“What happens when you’ve done all that? Then what? Sooner or later, you’re going to be ready to settle down, get married, and have a family. You don’t want to be an old spinster, do you?”

“Of course not. But it’s a big leap from turning down marriage at eighteen to being an old-lady spinster. There’s a lot of life in between. I aim to experience it.”

“By working at Meyer’s Drugstore for the rest of your life? Be realistic. How are you going to support yourself?”

“I don’t want to fight anymore. I care for you, Sam. Truly, I do. I’m not in love with you the way I think I should be with the man I’m going to marry. I meant to spare your feelings, but you don’t want to take no for an answer.”

“Trust me, you’ll grow to love me more over time.”

“No. It doesn’t always work that way.” She recalled what her father said in his letter. “The fact is, you don’t know what’s best for me. Only I know that. And right now, I know what’s best for me isn’t marrying you. I’m sorry, but there it is, as plain as I can say it.” She jumped up and grabbed the blanket.

“Mare—”

“My decision is final. I’m sorry, really, I am. I hope you find the right girl for you, but it isn’t going to be me. Goodbye, Sam.” She tucked the blanket under her arm and ran. Even when the house was in sight, she kept running. She didn’t want to go home yet.

She ended up at the library. It was closed at this hour, but she sat on a stone bench. Again her hands shook, but this time she didn’t feel the least bit nauseated. Instead, she felt unaccountably lighter, as if she’d been freed from a great burden. She laughed giddily.

Something Sam said bubbled to the surface. He’d assumed she would have to work at Meyer’s for the rest of her life. Well, she wasn’t going to settle for that. No sir. She was going to kick the dust off and forge a new path.

As she sat there, an idea began to take shape. Maybe she had a way out of this town, after all. She only wished she’d thought of cousin Louise sooner. When she’d overheard her mother yesterday gossiping on the phone with her sister, Louise’s mother, in East Tennessee about Louise’s new job, she should have known that this could be her big chance to get out.