Ristretto Rain / Mount Erie Press (ePub)

Halem is one of Seattle's finest coffee roasters and baristas. Sandra, a wealthy divorcee, rescues her from an abusive relationship and takes her away to create a world-class coffee shop in a remote village in Washington state's San Juan Islands. The Rock Harbor Coffee Roasters, her little shop, is perched on a bluff overlooking a beautiful marina. She has her regular customers, mostly commercial fishermen and eccentrics who have their own reasons for escaping mainstream society. She also serves a host of transient tourists arriving by boats each day. One morning, a mysterious and handsome man comes rowing in from the Pacific Ocean in a little wooden boat. He is the most remarkable man she's ever met. He has the uncanny ability to peer into her soul as well as her customer's most secret places, putting his finger on their greatest emotional conflicts. Halem has her own personal labyrinth, which is far more convoluted than just her abusive Seattle boyfriend but stretches back into unresolved grief as a child. During his short stay in the harbor, Winston helps several people navigate out of their personal quagmires. About this time, Sandra discovers that Winston is a liar and swindler and chases him out of their little village. But is it too late for Halem, as her heart is already lost to this man and is broken with his departure. Is Sandra correct? Can Halem find the truth? Is Winston the greatest man she's ever met...or the most conniving fraud? Will she find peace or unbearable heartbreak?