of the winning hydrant.
“Fire hydrants,” scoffed Mr. Camo Tee just loud enough to be heard. “Who gives a shit?”
“These will be yet another way to enhance the charm of Moonlight Harbor and will be good for tourism,” Parker continued as if she hadn’t heard him.
“The deer are good for tourism, too,” said Mildred Morrison, also just loud enough to be heard.
So are convention centers, Jenna thought, and sighed inwardly. And to think she’d actually wanted to serve on the council.
She finally dragged herself home a little before ten to find Aunt Edie on the couch, happily crocheting a granny square for the latest afghan she was working on. It was to be a graduation present for Sabrina, who had picked out the colors—shades of blue and teal. “Like the ocean,” Sabrina had said.
“How’d your first meeting go?” Aunt Edie asked.
Jenna fell onto the couch. “Remind me again why I wanted to be on the council.”
“To serve Moonlight Harbor,” Aunt Edie said. “And I’m sure you’re going to do a wonderful job.”
“If half the town doesn’t kill me first. People feel so strongly about the deer issue, no matter what we decide it won’t be popular with someone.”
“You can’t please everyone, you know that,” Aunt Edie said calmly as she worked her crochet hook in and out of the yarn. “As council members you all have to do what you think is the best for the town.”
“Yes, and guess who’s supposed to do the research on the issue and come up with a recommendation.”
“You’ll figure it out,” Aunt Edie said placidly.
“I hope so. You should have been there. For a minute I thought we were going to have a riot.”
“People get worked up about things. You should have seen some of the fights back in my day.”
“What were they fighting over then?”
“You name it. How big residential lots should be, whether we should allow chain stores to come in. A lot of people were not happy when McDonald’s arrived. They were the first and, other than a couple of small brand name hotels, the last. Somehow, we all survived.”
“I guess we’ll survive this, too.” Jenna sighed. “I don’t know when we’re ever going to get to talk about the convention center. Other things always seem to get in line ahead of it.”
“When the time is right,” Aunt Edie assured her. “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
“I guess Moonlight Harbor won’t be, either.”
Aunt Edie tied off the yarn and put the finished square in the basket next to her. “Well, dear, I think I’ll head off to bed. I’m feeling awfully tired.”
“You do too much,” Jenna told her. “Let Sabrina and me take over the cooking.”
“Then what would I have to do with myself?” Aunt Edie countered.
“Relax. Read more. Crochet.”
“I already do that, dear. No, I need to feel useful. I can’t just sit around and take up space.”
“We like the space you take up,” Jenna said with a smile.
Aunt Edie smiled back at her. “You are a darling. Here now, kiss me and then I’m off to bed.”
Jenna gave her a kiss on the cheek. Her skin was soft and she smelled like her favorite fragrance, Chantilly.
She pushed off the couch, using both hands to help herself get up, then headed for the stairs.
She’s getting frail, Jenna thought, watching her go. Aunt Edie had slowed down considerably in the last year. Lately she’d starting gripping the banister to half pull herself up the stairs.
How many more years would they have her? Many, Jenna hoped. Aunt Edie had been the anchor keeping her life stable ever since she came to Moonlight Harbor. She simply couldn’t lose her anchor. The very thought depressed her.
She sighed again. She was tired. She always turned melancholy when she was tired. “Go to bed,” she instructed herself.
Good advice. She had massage clients in the morning and had research to do. She turned off the lights, checked to make sure the back door was locked, then followed her aunt upstairs.
As she climbed into her bed she gave herself one final instruction. “No dreaming.”
Her subconscious didn’t listen. She dreamed that she was on the beach, in the middle of a line of does. They were on their hind legs, wearing fancy cancan dresses with layers of brightly colored ruffles and doing a deer version of the famous French dance for the city council, who were all sitting on logs, watching them. Jenna was in the chorus line, kicking up her heels, too. In addition to her fancy dress she