Treasure Beach: Chapter Five, Part Four (plus Sunset Bridge debuts at your bookstore today)

BEFORE WE LAUNCH IN. . .

Hear those trumpets sound?  Today is the official on-sale date for Sunset Bridge, the third book of the Happiness Key trilogy.  Treasure Beach is a bridge between books two (Fortunate Harbor) and three (Sunset Bridge) and my gift to my readers who didn't want to wait a whole year for more Happiness Key adventures. 

Buying a novel during its first week on store shelves is a very good thing for the novel's author, in this case, me.  Publishers pay great attention to the first two weeks of sales and not so much to anything afterwards.  So if you've enjoyed Treasure Beach and you're planning to run out for a copy of Sunset Bridge, please consider doing it this week or next.  Oddly enough, it does make a difference in how well future books and even reprints will be published.

Now, back to our show. . .

Not sure why you're here or what to do?  Visit this page for enlightenment and instructions.  And don't forget to visit quilter Pat Sloan's website to sew along on the charming Happiness Key quilt that goes along with the series.

Chapter Five debuted this month.  Do you prefer to read  in one big gulp instead of having the story doled out in parts?   Look for a complete chapter pdf on the last Tuesday of each month through July.  In the meantime, i f you're new and you've missed the first four chapters?  Here are links to those pdfs:  Chapter One.  Chapter Two.  Chapter Three.  Chapter Four.     And today for the first time?  Chapter Five.

Treasure Beach: Chapter Five, Part Four

"My news is a little good," Janya said. "The manager at Randall's remembered the names of four customers who bought the soft drink when it was in bottles."

Olivia interrupted. "He told me he didn't remember anybody."

There was a short silence. Janya shrugged. "Perhaps I forgot to mention that I was very flattering. I asked him if he was, perhaps, a relative of Russell Crowe."

"I bet you stirred up a breeze batting those big brown eyes of yours," Wanda said.

Janya just smiled. "One of the customers was you, Wanda. I found phone numbers for the others he mentioned, and I called them and told them I found a bottle with a note in it, and someone had told me they thought they had seen somebody from the family throw it into the water." She paused. "It was only a little lie."

"Don't worry, you'll probably just come back as an alligator in your next life," Wanda said. "Go on."

"No one admitted throwing it, and I am sorry to say, I believed them. They were helpful and pleasant. No one was upset I called."

Olivia felt deflated. "Then we don't know anything."

"We certainly do," Tracy said. "One, we know the bottle was probably thrown from the town beach. That means it was probably thrown fairly recently since it didn't have that far to travel, and thrown by somebody willing to wade out into the water and get very wet.

"Two, we know the paper for the note probably came from Walmart, so whoever shopped for it is somebody who likes a good bargain, but likes bright colors, too. I'd say somebody on a budget with good taste, possibly young, given the purple pen and flourishes.

"Three, we know that the manager at Randall's has a better memory than we thought he did, and maybe he'll remember more. Plus we know three customers it probably isn't. We can build on that."

Olivia knew that because of all the things that had happened to her, she was good at reading what people were really saying, even when they were talking all around it. Now she realized that everybody sitting there knew this search was impossible, but they were going to keep trying anyway. Not because they believed the note was serious. Not because they were particularly curious themselves.

Because they loved her.

She sniffed. "Thank you for trying. All of you."

"We will continue trying," Janya said. "It is important."

Olivia knew Janya was really saying something else.

You are important to us.