The Last First Kiss

Ace Sinclair has one eye on a hurricane churning up from the south and the other on his old high school sweetheart, J’nelle Reade, whom he has invited, on impulse, to spend a weekend with him at his Outer Banks beach house. Now in their seventies, both widowed, Ace and J’nelle expect to relive old memories. They soon discover that the past is still with them more than they know, and they are pulled into a haunting search among old memories of betrayals, mistakes and missed chances for the illusive truth of their lives. As a dangerous hurricane turns in the Atlantic and heads their way, time runs short, and they must choose between the tidal pull of old dreams and the future’s wide unknown.

Walter Bennett’s characters and craftsmanship will remind readers of Kent Haruf and Richard Russo.