Dawn At Naples Pier

By Melanie Leigh

Brenda Patterson has left her job, her home town in Ohio, and her whole life to start over in Naples, Florida. But new problems are waiting for her at the Sea Spray Golf Resort. Someone is stealing the most expensive wine served at the Club Restaurant. And then there's Evie, a young adopted girl out searching for her real mom. She has decided it must be Brenda! While willing to help all she can, what Brenda would really like is an intrduction to the handsome lawyer she sees jogging the beach outside her window at breakfast time each day. But as a Christian, Brenda most wants to make sure Jesus is directing any steps she takes toward a serious new relationship. It's just that waiting for that direction is not easy.
Melanie Leigh is the pen name of Christian Bible teacher and writer Melanie Hoover.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pelican Wings
• Release date: May 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311231758

Melanie Leigh

Melanie Leigh is the pen name of Melanie Hoover and is used on her Christian romance novels.Her husband wrote about her new romance novels here: https://deaconrick.wordpress.com/2015/05/09/romance-with-melanie/

Book preview

Preface

You can’t leave me!

I have given you my notice. You’ve had two weeks already to find someone. I’m leaving next week.

What am I going to do? My husband loves me and my kids are used to having me around. Before you came, he was going to leave me and the kids wouldn’t even talk to me. Please don’t do this.

Monica, you’ve had time to look and get someone in here to manage this restaurant. It has the best food and best service in town. Surely you could have found someone by now.

There isn’t anyone like you! There is no more chaos here. In three years you have made this restaurant. Nobody can do what you’ve done!

There are folks who can. Why don’t consider Tony? He’s been here the entire time. He’s conscientious and very good with human relations.

I don’t think he wants to work with a woman.

"What am I? We get along great. I respect him and he respects me. Like it or not, five days from now I’m gone. I love you and your family but my life needs a change. I need to leave to save me. Please consider Tony. I have five days to work with someone to take my place and it would be real easy for him to take over. He may even have someone in mind to help him manage. Give him a chance."

Brenda Patterson’s blonde hair flashed across her blue eyes as she was pleading her case. Monica, unhappy at all the changes Brenda's departure would trigger, was not yet willing to listen. She looked for any sign on Brenda's face that there was room for discussion. There was not.

This is going to happen.

It was Brenda’s last challenge to get Monica rolling in the right direction.

If we talk to Tony together and he is willing and I am willing and we three agree…? Monica said, hesitantly.

He is willing, I’ve talked with him, but he is not going to beg you for the job. He will stay where he is if he has to because he has a family and needs a job, but you will not be sorry for keeping him and moving him up.

Sitting there in Brenda’s office, Monica finally conceded.

Okay, call him in. And Monica rolled her eyes upward with a deep sigh.

Brenda pressed the call button on her headset. Tony can you take a minute in my office?

Be there in a second. I’m in the lobby.

Walking through the restaurant to the back, Tony checked the table set ups and the menu rack and several other things that needed to be in order for the dinner rush.

Looks like we’re in good shape, I’ll check on the rest when we’re done, Tony said to one of the waiters. "Hmmm,I wonder what Brenda’s got up her sleeve now? She’s leaving and I wish she wasn’t. Everything moves like silk when she’s around."

He was surprised by Monica’s presence in the office. He smiled and nodded to her. What can I do for you?

Hear that, Monica? That is exactly what you need, A servant’s heart! He is well able to do the job and there should not be any contention or problem.

Eyeing Tony cautiously, Monica spoke slowly.

Brenda tells me that you are the one I need to take her place. She assures me that not only can you do it, but that you will be good at it. She also tells me you may have an idea already of someone to place in your present job if I promote you. Is this true?

Tony responded confidently.

Yes, I strongly recommend Rosaria, and believe she would make an excellent assistant manager. She has five kids so she's motivated. She works like a clock and nothing catches her by surprise. She’s been here almost as long as I have and covers my back and Brenda’s on a regular basis. The woman has eyes in the back of her head. Guess that comes with the children! She has more than once stopped theft of food in the kitchen. She’s also a great wine steward. Very knowledgeable and is able to work evenings because her husband works from home, so there is always someone home with the kids.

Tony, I think that’s the most verbiage I’ve ever heard from you.

He smiled.

Well, I talk with Brenda daily and she talks to you. The chain of command goes through her.

Brenda was smiling real big now, proud of her assistant's presentation. She spoke up.

I was raised in a military family and that’s how this works. Now do you believe me? He’s your man.

Do you think you could work with me, Tony?

Monica, I can work with anyone, as long as we communicate and know where we stand. You are the owner and I work for you. I will respect that, but I do know my job. I would be very happy to take this on. Brenda believes in me and she has pounded it into me every day for three solid years, ‘you can do this!’ She has left me to do it while she watched. There is no better teacher than ‘doing’.

Well, I guess the job is yours. I want to keep my husband and kids. What else do we need to do Brenda?

Change the name plate on my office door, notify payroll, and let me get on to my new life in Florida.

Chapter One

Brenda watched the waves rolling in below her.

I wonder if I will ever tire of this view?

The seagulls were screeching and that unfamiliar noise made her smile. There were lots of terns skittering along the shore and that made her smile. Living in Akron for many years, a body of water this size and, for that matter, the amount of sunshine were a welcome sight and very soothing.

Everybody likes the beach, she thought.

She fingered her coffee mug and checked to see if there might be at least one more swallow in the bottom. She mulled over the miracle of multiple circumstances that brought her to this particular place.

On their honeymoon, Mike had bought her the mug because it was larger than a regular coffee cup and she, along with several million other people, loved her morning coffee. The cup read My cup runneth over, and it was scrawled in large red letters from the handle all the way around the body of white porcelain. It was the only true personal housekeeping item she had kept and brought with her.

When she decided to leave Akron, she had a garage sale and sold most everything but the cup. She didn’t make a lot of money, but that wasn’t why she had the sale. Everything else went to the Salvation Army store drop off. She left behind everything that her life had been, to begin again. Jan Simms had told her that the condo was completely furnished and she would have need of nothing. There were, in fact, extra toothbrushes in the bathroom drawers, although she had brought her own personal things.

She did have a little trouble finding the silverware drawer. She checked every drawer of the bottom cabinets in the kitchen and the china cabinet, but found nothing. Finally she called the Simms in Akron.

Jan, where is the silverware?

Laughter rang over the phone.

Everyone has to ask and I’m sorry I forgot to tell you. It’s in the drawer beneath the microwave.

Huh? She turned around to look again.

Sure enough, there is a drawer under the built in microwave. Who would have noticed and it’s the perfect place to put it. Hopefully I won’t have to call for anything else, but maybe to say I love you, and thank you both again so very much for this chance and the amazing opportunity. I hope to do you proud.

We love you so much and believe along with your mom and dad that this is going to be a good thing. Your talents and who you are in Christ will make you an asset for this job and to everyone who works there. We miss you, but we’ll be down in a couple of months to stay for awhile. We will still celebrate our holidays together. We’re hoping to get there before the middle of November, maybe even by All Saints’ Day. Enjoy the beauty and peace, honey and see you soon. I’m going to call your folks one more time to try to get your mom and dad to join us for a week or two this winter, sometime during the holiday season. I know they hate the cold in Akron, but they might give Naples a try. We’ll see. The flight from Arizona isn’t that long and they can fly into Ft. Myers. It’s only about a 30-40 minute drive.

After Brenda hung up she poured herself another cup of coffee and was able to stir the cream and sugar into her coffee.

That's better now that I’ve found the silverware!

She took her seat out on the balcony to digest the weather and the view. She watched pelicans dive for breakfast and listened to the palms rustle in the breeze. The palm trees were almost within reach of the balcony just outside the kitchen where she had found a private and secluded haven for her heart and soul. A few people were walking the beach in the early morning, before the sun hit with its full force on the Gulf of Mexico. As she swallowed the last drop in this second cup, she again checked the bottom of the mug for more.

Her memories began to rush back and tears began to well up in her eyes. A couple made it down her cheeks.

Oh Mike, how I wish you were here with me.

When he had bought the mug he told her, This is perfect for you. You are my gift from Jesus, He has made my life complete, but He also sent you to make my life ‘overflow’ with happiness and don’t ever forget that.

Taking one last gaze out over the water and drawing in a deep breath of salt sea air, she noted again a tall male runner she had seen on Saturday morning. Arriving late Friday night she had been still groggily wandering around the condo trying to get her bearings while making coffee, but saw him when she glanced out of the sliding doors. This morning he ran quickly and easily past the walkers, giving them a good distance so as to not take them out of their way or startle them. Today she heard him comment to the walkers about how lovely the weather was this morning.

Considerate, nice man... she decided.

She turned and went in, grateful for the temporary home with a view, in such a peaceful and gorgeous setting.

Through their generosity of spirit, Gordon and Jan Simms allowed her this, their lovely condo in Naples, Florida, until she was established. They would easily accommodate her as long as she wished to stay. They loved her as their own.

She sighed again,

Mike would have loved it here.

Gordan and Jan had become surrogate parents to Brenda as a teenager. They did love her and she adored them. Her father was in the Navy and they moved, but not as often as some enlisted men. He was a Navy pilot trainer and their longest tenure was in Honolulu when Brenda was in grade school and middle school. Don retired to Akron, but health problems and the cold made them decide to go to Arizona. The Simms became her ‘substitute parents’, reassuring her often, that,

You really are our own dear child! You stay put here, finish high school and college, and we’ll treat you just like we did ours. That means you have to keep your room clean, help with the dishes, study hard and get good grades.

They loved her and it made her adjustment easy when her parent’s departed for another post.

They had been grand ‘substitutes’. Brenda was grateful that her parents, Don and Barbara Carter, allowed her the freedom to stay in one place throughout her final high school years.

There was joy and laughter, sorrow and tears, just as there were in all families, and the Simms continued to care for her through college and her marriage to Mike in Akron, even though her parents retired and moved away again.

Tucson, Arizona was a long way away from Brenda and the place she had called home. Now that Mike was gone, the Simms were even more tender and caring and watched over her with much prayer.

Mike Patterson had been the love and light of her life. They met in high school youth group at church. They were friends for a long while. He was gung-ho Army all the way, ROTC in high school and college. Somewhere along in the relationship, particularly during the college years, the turning point came and they fell in love. Mike was first of all a Christian, then a military man. They both truly believed that God had the final say in a marriage.

Gordon was on the staff at the church she and Mike attended, as a part-time counselor. He had his own Christian Counseling practice, but helped the local pastors, in several different churches, with the tougher counseling cases, and in particular pre-marital counseling.

Brenda and Mike faithfully attended church and wanted to have marriage counseling. In a society where marriages are so often broken, a little ‘pre-marital advice’ could keep and save theirs. Gordon did their premarital counseling. He had known Mike since a little tyke and Brenda since she was in the 8th grade, fresh from living in Honolulu, while her father was stationed there. Gordon was impressed with them both as individuals, as well as a couple.

You two young people are well suited for one another, enough difference in your interests to keep the other on their toes, enough same to keep you bonded. In particular, you both love serving and both are fully dedicated Christians. There is no way to know or tell what great things God has planned for your lives. You should be very happy together.

Her mind went back,

To say that we were happy would be an understatement.

The wedding was a beautiful spring day in May, with family and friends, a dream come true wedding. The honeymoon was one of those trips where you pinch yourself and ask, I am really here, with the one I love? and stand in awe of the beauty. Costa Rica and the resort were perfect and Mike was perfect and they were so much in love.

Twice Mike had been deployed in the first two years, just a couple of short-terms outside of the United States. She found a great job managing a very highly recommended 5 star restaurant. She loved her work and the owners and the customers and all the people she worked with on a daily basis. Between her job, the Simms and her church family, she was comforted while he was gone. Her faith and personality drew people to her like ‘moths to a flame’.

When Mike went to Afghanistan 2 years later on his third deployment and didn’t come back, she felt she had lost her soul, knowing full well her soul was in tact, but it was her heart that had been squashed to nothingness. She threw herself into her work.

It didn’t help then and it doesn’t seem to help much now. she thought sadly.

Frustrated and hurting, she confided in the Simms,

It’s been almost two years and I need to do something to bring me back to life, but I’m not sure what ‘it’ could be, or what ‘it’ would look like, or if I would recognize ‘it’ if, whatever ‘it’ was staring me in the face. Something that will bring me a good night’s sleep, without feeling so desperately alone and numb.

Gordon and Jan could see she wasn’t progressing. She worked, went to church, slept, but not well, just going through the motions of a ‘life’. She had begun to avoid the small apartment where she and Mike had lived, staying many nights with Gordon and Jan. Although never failing to cheer others, she herself felt a dark cloud hanging over her.

Would you be interested in a change of scenery? Gordon asked her one Sunday over lunch. Jan was sitting quietly, praying with her eyes open, that Brenda would give a positive response.

Without much thought Brenda answered,

"Sure, why not?’

That surprised her, but then she did give it a bit of thought.

I don’t know if I can leave my memories behind, but if I don’t soon, I’ll be Miss Haversham…

In her sarcasm and wry humor, she let a tear drop. Jan put her arm around her.

Sweetheart, I am so sad when you cry. We love you and want God’s best for you.

Gordon laid his hand on her hand on the table.

We’re so sorry that we have all lost Mike. I know that it is deeper and harder for you, but I would like to introduce you to our friend in Naples. He is a wonderful Christian man.

Gordon barely got the sentence out.

She was horrified at the thought.

Oh no, Gordon, I don’t want a man. I haven’t even been able to date.

No, no, NO, Gordon said hastily. He owns a law firm and co-owns a golf resort in Naples, Florida. His wife and family have become great friends with Jan and me. They attend our church there and we play golf together. He needs a dining room manager for the Sea Spray Golf Resort. The manager they had was hired away to work on a large yacht for some tycoon, and they need someone real soon, like 3 weeks. Last night we were talking on the phone getting some legal papers in order and it just came up in conversation. I told him we knew the perfect person for the job and I would check with you today.

Oh! she said, more than a little chagrined at her forceful reaction.

Brenda Carter Patterson took the job at Sea Spray Golf and Country Club in Naples, Florida.

Now a month later she was beginning to think, "This change of location didn’t hurt so much, and so far this isn’t a bad view.

I’m here now and it’s going to be a challenge for me. The restaurant was work, but this is a step or two up the rung. I was hoping that by the time I turned 30 to have found the job I can enjoy and keep until I retire. This might just be the place and the timing certainly is perfect. I know Tony is going to do a great job for Monica. She’ll never have to show up for work, only to sign the checks and rake in the money.

Her thoughts turned once again to her personal life.

I think now that marrying again really doesn’t feel like an option for me. I enjoyed being married, but I don’t think I could lose again and survive with my senses in order. Sometimes I hope, but my heart remains still. If it weren’t for my faith, friends and family this would have been an impossible move.

She could feel her heart beating, but it was mechanical, like a pump set in motion until it stops when it runs out of gas or the electricity is turned off. Broken though it is, somehow