Free Serena's Choice - Coastal Romance Series by Jennifer Ransom

items off of the menu.
It wasn’t perfect, but it was going all right.
    So, in early May, Serena decided
to relax a little. She still had a vision about things to do, such as
opening the upstairs to private parties and getting a catering
business going, but things were good for now. She needed a rest.
    Nonna went home after lunch every
day as usual, and Serena took over for the rest of the day and night.
After dinner most nights, she settled at the bar and listened to Joe.
On Fridays and Saturdays, she listened to whatever band she had
hired. Brittany and her boyfriend had been helpful in bringing local
musicians to Rossetti’s. The young couple would often join her at
the bar, and then, before the night was out, Brittany and Trey were
on the dance floor. Serena watched them as they danced and more than
once recalled the night she and Jeff had danced in that very same
spot. Brittany wouldn’t leave her at the bar alone for very long.
She and Serena had formed a bond, and Brittany seemed to feel
responsible for Serena’s after-hours enjoyment. Even if Serena
waved her away and told Brittany not to worry about her, Brittany
worried anyway.
    The after-dinner crowd became
regulars. Serena could count on seeing certain people most nights.
Mr. Salina, an older man who had grown up in Luna Bay, came several
nights a week. He had lost his wife of forty-eight years a couple of
years before. His children lived out of the state of Florida, so he
was basically alone.
    “ My daughter wants me to move
to Indianapolis to be near her and her kids,” Mr. Salina told her
one night at the bar. “I love her and my grandkids, but I can’t
see myself living in Indianapolis. Do you know how cold it gets
there? I just can’t do it. I grew up here and I plan to die here,”
he said. Serena held up her wine glass when he said that and they
toasted. “To Luna Bay,” he said.
    Just in the past week, a man that
Serena had never seen before started coming to Rossetti’s. He would
have dinner, then stay for the band and drinks after dinner. He was
clean-shaven, but wore his sandy-colored hair pulled back in a short
ponytail. Serena had never talked to him. She had no idea who he was
or what he did for a living. Couldn’t be too many choices in Luna
Bay. After a few nights of seeing him there, Serena asked Sandy who
the man was. She tried to act casual when she asked, because she was
very attracted to the man but didn’t want anyone to know that.
    “ Oh, that’s Steven Calloway,”
Sandy said. “He’s working with one of those marine organizations.
I can’t remember the name of it. I think he might be a marine
biologist or something like that.”
    “ Hmmm,” Serena said. “That
sounds interesting.” She supposed she could go introduce herself to
him. She was, after all, one of the owners of Rossetti’s. It was
her business to know who the customers were. But she felt too shy to
do that, so she just noticed him when he was there.
    Serena was sitting at the bar one
night in May, nursing a Cosmopolitan that Sandy had made for her,
when someone sat down on the stool next to her. She turned and was
shocked to see Tony, her high school boyfriend. He looked a little
different, but not much. He was beefier. It looked like he might be
working out or something.
    “ Tony!” Serena said.
    “ Hey, Serena,” he said. Sandy
put a beer in front of Tony, who began to drink it down thirstily. He
put his mug down on the bar. “Sorry, it’s been a long day on the
boat,” he said.
    “ Are you working on a shrimp
boat?” Serena asked. It’s what so many boys did after graduation
in the area. They all had relatives working on the boats, and if they
weren’t going to college, it was a natural thing to do. Serena’s
own family had a long history of working on shrimp boats.
    “ Yeah,” he said, taking
another long draw on his beer. “I’ve been doing that all this
time you’ve been gone. Like I was when you left.”
    Tony sounded a little