I ignored them, even though I felt rude. However, after discussing it with Penny, I decided while I was in charge, the store would be open four days a week. Wednesday through Saturday. I had two editing jobs lined up with authors I’d worked with before, and even though I imagined I’d have free time during opening hours to work on those, I still liked the idea of having free days to edit. It gave me time in the week to sightsee around Northumberland. I’d need to arrange a rental car, but other than the nerve-racking prospect of driving on the opposite side of the road, I was kind of excited about it.

I wondered if I’d get to see Roane’s farm and then threw the thought away.

Roane? Roane who?

First things first. Arranging a display in the storefront window. I started unloading the boxes marked display and noted what was there. There were little sheep and cattle, and I wondered if they were for an agriculture display about Northumberland.

Did another woman come here, meet Roane, and decide to pay homage to him? Was he the tourist trap?

I shook my head.

Roane? Roane who?

When I saw the painted bust of Shakespeare’s head among the items, I knew Penny and I were secretly soul mates. Giddy with excitement, I grabbed my favorite playwright’s head, intending to use it. There was a weird and wonderful collection of ornaments that seemed to make no sense, but my love for Shakespeare meant my brain automatically put them all together and came up with A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Penny had several garden fairies, and there was even a miniature donkey. Finding a crib and a manger, I suspected the donkey was part of a Christmas nativity set. But all I saw was Nick Bottom. Sure, he only had a donkey’s head, but I had to work with what was available, and that didn’t include a half-human, half-donkey doll.

Because that would be creepy.

I wondered if Roane liked Shakespeare.

Who cares? I admonished myself.

Grabbing piles of green sparkly tinsel, I arranged it on the wide window ledge to look like grass. Penny had several small, twiggy Christmas trees, and I attached paper blossoms I’d found to the branches. The blossoms had clips on them, like they were hair decorations to be worn for a luau or something, and I transformed two of the miniature Christmas trees into blossom trees. The others I plugged in so they lit up.

Finding strings of fairy lights, I draped them around the window. Then I placed the garden fairies and the donkey across the ledge surrounded by tinsel and lights. There were several copies of A Midsummer’s Night Dream in the store, and I opened those just enough that they stood in place among the display.

The bust of Shakespeare took center stage.