Flossy reached out and patted Bliss’s hand, and then the two women fell to work, chatting as they packed up everything that could be wrapped in newspaper or crated. The time passed quickly, and Bliss was beginning to feel the first stirrings of real hunger—she hadn’t had time for breakfast—when she looked up and saw the fancy carriage come to a stop in front of the tearoom.

“Oh no,” she groaned as Jamie got out of the coach and came striding across the sidewalk. Of course, he paid no attention at all to the “closed” sign; he simply opened the door and walked in.

Worse than that, Bliss craned her neck to see, that awful woman was right behind him.

Jamie did not behave in the way Bliss would have expected him to at all. He smiled, in fact, and swept off his hat, inclining his head to Flossy, who seemed charmed.

Bliss swallowed and then said, “Flossy, this is my—friend, Jamie McKenna.”

Flossy was actually blushing under the dazzling warmth of Jamie’s audacious smile. “Why, I believe I’ve heard your name before,” she said.

Jamie’s expression was one of ingenuous humility. Bliss had never wanted to kick him in the shin so badly as she did at that moment. “Looks like you’re going out of business,” he said cautiously, for, of course, he didn’t know whether the circumstances of Flossy’s retirement were favorable or not.

Flossy set that concern to rest by beaming and launching into a lengthy discourse on the attributes of her only son, who was going to take care of her for the rest of her natural days.

Since Bliss had heard the story before, she had time to sneak a curious look or two at the woman who had accompanied Jamie to the tearoom. She was just as enchanting up close as she had been from a distance. The fact that she seemed to be over forty was no consolation, for that gave her a sophistication that Bliss couldn’t hope to match.

“You might as well just leave with your friends,” Flossy told Bliss cheerfully, forcing money into her hand. “And I’m sorry the position didn’t work out better than it did.”

Bliss looked down at the wages Flossy had given her. “But this is a week’s pay—”

“You keep it,” Flossy said firmly. “It’ll make me feel better about leavin’ you high and dry the way I did.”

Bliss thanked Flossy and put the money into the pocket of her sateen skirt, knowing that the woman’s pride was at stake, and then impulsively gave her a quick hug. Following that, she took her coat down from its peg and put it on, fully intending to take a tram rather than ride with Jamie.

His lady love had gone to wait in the carriage, and when Flossy retreated to the kitchen in an effort to hide the fact that her eyes were moist, Bliss looked up at her husband and said flatly, “I will not sit in the same carriage with that hussy.”