She huffed to blow a dislodged curl away from her forehead. “You looking for Narnia or something?”

The man lifted one hand and then stared at it as if he didn’t know what to do with it now that it was in the air, eventually settling for running it over the front of his rumpled white oxford. His navy blue tie hung loose, a sign he’d fidgeted with it one too many times.

“Narnia. Ha. That’s, uh, very . . . funny. I-I loved those books as a kid.”

“So did I. Especially the one where—” What was she doing? Her fiancé had just dumped her and a weirdo was hiding in the wardrobe she couldn’t manage to sell, and she was making small talk?

The man’s eyes were trained on her shoe. “Are you, um, going to hit me with that?”

“Maybe. If the situation warrants.” Or she could just throw it at him.

Gosh, why hadn’t she thought to do that to Bennington? She should’ve plucked off her shoe and chucked it at him the moment she’d realized where that backroom conversation was headed.

“I don’t think it will. Warrant it, I mean.”

“You don’t think it will? Or you know it won’t? You’re not a very confident criminal, are you?”

“I’m not a criminal at all.” He straightened and bumped his head on the top of the wardrobe, then winced.

Honestly, any other day and Indi might laugh at the peculiarity of this. But if she let a squeak of laughter out now, there was no guaranteeing it wouldn’t turn into a sob in the next moment. Dumped. Just like that. Before her family had even had a chance to meet her fiancé.

“I’m not a criminal,” he said again. “I-I only hid in this thing. I didn’t attempt to steal it.”

“Well, I wish you would’ve. It takes up way too much floor space.”

The man just stared at her for stilted seconds before finally opening his mouth again. “I suppose I should explain. Not that I have much of an explanation. Nothing that makes any sense, that is. You see . . . I . . . when I heard . . . when I realized . . .” He shook his head, clearly frustrated at his inability to finish the sentence.

“Oh brother, you might as well come out.” She lowered her shoe and stepped backward, the movement uneven considering her one bare foot.

The man cleared his throat. Again. Smoothed down his tie. Again. And finally, he stepped free of the wardrobe.