Tales From Sea Glass Inn Read Free Page B

but
without the people from the community nothing would be done. People like Mel
and Pam. Helen. They had the heart and the drive to heal their home. Jenny gave
them the tools and resources they needed and then she moved on. Sometimes she
felt a twinge of longing when she left, but nothing she couldn’t handle.
Because by then she had performed her role—the one her parents had instilled in
her from childhood.
    So why did it feel different this time? Why
did Helen make her feel a small but persistent urge to see what the view was
like from the inside? Just once, just for a moment? Whatever the reason, Jenny
didn’t have time to dwell on it right now.
    She saw some weary-looking, grime-covered
officers from the Department of Fish and Wildlife carrying crates through the
back door of the center, and she stuffed the notepad into her pocket again and
rushed over to help. Tonight, she would concentrate on getting as many
frightened birds and animals as possible into the safe, yet artificial world of
the event center. Tomorrow, they would begin washing and treating them.
Hopefully in the not too distant future, they’d be releasing them back into the
wild, and Jenny would be released as well.

    *

    Helen felt the lingering weight of Jenny’s
gaze as she walked away. She figured it had more to do with the basket she was
carrying than with her as a person, but she let herself bask in the electricity
she had felt between them. The center was full of exhausted and hungry
workers—of course they were going to respond favorably to anyone offering
fresh-baked food. Especially her famous ham and Gruyère croissants. She could look
like the Incredible Hulk, and she’d still expect to be on the receiving end of
salivating glances in this crowd.
    She delivered several more pastries on her
way over to Mel. Everyone responded with ravenous gratitude, but something
about the look Jenny had given her made a deeper impression. Tia had mentioned
Jenny as soon as Helen walked through the door, carrying on a monologue about
Jenny’s brilliance and her organizational skills. Between surprisingly short
pauses to take huge bites of croissant, Tia had delivered a barrage of facts
about Jenny’s competence and her gorgeous looks. She had sounded like a fantasy
woman, and Helen had expected her to have some mysterious aura, visible from
across the room. In reality, Jenny had looked as zombielike as all the other
sleep- and food-deprived people in the room.
    And in reality, Jenny had been one of the
most glamorous and regal women Helen had ever seen. A quick swipe of a
washcloth and a catnap, and Jenny would be fit for a stroll down Rodeo Drive,
although she looked too down-to-earth and principled to be interested in
anything as inconsequential as fashion. Tall and slender, she made even the
ratty tan coveralls she was wearing look elegant. Her blond hair was streaked
with platinum, more likely due to time spent in the sun than in a hair salon,
if Helen was right in her assessment of Jenny’s personality. And the green eyes
Tia had rhapsodized about? They were as reflective and bright as a tide pool
that hid an entire mysterious and varied ecosystem in its depths.
    Damn those eyes. Helen finally reached Mel,
who was standing in the center of an empty plywood pen. Helen had planned on
coming here with an offering of food and nothing more. Actually, she hadn’t
even meant to do that much. Not because she didn’t care, but because she
couldn’t afford to give away even a tiny croissant. She had maybe two months’
buffer between this moment and bankruptcy, and given the state of the beaches,
crowds of tourists weren’t likely to be flocking to her bakery and buying dozens
of muffins anytime soon.
    “Hi, Mel.” Helen hesitated next to the wood
panels. She didn’t doubt her abilities as a baker, but she still felt a little
reluctant to offer her food to Mel. People raved about the breakfasts at the
Sea Glass Inn, and Helen wasn’t sure how her