Noelle’s brain stuck on the word fiancée. It was bad enough that she’d flirted with Miriam Blum, but an engaged Miriam Blum? This week kept getting, impossibly, worse.

“She didn’t want your money, Miriam.” Elijah pushed up his sleeves, smiling. “She wanted your brilliance.”

“What could I possibly contribute to Carrigan’s?” Miriam snorted. “Ruined antiques?”

“I’m trying to think like Cass,” Hannah said slowly. “What would Miriam bring to Carrigan’s, if this were her home base? There’s room for a studio and a shop in the carriage house, maybe. She could bring traffic in during the summer months…” She trailed off at Noelle’s glare and shrugged. “If this is what Cass wanted, shouldn’t we at least have a conversation about it?”

Noelle didn’t want to have a conversation about it. Miriam had been handed this magical place on a platter, and she’d thrown it away. She’d left Cass for ten years and never came back, even when Cass was dying. She had no place in Carrigan’s present or future.

“Elijah,” Noelle asked, “leaving the rather serious question of Levi aside for a moment, walk me through what it would look like if we bought out Miriam.” She tapped her short, buffed fingernails against the wooden back of the couch, the sensation helping her think.

“Well, the first question is, do you have the money to do that?” he answered.

Hannah shook her head. “I certainly don’t. My parents had Rosenstein money, but making documentaries is expensive. And I’ve been here since college, getting paid, well, the family rate.”

She pulled her cardigan closer around her, and Noelle shook off her own panic enough to realize that her best friend was terrified, with much more right to be. To Noelle, Levi was an annoyance, and Miriam a problem to solve. To Hannah, they were the other two legs of her stool, and they’d left her here alone to wobble desperately before she’d miraculously found her own balance. Now, she had to rely on the same people who’d proven themselves unreliable to do right by the only home she’d ever had.

“Wait,” Miriam interrupted. “I should sell it to you both. And I probably will, cheap, so it’s not a hardship on you and I can go back to my life. But Cass must have left it to me for a reason. I’d like to think about that before I make any final decisions.”

She looked around but Noelle refused to meet her eye. “I just found out this was happening, and I can’t even process it. I need some time, Noelle. Hannah. I’m sorry. Can you give me a little while?”