Sunset on Moonlight Beach - Sheila Roberts Page 0,68

here with me tomorrow?”

“I could go for that,” he said with a grin.

“What’s your favorite food?”

“Pot roast. With spuds and carrots.”

“I make a mean pot roast,” she said. “Exceptional, in fact,” she added, and was grinning, too.

“You’ve got my mouth watering already,” he said. “Good night, Melody. Thanks for the companionship.”

Companionship, a lovely word.

She watched him walk down the front walk to his car. “No, thank you,” she murmured.

She shut the door and went to sit on her back porch and enjoy the night sky. She was happy. It felt almost disloyal to John.

That night she dreamed she was at a masked ball in some fancy ballroom in what looked like Venice, because beyond the ballroom doors she could see a canal with gondolas parked along it. Her fellow guests were dressed in fancy ball gowns and tuxedos.

She stood at the edge of the crowd wearing a red satin gown and ruby-red slippers like Dorothy had worn when she went to Oz. She was alone, searching the crowd for...who? She wasn’t sure.

Suddenly a large man in a mask, wearing a dark cape over clothes from the nineteenth century, appeared. “Dance with me,” he commanded, holding out a gloved hand.

That voice. She knew that voice. But from where?

“John, is that you?” she asked.

He didn’t answer. Instead, he swept her onto the floor among the dancing throng. “It’s time you lived a little,” he said to her.

“I have been living,” she informed him.

“No, you haven’t. You’ve been waiting.”

Next thing she knew he’d danced her out onto the veranda. The stars were shimmering and so were the dark waters of the canal. He drew her close and kissed her, and she felt it from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, which were curling inside those ruby slippers.

“Who are you?” she asked.

She awoke before she got an answer.

* * *

The day of Sabrina’s graduation ceremony brought clear skies and sunshine. And a car for Sabrina that Seth had overhauled for Jenna. It was a bright blue 2014 Ford Focus hatchback that had needed some engine work and a ton of cosmetic repair, but it had turned out looking like new. They’d wrapped it in blue and gold ribbon, the school colors. Sabrina had been ecstatic, jumping all over the parking lot, hugging both Jenna and Seth, squealing loud enough to bring people poking their heads out of their rooms at the Driftwood.

She’d been almost as thrilled with the afghan Aunt Edie had made for her. “I’ll treasure it forever,” she’d said, hugging Aunt Edie.

Talk about treasuring forever. Jenna got all misty-eyed seeing her baby in her cap and gown. Senior pictures, prom picture, cap-and-gown pictures—Jenna would have enough to fill an entire photo album.

Happily, the ocean breezes kept the ceremony attendees cool as they sat in the Moonlight Harbor High stadium and cheered as the graduates walked forward to accept their diplomas.

“She looks so pretty,” Aunt Edie said as Jenna snapped pictures with her phone. “And to think she graduated at the top of her class.”

The top ten percent. Not quite high enough to be valedictorian, but high enough to make her family proud.

The whole family was there for the occasion, including Damien and the in-laws. It was one of many events they’d be attending together over the coming years. Aurora, the other woman, was history, but Jenna knew Damien had been seeing a new woman. Thank God he hadn’t brought her along.

Of course, at some point, he would make it permanent with someone and both he and that someone would be present at Sabrina’s wedding. The someone would probably get invited to bridal showers and baby showers and baby’s first birthday parties.

Get used to it, Jenna told herself. Damien would always be on hand to pour salt on the wound he’d inflicted when he left her for another woman.

Except that wound was finally closing, so let him pour away. Life in Moonlight Harbor was good and Jenna would soon have her own someone to be present at weddings and baby’s first birthdays. She could let go of the old bitterness now. It was time. New beginnings all round. For Sabrina and her parents.

Both Seth and Brody had come to the graduation, and Jenna had taken a secret pleasure in the way Damien had looked them over. She especially loved how he’d frowned when Brody put an arm around her. Yes, living well was the best revenge.

With the ceremony over, everyone went back to the house, where Aunt Edie