Me, too,” Ellis said.

  “I’m there,” said Brody.

  “Why don’t you all come over to my place?” Jenna suggested. Aunt Edie would love being in the thick of things.

  “Is Edie baking?” Brody asked.

  When it came to company there’d never be any belt-tightening. “What do you think?”

  He grinned. “Let’s go to Edie’s.”

  “You tell her not to wear herself out,” Kiki said.

  “Too late. She was trying out a new brownie recipe today. You’ll be saving my butt if you come over and help eat them.” They’d already saved her butt in a major way last summer, with the festival they’d put on for her benefit. She loved these people, and she loved Moonlight Harbor.

  “Let’s make it dinner,” said Ellis as they left the restaurant. “I’ll bring over some popcorn shrimp from my place.”

  “You sure it won’t get cold, coming all that way?” Kiki teased. The Seafood Shack was right next to the motel and Ellis only had to walk across the parking lot.

  He pulled out a cigar to smoke. “I can manage it.”

  “I’ll bring wine, then,” said Brody.

  “I’ll bring ice cream to go with the brownies,” Nora promised. As owner of the ice cream parlor, it was a given that Nora would always be responsible for contributing ice cream to any gathering.

  “And I’ll bring macaroni salad,” Tyrella said, and that rounded out the meal.

  * * *

  Aunt Edie was thrilled, both to hear that Jenna’s idea had gone over well and that they’d be having company. “I can serve my beach sandies. And I’d better bake some sugar cookies, too,” she decided.

  “That sounds great,” Jenna said, and couldn’t help a moment of evil glee at the thought of Pete not being able to pop into the kitchen and scrounge a free meal. He’d have to go somewhere and actually pay for his food, something he hated doing. She suspected he’d wind up at The Drunken Sailor, the town’s popular pub.

  He did manage to smell cookies baking, though, and made off with half a dozen.

  Tristan wandered in after school with Sabrina. There went more cookies. But Jenna didn’t begrudge the kids. Those carefree years disappeared in a hurry.

  “I made a double batch,” Aunt Edie told Jenna, “so why don’t you take a few over to Seth? I saw his truck pull in a while ago.” Aunt Edie, the matchmaker.

  Still, Jenna had no problem taking cookies to Seth. She and Seth were simpatico. If they’d met in another time, another place, they’d have been a couple.

  So much debris had washed to the shores of their lives she wasn’t sure they’d ever make it to coupledom. She was still working up the nerve to dip a toe into the uncertain waters of a serious relationship, and he wasn’t ready to even get close.

  She’d told herself it was a good thing that his mold-removal business was tapering off with the arrival of colder weather, and he was now working a couple of days a week at the hardware store. She couldn’t see him every afternoon that way and feel both tempted and frustrated. Except that the days he was at the store seemed to be the days she needed to go in there for something. Just a coincidence.

  Between him and Brody, Jenna spent a lot of time on temptation overload. If things didn’t work out with her sister and her Mr. Perfect, she’d sic Celeste on them. Celeste was fun, bubbly and a little crazy.

  Hmm. She’d probably be too much for Seth, who, for good reason, preferred calm waters. But Jenna could see Brody and Celeste together. When she wasn’t seeing herself with him... Good grief, she was a mess.

  “You have time to figure things out,” she reminded herself as she walked past the motel’s empty rooms to the one second from the end where Seth had his headquarters. There was no need to hurry.

  She had to knock more than once before he came to the door. Jeans, bare feet, a gorgeous bare chest sprinkled with dark hair and tousled, wet dark locks on his head were a big clue that he’d just gotten out of the shower.

  “Hey, there,” he said, and swung the door wide.

  “Come into my parlor,” said the spider to the fly.

  Except Seth’s room wasn’t some lair set up to lure babes. It was spare, with only the usual motel furniture, his cooler, and piles of library books on the dresser and nightstands and the extra bed (twin—the Driftwood was built long before rooms were expected to have two queens or a king). No, there was no deliberate seduction setup here. Simply his presence that made it happen.

  He motioned to the plate. “What did you bring me?”

  “Cookies from Aunt Edie, of course.”

  He smiled as he took them. “All right. What’s the special occasion this time?”

  “A committee meeting.”

  An eyebrow lifted. “You got suckered into being on a committee today?”

  “More like I got put in charge of a committee.”

  He settled on one of the beds and pulled the tin foil off the plate of cookies. “Yeah? Whose idea was that, the house-peddler’s?”

  Seth and Brody were probably never going to be buds. Too much rivalry. Seth might not have been ready for a serious relationship, but he also wasn’t ready to share.

  “No,” she said, ignoring the jibe. “Mine.” She smiled at the memory of her successful pitch.

  “Okay, this should be good. Spill.”

  She sat down on the bed opposite him. “I came up with a brilliant idea, if I do say so myself.”

  “Yeah?” He held the plate toward her, and she shook her head. There was already enough temptation in this room without adding cookies. He shrugged and helped himself to one.
“So, what is it?”

  “We’re going to have a festival,” she announced.

  “Another one?”

  Her smile fell. “You sound like Susan Frank.”

  He held up a hand. “Sorry. I’m surprised is all. We just had one last summer. For a good cause,” he quickly added.

  Considering that it had been to help save the Driftwood Inn, yeah. “This is for a good cause, too. We need to bring more people to town in the winter.”

  He nodded. “I can see that. Hard to be a tourist town if you don’t have tourists. But school’s started and most people are done with their vacations.”

  “Exactly. Which is why we need to think of a reason for them to come to the beach.”

  “Sunsets and winter storms and good restaurants aren’t enough?”

  “Obviously not. You may have noticed that we lost our one booking for the weekend.” Determined not to dwell on that, she returned to her news. “We’re going to have a holiday festival, complete with a parade.”

  “A parade here in winter?”

  “It can be done.”

  “Standing around outdoors in the cold and rain.”

  He sounded dubious. For an instant, she felt dubious, too. But, no, this would work. “Do you have any idea how many people stand around in the cold up in the mountains to watch Icicle Falls light up their giant tree?”

  “So, you gonna import a giant tree?”

  “No, but we’re going to get the town all decorated.”

  He grunted. “I can see it now. Clamshells wearing Santa hats sitting by every cash register.”

  “Hmm, not bad.”

  “Tell me you’ve got more than that.”

  “Of course. We’ll have all the businesses decorate. Customers can vote for their favorite. The restaurants can run holiday specials. The stores can have sales. We’ll have the parade. Kiki’s planning to make her employees wear mermaid tails.”

  “Topless? In the cold? Oh, yeah.”

  “Very funny,” she said, frowning at him.

  Unrepentant, he snickered and wolfed down a cookie.