“I asked the same thing.” Hannah loosened her hold on Winnie since the older woman seemed much calmer now. “Michelle told me they’re going to put down a piece of cardboard the exact size as the base of the statue and sweep the snow over that. Then, when they’re all through shooting, they’ll sweep the snow off and have the crane operator put the statue back down on the cardboard.”

“Oh. Well

that should work.” Winnie looked much more relaxed as she accepted the cup of coffee from Hannah.

“Come on back and sit with me,” Hannah urged, grabbing a chair that someone had left unattended, and leading Winnie back to the area where Delores, Carrie, and Norman were waiting.

Everyone held their breath as the sculpted image of Lake Eden’s first mayor hovered, swaying slightly on its tether, as high as a two-story house above them. Winnie watched the statue for longer than most, but at last she lowered her gaze and drew a deep breath. “Guess everything’ s okay with Arnie’s statue.”

“Of course it is,” Hannah reassured her, and the mothers and Norman added their own words of encouragement before their attention was drawn to the wooden warming house at the far end of the skating rink.

“It’s that new lady director,” Winnie said, nudging Hannah as Lynne appeared. “Looks like she can skate just as good as the kids.”

Hannah watched as her old college friend glided across the rink and stopped in the center.

“Thank you all for coming out today,” Lynne said, and since there was no way anyone’s voice would carry over the sound of the crane’s motor and the whine of the wind machine, Hannah realized that she must be using a clip-on microphone. “I know it’s cold and there’s coffee and hot chocolate over there in the red striped tent. Feel free to help yourselves. We’ve already shot some crowd scenes and we’ll be shooting more when the action on the rink starts.”

Lynne motioned with her hand and seven young girls came out of the warming house, with Tracey bringing up the rear. “These are our little stars for this scene. They’re going to skate out to the middle of the rink and play Crack The Whip. As the new girl in town, not yet accepted as one of the crowd, Tracey’s character will be on the end. On the fifth complete revolution, the girl who’s holding Tracey’s hand will let go and Tracey will end up crashing into the snowbank in front of the green-and-white tent.”

Hannah, along with everyone else, turned to look at the snowbank where Tracey would be landing. It looked slightly different than the rest.