Sunset on Moonlight Beach - Sheila Roberts Page 0,86
said. “You’ll want everything looking shipshape.”
“I do. Good idea,” she said, and started down the steps.
“Jenna.”
She turned, looked at him questioningly.
“I guess you’ll want me to be moving on now,” he said, focusing on his cleaning rag.
How many times had she wished he’d do exactly that? But now she couldn’t kick the old guy out. The Driftwood was his home and Aunt Edie would haunt her if she made him leave it. And oh, Lord, she hated to admit it, but he’d become part of the family.
“No, Pete, I need you here.”
“Well, then, uh, good,” he said, still not looking at her, and got back to work. “Anything you need done, let me know.”
Okay, now she was sure of it. He had been taken over by aliens.
Annie offered to cater the gathering after the service at the church, and Jenna gladly accepted. Courtney offered to help out at the office when she stopped by with a pasta salad Annie had made, but Jenna turned her down.
“You have the shop now.”
“There must be something I can do,” Courtney said.
“We’ve got it covered,” Jenna said. “Mom’s helping me and Celeste is here. And Seth’s going to take some evening shifts behind the desk. Brody went with me to the cemetery.”
Delivering Aunt Edie’s urn to rest next to Uncle Ralph’s would go down as one of the most awful moments of her life, even more horrible than the day she’d found out Damien had been cheating on her. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust—how blithely that got repeated at funerals. The reality of seeing her adorable great-aunt reduced to a small enough pile of ashes to fit in an urn... She shied away from the image.
“What a horrible Fourth,” Courtney said, shaking her head. “I’m so sorry for you. Both of you. It sure didn’t play out the way he expected.”
“What do you mean?” Jenna asked.
Courtney looked first surprised, and then guilty, as if she’d been caught committing industrial espionage. “Uh, nothing.”
“I can tell by your face it’s not nothing. What?”
“Nothing, really. Hey, I have to get to the shop.”
Jenna caught her by the hem of her linen jacket. “Oh, no you don’t. What was Brody planning?”
“He’ll kill me if I tell,” Courtney said, and then, realizing the inappropriateness of that remark, blushed.
Jenna was sure she knew now, but she pressed her pal anyway.
Courtney caved. “He bought a ring. He was going to make a big proposal and give it to you at the party. Then...well, you know what happened.”
Jenna nodded. Everything had slid south. She wanted to cry. Yet again.
“I shouldn’t have said anything. I thought you knew.”
“We were getting serious and he’d talked about getting a ring, but there hasn’t exactly been time to work out details,” Jenna said.
How sad. Aunt Edie would have been so excited. Jenna could feel the tears damming up in her eyes, ready to overflow and flood down her face. Would she ever stop crying?
Brody came by later that evening. Sabrina was out with Scotty, and Pete, Jenna supposed, was at The Drunken Sailor, drowning his sorrows. It was only her and Jolly Roger, in his cage and tucked in for the night. The poor bird hadn’t been himself. He’d hardly talked at all.
Seeing Brody walk through the front door was like seeing the fire department arrive to put out a house fire. More and more, she was coming to depend on him for her emotional stability.
“I heard a rumor,” she said as they settled on the couch with glasses of lemonade. What was that look that crossed his face? It almost smacked of fear.
“What?” he asked. He sounded cautious.
“About you and me?”
“You and me.”
“And a ring.”
He looked relieved. What had he thought she was talking about?
“And an announcement on the Fourth?” she prompted.
He let out a half laugh. “Courtney has a big mouth.”
“She didn’t spill the beans on purpose. But never mind her. Is it true?”
He nodded. “Had the ring in my shirt pocket. I was about to make my big speech when all hell broke loose.”
She leaned an elbow on the back of the couch. “How about making it now?”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah.” She desperately needed something good in her life.
“Okay, I’ll be right back,” he said.
“Wait. Where are you going?”
“I’m missing a valuable prop,” he said, and left.
She heard his car roar off and knew where he was going. So, it was finally happening. She’d made a decision and was moving on with her life. This was good. She was happy.