“No, not until Friday. Today they’re shooting the classroom scene, where she wins the spelling bee. It’s at noon, right before they break for lunch. You’ll come, won’t you?”

“I wouldn’t miss it,” Hannah said.

“I think I’ll go look for that scarf right now. I have to go home anyway.”

“Why?”

“I need to see if Bethany will smile at me again.”

Hannah was refilling coffee cups when she noticed Connor motioning to her from the counter. She finished the table she was serving, and then she ducked behind the counter to talk to him. “Hi, Connor. Do you need me?”

“I certainly do. You said to let you know if I couldn’t talk Mrs. Henderson into signing that release form. Well, I talked until I was blue in the face, but there’s no way she’ll do it. She was really nice about it, though. She gave me gooseberry pie and coffee and showed me pictures of her grandchildren.”

“But she didn’t sign?”

“No. Nothing I said convinced her, not even the money Mr. Lawrence was willing to pay.”

“Then I’ll give it a try,” Hannah promised. “I’ll catch her when they shoot the cocktail scene.”

“Mrs. Henderson is in the cocktail scene?”

“No, but her youngest daughter is and Winnie’s bound to drive in to watch Alice. I think I can convince her.”

“Oh, I hope so! Thank you, Hannah. I’ll tell Mr. Lawrence that you’re going to try. I just hope he doesn’t fire me for failing him.”

“He won’t

will he?”

“He’s fired me before, but he always hired me back after he got over being mad at me. I’m just afraid that it’ll be permanent one of these times. I’m almost sixty and it would be hard to get another job without references from my former employer.”

“You’re worrying over nothing,” Hannah reassured him, reaching into one of the serving jars with napkin-sheathed fingers and handing him two Twin Chocolate Delights. “Eat these cookies. The chocolate will make you feel better.”

“But I really should go and find Mr. Lawrence.”

“Find him later, after I’ve talked to Winnie.”

“But Mr. Lawrence told me to get right back to him.”

“Bad news can wait, especially since that bad news might turn into good news.”

Connor considered it for a moment and then he nodded. “You could be right. If Mr. Lawrence doesn’t ask me outright, I’ll wait to tell him.”

Ten minutes later, Connor was smiling and chatting with one of the grips. Hannah’s chocolate prescription had done the trick and she was congratulating herself on a job well done when Andrea rushed back in the door.

“Hi, Andrea,” Hannah greeted her. “Did you find that scarf?”

“I found it. And I found something else, too.”

“What’s that?”

“Proof that Bill is cheating on me!”