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Carly snapped her fingers. “You know what? That makes sense. I think you cracked the mystery.”
But Rachel still looked unsure. “Seems too easy though...and now that I think of it, Francine said in an interview once that she didn’t write for adults because she has carpal tunnel and longer novels weren’t possible for her.”
“I wish I could help,” Carly said. She checked her watch pointedly, but Rachel didn’t take the hint.
“Well, what about the patrons?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I can’t imagine that the author wouldn’t come to the store to see the book on the shelf on release day. I mean, that’s a dream come true, right?”
Rachel was on to something and Carly felt sweat pool a little on her lower back. “Assuming they live here in Port Serenity.”
Rachel nodded emphatically. “They have to. This level of detail about the town and Sealena and the history is far too rich and accurate for someone who isn’t a Port Serenity native, and the newer details in the second book, like the reconstructed statue, are things only residents would know.”
Wow, Rachel missed nothing.
The chime above the front door sounded and Skylar entered.
Carly shot her cousin a grateful look, desperate to escape Rachel’s questioning. Truth was, she did know who the author was, and it took everything she had to keep the secret. The author wasn’t ready to come out to the world yet for good reason. But keeping the information from Rachel was getting tougher all the time.
“Hey, Skylar. Not working today?” she asked.
“Day off, just heading to the diner for breakfast with Isla, so thought I’d stop in to say hi.”
Carly smiled. It wasn’t so long ago that Skylar and her fiancé Dex’s sister, Isla, didn’t get along, but the Christmas before, the two had reconciled their differences when Isla had suffered a brain injury in an ice climbing incident. It had only taken a brief stint of amnesia for the two women to realize they were actually more alike than they’d ever realized. “Isla’s home?” She was surprised. The young heir to the Wakefield legacy was rarely in one place for long, traveling the globe in search of adventure.
“Her and Aaron just got back from a backpacking trip in Australia. She’s starting her social work program online this fall, so they plan to be in town for a while. Gotta say, I’m happy to have Aaron back for an extended time.”
“No doubt.” The elite rescue swimmer for the coast guard was an invaluable member of the team and he’d been taking longer vacations to travel with Isla these days, but Carly always felt better knowing he was on active duty, and as captain of the team, Skylar depended on him.
Skylar turned toward Rachel and nodded toward the book. “What are you clinging to like a life preserver?”
“Love at Sea.”She turned the book toward Skylar. “Have you read it yet?”
Skylar wrinkled her nose. “No.”
“Are you here to get a copy?”
Skylar scoffed as she shook her head. “You couldn’t pay me enough to read that series.”
Rachel gasped. “Are you serious?”
“Sealena’s not my thing,” Skylar said. “And romance novels aren’t either.”
Rachel refused to accept it. Climbing off the stool, she headed to the shelf containing the first Sealena book. “I don’t want to give you spoilers, so this is the first book.”
“There’s more than one book?” Skylar asked.
“It’s a trilogy.” Rachel opened the book to the opening meet-cute scene. “Listen to this and tell me you’re not intrigued...” She cleared her throat and read dramatically:
“The sea is angry tonight.
Its soul howls as it casts looming, ominous waves crashing into one another. It’s the pollution that has caused this peaceful, majestic being to cry out in protest. The mass dumping of garbage into the waters, killing its creatures, harming its very existence.
Humans will never realize the impact they have on this world, and the ocean is the biggest part of it,with its mysteries and secrets that are beyond human comprehension.
Four generations of my kind have protected these waters, both sides, but someday, we will be forced to make a choice.
