“I need to cancel.”

Jenna’s right eye began to twitch. “Cancel?’

“Yes. Something’s come up and we’re not going to be able to make it.”

It was all Jenna could do not to say, “Are you sure?”

“You haven’t dinged our credit card yet, have you?”

“Oh, no. That’s only to hold the room.”

“And we’re giving you more than twenty-four hours’ notice.”

“Yes, you are.” Good for you.

“Thanks..”

“I’m sorry it didn’t work out. I hope you’ll be able to come another time,” Jenna added, but by then she was talking to dead air.

She scowled and left the office to take a walk on the beach, her favorite go-to place when she needed to cogitate. She only had to share it with the seagulls this morning. At eight-thirty on a cloudy fall day, no one else was out. There was a serious nip in the air. Hardly surprising considering the time of year.

October, and the scene remained the same. Water, sand and wind. The one difference was the color of the sky. Not that Jenna minded. She loved the beach, loved the constancy of the waves, loved hearing the sound of the steady lap of the tide coming in at night through her open bedroom window. It was all so comforting, so relaxing…

So stressful when no one was calling to reserve a room.

If only Moonlight Harbor had more deciduous trees. Business-owners could lure people to town with the promise of seeing the changing colors like Icicle Falls over in the Cascades did every fall. But there was a preponderance of evergreens, both in Moonlight Harbor and on the state highway leading to it. And moss. A lot of moss hanging from trees. Sadly, it didn’t change colors. Darn it all. Where were those changing colors when you needed them?

She sighed and turned back to the office. Time for another Groupon offer. And time to tell Aunt Edie to start getting creative with stretching the grocery budget.

* * *

Jenna wasn’t the only one frustrated with the tourism slump after the busy summer season. A lack of visitors appeared to be a common lament among the various business-owners, and the group of friends who gathered at Aunt Edie’s house for their regular Friday-night get-together were not happy about it.

“We did well this summer,” said Cindy Redmond, who, with her husband, Bruce, owned Cindy’s Candies. “But it’s going to be a long winter.”

“We do get some people in to storm watch over the winter,” Patricia Whiteside reminded her.

“Some, but not enough,” Cindy said. “There’s really not much to lure people down here until March when they come for the razor clam festival. That always brings them in.”

“Maybe we need something in between,” Jenna said thoughtfully.

“Yeah, the Bring Your Money and Keep Us Going Festival,” cracked Nora Singleton, who owned Good Times Ice Cream Parlor and the funplex.

“There’s got to be something,” Courtney said. She’d been selling her women’s clothing creations at the little boutique in The Oyster Inn’s lobby and also had a website, but she wasn’t making enough to live on yet. Helping Jenna at the reception desk evenings and weekends not only kept her supplied with fabric, it also kept her supplied with groceries. Another mouth for Jenna to feed.