The Beach House

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON

Scripture verses were taken from The Jerusalem Bible, Copyright © 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday & Company, Inc., all rights reserved; from the New English Bible, copyright © Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press 1961, 1970, all rights reserved; from the New American Standard Bible
^®
, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission (
www.Lockman.org
); from
The Living Bible
, Copyright ©1971.Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA, all rights reserved; and from the King James Version of the Bible.

Cover by Garborg Design Works, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Ste #200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to events or locales, is entirely coincidental.

THE BEACH HOUSE

Copyright © 2006 by Sally John

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

John, Sally, 1951–

The beach house / Sally John.

p. cm.—(The beach house series ; bk. 1)

ISBN-13: 978-0-7369-1316-4 (pbk.)

ISBN-10: 0-7369-1316-5 (pbk.)

1. Women--California--Fiction. 2. San Diego (Calif.)--Fiction. 3. Female

friendship--Fiction. 4. Seaside resorts--Fiction. I. Title. II. Series.

PS3560.O323B43 2006

813'.54—dc22

2005020521

All rights reserved
. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 / BC-KB / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Acknowledgments

Prologue

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-One

Twenty-Two

Twenty-Three

Twenty-Four

Twenty-Five

Twenty-Six

Twenty-Seven

Twenty-Eight

Twenty-Nine

Thirty

Thirty-One

Thirty-Two

Thirty-Three

Thirty-Four

Thirty-Five

Thirty-Six

Thirty-Seven

Thirty-Eight

Thirty-Nine

Forty

Forty-One

Forty-Two

Forty-Three

Forty-Four

Forty-Five

Forty-Six

Forty-Seven

Forty-Eight

Forty-Nine

Fifty

Fifty-One

Fifty-Two

Fifty-Three

Fifty-Four

Fifty-Five

Fifty-Six

Fifty-Seven

Fifty-Eight

Fifty-Nine

Sixty

Sixty-One

Sixty-Two

Sixty-Three

Epilogue

Grandmère Babette’s List

Discussion Questions

Other Books by Sally John

About the Author

As is true with all my stories, this one is the result of a joint venture. My heart overflows with gratitude to the following—

My readers
: You are incredibly beautiful. Your gracious encouragement undergirds me day after day.

Contest respondents
: Reading your real-life stories about fortieth birthdays was sheer delight. I laughed and cried and found a common thread. It was a turning point, either remembered by those over forty or anticipated by those not yet there. Thank you for the peek into your hearts. They are gold mines of feminine wisdom.

The suggestions for character names were much appreciated as well and carried me way beyond “name your baby” books. I used names provided by
Carol L. Hoefs, Peggy McShane, Sherrie Kuster Burton
, and
Peggy Hadacek
.

Bill
and
Jane Hull
: for sharing your lives with us in so many ways, not the least of which has been through words, especially those “Hull-isms.”

Trisha Owens
and
Joyce Lax
: for introducing me to reflexology, patiently answering questions, and keeping my nerves in order.

Kim Moore
and
Gene Skinner
: for
sashimi
.

Harvest House
: for the whole range of your tireless efforts toward excellence in editing, marketing, page and cover design, and sales. What a privilege to be part of the family!

Kim “the Exceptional Editor” Moore
: for knowing my characters better than I do myself and for taking such extraordinary editorial care of them.

My family~

Sandy Carlson:
for real-life research.

Tracy John:
for boogie boarding and brainstorming.

Elizabeth John
: for volleyball, a myriad of other researched information, and a last-minute, first-class editing job.

Christopher and Tracy:
for introducing me to the Northwest.

Tim, Christopher, Tracy
, and
Patti John
: for first read-through, critiques, and support.

And
Tim
, my anchor, for giving me San Diego.

“Let be then: learn that I am God.”

Psalm 46:10

May

Del Mar, California

Dr. Josephine Zambruski studied the five-by-seven framed photograph in her hands and tried to remember when she had stopped displaying it on her desk.

Perhaps it was during that idiotic redecorating phase that had taken hold of her like a bad perm. There was no escape. She had to play along, even if it meant boxing up her entire past. Chrome sculptures and watercolors were in, funky photos were out.