“That was nice,” Norman said, leading her out the door to his waiting sedan. “Maybe you should not be here more often.”

The Lake Eden Municipal Park looked like the circus had come to town. Since the skating scene was supposed to take place at a Winter Carnival–type affair, warming tents were set up around the outer perimeter of the park. The tents were heated and between takes, the extras could crowd into them to warm up. It was a bit colder than it had been the preceding two days, but this afternoon it had warmed up to a balmy forty degrees. That was rather pleasant for March, but standing for hours in the snow or on the frozen ground could drain body heat even from a hardy Minnesotan who was wearing insulated boots.

As they made their way through the crowd of people, Hannah spotted Eleanor and Otis Cox, each holding a leash attached to one of their huskies. Next to them were the first couple of Lake Eden, Mayor and Mrs. Bascomb, and Hannah began to like Stephanie Bascomb much better when she saw her bending down to pet the dogs. “What a crowd! It looks like everyone in town is here!”

“They put out a call for more extras this morning on KCOW radio. I heard it when I was driving out to the new house.”

“Why did you go out there?” Hannah asked.

“I wanted to make sure they installed the countertops when they said they would. You wanted black granite, didn’t you?”

“Right,” Hannah said. The moment the word left her lips she thought better of it, but it was too late. “I thought the black would look nice with the light oak cabinets. But really, Norman

you should have ordered what you wanted.”

“I want what you want,” Norman said, putting an end to that discussion. And then he slipped his arm around her shoulder and gave her a little hug as they walked over to join the mothers.

“You have no idea how difficult it was to save these chairs!” Delores said, greeting them with a complaint. “I put down my purse to show it was taken, but people kept asking me to move it.”

“Thank you so much for saving them, Mother.” Hannah knew it was time for compliments. Her mother always complained in an effort to gain her gratitude. “I’ve been on my feet all morning and I don’t think I could have stayed on them for another minute. By the way, these are for you and Carrie.”

Delores smiled as she took the bag. “Cookies? How sweet of you, dear! What kind are they?”

“They’re called Mock Turtles and you’d better eat them right now. It’s like a refrigerator out here and these cookies have caramel in the center. You could break a tooth if they got too chilled.”