Violetta's agreement is reluctant, sure the only women who might want have a screw loose. She feels her suspicions are confirmed when it is an anonymous bidder who wins the date, and things go from weird to weirder after that. This is a novella of 30,000 words.

    Competition between the two arose quickly and has never ceased, especially over the famous Cheese and Beer Festival.As festival manager, Jane Swallow struggles to maintain peace and equanimity within the community she loves, but this year, everything is going wrong. Her irascible father has just been released from prison, her job is on the line, and to top it all, her ex-girlfriend has moved in next door. But not just any ex—the one that ripped her heart out and stomped on it.Her life is going to hell in a handcart and everything she cares about will be changed forever…unless she can pull off some sort of miracle.

    She found her first gray hair on the morning of her trip to Ocracoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina. Lizbeth was beginning a three-month sabbatical, on the scenic coastal island, in order to finish her Master's thesis in Linguistic Anthropology. She plans to study the Carolina Brogue spoken there. What she ends up studying is her lesbian neighbor across the street and the uncontrollable pull Lizbeth feels toward her. Lizbeth Jackson is about to find out what life has to offer, after waking up gray.