Sunset on Moonlight Beach - Sheila Roberts Page 0,30

money, even when they didn’t have it and had left Jenna to do all the heavy financial lifting. He was still sponging off of her. Henry, on the other hand, was both humble and responsible. Jerk was not the word that came to mind when she thought of her sister’s husband.

Celeste gave a snort. “Henry’s career is going great. His publisher wants to make him the next Lee Child. Plus he already had money in savings even before he got his contract.”

“Wanting and making can be two different things,” Jenna said. “You can’t blame Henry for looking out for your future and trying to keep an eye on finances. Somebody needs to.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Celeste demanded.

“Well.”

“I don’t spend that much. So I get a mani-pedi once in a while. So I keep my hair looking good.” She looked pointedly at Jenna’s hair.

Her highlights weren’t so high anymore and she really needed to get to Waves and have Moira do something. But years of penny-pinching had become ingrained and old habits died hard. She always put off going to the salon as long as possible.

“He keeps telling me I have no concept of money. As if I didn’t manage my money and pay my own bills when I was single. And pay off my student loans. Sheesh. It’s not as if I spend money like I won the lottery, for crying out loud.”

“Who are you kidding?” said Jenna, the voice of reason. “You’ve been on one giant spending binge ever since you married Henry.”

“I was working part-time subbing,” Celeste said, offended. “I wasn’t just blowing through his money. Anyway, it’s our money. That’s what he’s always saying. We’re a team.”

“Maybe he wants you to be more of a team player, dear,” Aunt Edie suggested.

Celeste cuddled the baby to her. “Edie’s part of the team, too. He needs to be thinking about her future, our future as a family.”

“It sounds like that’s what he’s doing by making sure you all are on solid financial ground,” Aunt Edie told her.

“I want to be living on solid ground, period. That houseboat is not safe, and we could have a place to live right here...if he’d just come down and look. Honestly, I thought you two would be on my side.”

“We’re on both your sides,” Jenna said.

“You can’t be this time. You have to pick one,” Celeste informed her.

“Well, stay with us this weekend,” Aunt Edie said. “The girls are all coming over tonight and I know they’ll love seeing you and the baby. Here, I’ll hold her while you bring in the rest of your things.”

“Just the weekend? That was subtle,” Celeste said as she and Jenna walked to her car. She picked up the portable crib and Jenna grabbed her overnight bag. “Will you go look at the house with me tomorrow?” she asked. “I thought Brody could take us.”

“What’s the point if Henry isn’t ready?” Jenna replied.

“Maybe if Brody thinks he can negotiate a deal, it will change Henry’s mind. I can send him pictures.”

“He didn’t see pictures online?” Jenna asked.

“He did. But he says you can doctor pictures to make a dump look like a castle. This one I saw is no dump, though, and it’s not going to last forever. It’s got three bedrooms so Edie could have her nursery and Henry could have an office. Two-car garage. Perfect for us. Plus it’s on one of the canals.”

As if beachfront weren’t enough, the town also boasted two lakes and a network of canals, perfect for kayaking and paddle boarding. A house on one of those canals sounded great.

Except, “You were worried about Edie falling off the houseboat. She could fall into the canal, too, you know,” Jenna pointed out.

“First she’d have to get out of the fenced backyard. Henry should be jumping all over this. We could get a little fishing boat or one of those party boats.”

Jenna gave a snort. “Sure. Why not? You know how expensive those are? Someone had theirs for sale at a garage sale I went to last summer. They wanted ten thousand dollars for the thing.”

Celeste’s eyes got big. “Oh.” But she recovered. “Well, then, a rowboat.”

“I don’t think the canal is a good idea,” Jenna said. “Why don’t you try and find something like what Courtney’s in? Not on the water but a quick walk to the beach.”

Celeste nodded, considering. “That could work.”

“Only if you can convince Henry,” Jenna reminded her. And Henry could be stubborn when he thought he was