THE WEDDING AT MOONGLOW BAY
Coming in trade paperback from Avon Books, March 2023!
Chapter 1
“When I saw you, I fell in love and you smiled because you knew.”
—William Shakespeare
The first time Samantha Riley married into the Ginelli family, her fanciful in-laws called it theLightning Strike.
In reverential tones, Marcella and Tino Ginelli told romantic tales of legendary ancestors who’d been hit by metaphorical love-lightning. Generations of Ginellis had fallen madly in love at first sight and ended up in solid, long-lasting marriages and they had the genealogical records to back it up.
There wasn’t a single story of theLightning Strikegone awry. Legend had it, once you got walloped by the one-two punch of predestined love, in Ginelli-land you were mated for a happily ever-after life.
Samantha met Nick on the first day of her high school junior year.
Her foster family, the Dellaneys, had just movedfrom Houston. A month before, her foster father, Heath, had taken a gig working with the Moonglow Cove Chamber of Commerce. After years in a high-pressure corporate job, he was ready for the slower pace of a small beachside tourist town.
Piper, Samantha’s foster sister and best friend in the entire world, declared the town b-o-r-i-n-g and she was in a pout as they walked into Moonglow Cove High School together, unsure of where the offices were or how to find their classrooms.
“Hey, look. What a cute mascot,” Samantha said, trying to cheer up her pal, and pointed to a chubby-cheeked chipmunk painted on the wall. Chipmunk Charlie had his head thrown back in raucous laughter.
“Seriously? A ground squirrel? That is so lame.” Piper touched her cheeks that she bemoaned as her “chipmunk pouches.”
“But look at his beautiful grin.” Samantha widened her own smile in effigy.
“Chipmunk Charlie would be amuse-bouche for Ivan.” Piper studied her fingernails chipped of chartreuse polish.
In Houston, their mascot had been a tiger nicknamed Ivan the Terrible, and their class song had been Katy Perry’s “Roar”. Cheesy? Oh yes, but Piper was right. Fierce Ivan would make short work of cheerful Charlie.
“A school the size of Moonglow Cove would never play our old high school.”
“God, don’t be so literal.” Piper rolled her eyes.
A twinge of shame twisted Samantha’s chest. Piper was just teasing, she knew that, but Samanthacouldn’t help thinking she’d done something wrong.
“Let me guess.” Piper seemed blithely unaware she’d stirred Samantha’s anxiety. “Their class song has to be that silly Chipmunk song.” In a voice that sounded like she’d been inhaling helium, Piper sang a few bars of the Christmas tune by Alvin and the Chipmunks.
“Please try to like this place... for me?”
“Okay, sure.” Laughing, Piper slipped her arm through Samantha and pulled her into a skip, and they bounced jauntily down the hallway.
“We’re really doing this on the first day?” Samantha asked, feeling self-conscious.
“Yeah, baby. Let our freak flags fly. Put that in your Zig-Zags and smoke it, Moonglow High.”
People turned to stare as they skipped past. Boldly, Piper stuck out her tongue and Samantha’s face heated. They rounded the corner and a thick stream of students pouring in through the side door forced them to halt.
Piper blinked. “Okay, Miss Spreadsheet, where do we go from here?”
“Out of the traffic flow.”
Samantha tugged her friend to one side, pulled her cell phone from her pocket and consulted the school’s app she’d downloaded the night before. “Next stop, the registrar’s office.”
“Why? We already registered online.”
“Doesn’t matter. The app says we gotta check in, regardless.”