title: Wild Sands
author: Mason, Chris
description: Jason is a stressed-out manager and engineer in a Portland, Oregon software firm. Overworked, behind schedule, hassled by his crazy employees and impudent assistant, he snaps when he sees an ad for an oceanside B&B. He was supposed to work through the weekend, but instead drives to the coast for a solitary getaway—which turns out to be anything but lonely, because one of the hostesses is just as deranged as the people he left behind.The B&B is run by two women friends. Robin is quiet, intelligent, and repressed except when she’s banging out her emotions on the piano. Sheila has never repressed an impulse in her life: athletic, loud, aggressive, and uninhibited, she grabs Jason before he even gets through the door and claims him as her prize, forcing him to spend what he thought would be a quiet weekend hiking in the hills above the seaside.The B&B has an alter-ego at night. With Sheila asleep, Robin is free to bake the mountains of fresh cakes, muffins, and rolls that she offers to their guests every morning. Jason is also an incurable insomniac, and wandering down to find a snack discovers Robin’s secret world, a flour-dusted cinnamon heaven that’s also inhabited by her dancing dog, Bear.This sets the pattern for his future visits: reluctant adventures with Sheila during the day, lively conversations with Robin as she bakes at night.With his friends back in Portland overjoyed that he’s finally found a life, any life; his over-bearing mother insisting that he marry one of the women instantly; and Sheila herself beginning to think about marriage, Jason is in danger of being forced into a commitment with a woman that he’s not even sure he likes. Meanwhile his midnight talks with Robin have become the best thing in his life, but he discovers that one of her neighbors has been pursuing her for years and she’s on the verge of saying yes. Somewhere in the chaos of the Wild Sands B&B there must be a key to everyone's happiness.