She studied him, at first naturally then as a ploy, enjoying the hopeful look on his face. “Yes,” she said. “I’d like that.”

An order of alpaca wool came in that afternoon, and Betsy had to write a disturbingly large check to pay for it. She was comparing the contents of the box with the order placed by Margot when Irene Potter came in.

“They’re rewiring our end of the plant,” she said, “so the circuit breakers will stop turning everything off; and they told us to take today and tomorrow off. I decided to stop in and ask—”

“I’m sure we don’t have any hours for you to work,” Godwin called loudly from the back of the store.

Irene threw a frosty look in his direction and focused her attention more pointedly on Betsy. “—find out if you are getting along all right. I know it must be hard for you to take over a business without warning or preparation.”

Betsy said candidly, “Well, it would be nice if I could put everything on hold while I take a semester or two of business courses. Godwin and the others are very helpful, but it’s hard to be the boss under these circumstances.”

Irene’s thin mouth pulled downward. “Margot’s death happened at a particularly bad time, just when we’re going to be swamped with orders.”

“We are?” Betsy noticed the “we”; Irene must still think she was going to own this shop someday.

“Yes, our inventory will be growing quickly toward its peak this month, in time for the holidays. This is when we spend the most, and hope to make it all back and more by the end of December. And, of course, utilities go high during the winter. That front window leaks heat as if it were screen instead of glass—Joe Mickels won’t double-glaze it—and with people in and out, the heat just flows like a river through that door. And now, of course, you’ve got that burglary loss. Have you figured it out yet? How much?”

Betsy was staring at Irene as if she had never seen her before. And, in fact, she hadn’t seen this Irene, the competent businesswoman. “Uh, we’re pretty sure it’s a little over seven thousand, mostly damage to fixtures.”

“That’s not so bad.”

“No, it looked really terrible, but a lot of it we could just pick up and shake out, and there’s more I think we can sell after it’s been washed. I had wonderful help, they sorted thousands of beads and buttons.”

“Getting good help is half the battle.” Irene nodded. “I wish I could have been here, too.”

“But you have a better job, one that pays more than I can offer.”

“Ensuring a computer keyboard gets to Detroit by morning isn’t as exciting the thousandth time as it was the first.”