Read Online Serena's Choice - Coastal Romance Series by Jennifer Ransom - Free Book Online Page B

with
this place,” he said.
    “ Thanks. It’s been a lot of
hard work. A lot. I hope it pays off.”
    “ Looks like it is paying off,”
Jeff said. “You’ve got a full house here.”
    The duo started singing and she
and Jeff didn’t talk anymore because it was loud. People started
dancing in the area that Serena had created, a larger area than
before. Jeff got down from his stool and held his hand out to Serena.
“Let’s dance,” he said.
    She took his hand and moved to
the dance floor. The duo sang “Angel Eyes” by Jeff Healey. It was
a very slow song, and Jeff put his hand at the small of her back and
he moved her slowly around the floor. He leaned down to kiss her at
one point. Serena felt in that moment that she could fall in love
with Jeff—this new Jeff—but she knew that was very dangerous. She
really didn’t fully trust him. Until recently, he had never shown
any personal interest in her. The last thing she needed was to get
involved with Jeff only to have him lose interest in her.
    They danced several songs
together before leaving Rossetti’s and returning to the cottage.
Again, Serena got the quilt and again they went out to the cypress
trees. This time, Serena brought the wine bottle and plastic cups.
Again, they made love in the cypress forest. It was good, but Serena
was not going to plan her life around it. Jeff had his life in
Atlanta and she had hers in Luna Bay. The two really did not mesh
together.
    Sunday morning, the only day that
Rossetti’s was closed, Nonna made a big breakfast of pancakes and
sausage and fried eggs. Nonna and Serena and Jeff sat around the
kitchen table, eating and drinking coffee. Jeff paid a lot of
attention to Nonna. Her grandmother laughed and seemed to be flirting
with Jeff! This was weird. But Nonna was just happy. She liked Jeff a
lot, that was obvious.
    After breakfast, Jeff packed his
bag and Serena followed him to his car.
    “ It was good to see you,
Serena,” he said.
    “ You too,” she said,
casually.
    “ I love your grandmother.
Seeing her makes me feel like home.”
    Serena laughed. “It is home for
me,” she said. “I’m lucky to have her.”
    “ Very lucky,” he said before
leaning down to kiss her.
    “ I hope to see you soon,” he
said. She waved as he drove down the driveway and into the road. He
stuck his hand out of the window and waved back. And then it was time
for Serena to get back to her regular life, without Jeff in it.

    ********************

    February turned into March and
Serena had the vegetable beds turned over by the gardening crew. They
replenished the soil with compost and natural fertilizers. One day in
late March, she and Brittany went to a nursery in Mary Esther and
bought eggplant and basil plants and peppers. Serena searched the
seed counter and got basil seed. “We’ll sprinkle the basil seed
among the plants and before long, it’ll be a sea of basil,” she
said. She also bought zucchini seeds.
    By late April, they were starting
to snip the herbs and the tomato plants were covered in tiny green
tomatoes. Some customers came into to Rossetti’s and asked if they
could have their photo taken with Nonna Elena, which is what she had
become known as on Facebook and the website. Nonna was reticent at
first about that, but she finally gave in. Serena had a couple of
pergolas built near the garden and tables and chairs were set up for
alfresco dining. Everything was going better than Serena could have
dreamed. Was it perfect? Of course not. She had to fire Davey, one of
their best waiters, when Jimmy discovered he was giving food away
free to his friends. Brittany had stepped in then to wait tables and
Serena was so grateful to her. But she needed to concentrate on the
bread making, so Serena herself waited tables for a few nights until
they could replace Davey. That was the cost of doing business with a
restaurant. You did what you had to do. There were days when they ran
out of key ingredients and had to take certain