With Lorraine and Scott gone DeAnna was really sad. Luz did her best to cheer her up. She heard that Marshall Tucker was gonna be playing at Frisky's. Since they lived just around the conner Luz told her she wanted to go with her. So that next weekend the went to see them play. The tickets were sold out. And the bar was full that night. It was really awesome to hear them play in such a small bar. DeAnna really enjoyed it. Diane, Karen and Steve was there.
DeAnna was missing Rainey and Scott so much she started heading up to Frisky's most every night.
There was a band that was playing there every weekend for a month. The drummer was really cute. He was from Hawaii. They got to talking and he wanted to take her there with him. But DeAnna knew she loved Anthony so much she couldn't do it. So she told him no.
She was getting so tore up staying until the bar closed. She'd walk home and be falling in the ditches. She was lucky she made it home.
She knew she had to stop getting so tore up.

She had gotten her drivers license. She got a job working as a waitress on the island. The Village Grille. She worked nights. Luz would drive her there and pick her up. DeAnna paid her for gas along with rent.
DeAnna went to see some friends who owned a car lot downtown. She found a car she loved. It was a black Monte Carlo with T-tops. It was about ten years old but in good shape.
She went out got insurance and a tag on it. The she took the T-tops off and rode over to her friend's to show her the car.
"Hey Diane!" DeAnna said as Diane came out of the house.
"Hey girl! I didn't know who that was. That's a nice car. Is it yours?"
"Yep! Just bought it! Come on let's go for a ride!"
"Ok! Give me a minute to lock up the doors!"
They rode over to the island. DeAnna was jamming to Tom Petty. She played the tape over and over as they sang to every song. "Free Falling" they played over and over again. It was their favorite song. Just a crusin' round the island.
DeAnna worked every shift she could at the Village Grille. The morning for breakfast it was similar to McDonalds they took counter orders. For lunch it was buffet. People lined up and told you want they wanted. It was good home cooking. Tom and Debbie owned the restaurant.Tom ran it during the day. Debbie worked as an accountant in town. Tom's mother did the cooking. It was a big hit. They got one meat, a vegetable, a starch item with a roll and drink.
Nights was table served. Nights were not very busy at first. Then the owner decided to All You Can Eat specials. Each night of the week it was something different. Each item was ran the same the same night of the week. Friday nights was Steak and shrimp. Saturday nights snow crab. Sun day nights boiled shrimp. Monday nights steak. Tuesday nights fried shrimp and Wednesday catfish. Business really started kicking. DeAnna was the only waitress. There were only ten tables on the side of the restaurant. The front had a salad bar and the buffet line. Buddy, Tom's brother ran the restaurant at night and helped DeAnna out with refilling drinks. Or bringing out another plate if she couldn't get to them for another round. DeAnna was making killer tips.
Anthony came in to see her at lunch. DeAnna would stop by his place in between shifts. He'd leave her notes on her car late at night if he had time away for her to come by.
DeAnna was much killer tips with the All You Can Eat specials. So she decided to save up for a place of her own on the island. She loved the island so much. She felt closer to God when she walked on the beach. The wind and the power she felt from the ocean was so awesome. It was like there was so much mystery in the ocean. All of what could be.
She looked at places up for rent. But none she really liked that she could afford. So she decided to put her business back together.

She found a office to rent near the pier and her job. It was the heaviest tourist area on the island. She got it for $100 a month in rent. It was in the Marshall Building which was rather hard to find and it had about 6 offices in it. Her's was the smallest. But she didn't mind she was just so excited to be able to do this. And all on her own. She named it "Singles Connections". And she had it set up to be a dating service and singles club. You had the choice if you just wanted to find someone to date. Just hang out with a group of singles or do both. Since she had worked as a typesetter she knew about printing and did all her own print work.
She had her own commercial done and the newspaper did a whole page write up about her business. Then the tv station called her to do a half hour talk show for the local tv station. She was really nervous and didn't want to be on tv but she figured it would help her business wise. Likely David who was interviewing her did most the talking. He knew she was nervous.
People came in to fill out an application and brought in a picture. If they wanted to date to be placed in the portfolio. If they didn't have a picture they like she had an instant camera and she would take their picture there in her office. She found out it was mostly school teachers, business owners, retired people and widows and widowers who came in for the dating services. It was really neat. She loved meeting people and really enjoyed what she was doing.
And she also did up a monthly calendar for the singles club. She had something once a week for everyone to do. She mailed them out to the singles members. And they had the choice of what they wanted to join in on. Once every month they would all meet at the office and ride together over to Jekyll Island at the Raddison. Each time there would be something different there like one time was a story teller who told the history of the Rockefeller's who use to at once own Jekyll Island. Which was a millionaires island back then. Another time was a story teller who told the history of Okefenokee Swamp. And another time they had the history of folk music where they used rubber bands, old bath boards and things they used to make music with. It was always very interesting. And they were served coffee and pastries. Which were totally awesome.
They had a low country boil on Little St Simons. Which you could only get to by boat. They were given a tour of the island. It was a private owned island where people could come to stay to get away or come to hunt. They had horses for visitors to rent to ride on the island.
And they went to Sapelo Island which they also had to get to by boat. This was taken on a two level boat and was a half hour boat ride. Then there was a trally train that rode them around the island for the tour. People lived on the island but there are no motor vechiles on the island. Children had to ride the boat everyday to school. Where they got off the boat and onto the trally was a small post office.
The island was originally owned by J.C. Reynolds a millionaire who also at the time also owned Sea Island. His mansion had a clover shaped fountain with a lady in the middle of it out front. They were given a tour of the mansion. All the rooms were huge. They only got to tour the dining room, library, living room and the basement which had it's own bowling alley in it. There were pirates painted on the walls and there was part of and old ship boat as the bar. There was a fireplace with a old bench made out of trees sitting in front of it.
Then they were taken to another part of the island. Which was barn shaped. But was currently being used as a marine lab on the floor level. And the upstairs was being used as a theater for the people who lived on the island. There was a house that someone currently lived in. It was very old but still looked nice. And in between the house and the barn was a turkey fountain. At the top was a turkey and the four corners of the fountain had a little turkeys. The man who had the place built was from Germany. And his wife loved turkeys so he had it built for her. It made DeAnna wonder if the barn back then was full of turkeys.
They were taken through the area where a the few people who lived there had their houses. There was one small bar in the area.