Angels were smiling down on her today. “Yes, two blocks west of here, right on King Street, you’ll find Ruby’s Diner. Best food in Fallen Springs,” she added, because it was true.

“Thanks. I’ll go have a bite and see you in an hour.”

She nodded because her mouth was so dry that her tongue was sticking to the roof of her mouth. Before she did anything stupid, she went to the office, chugged a bottle of water, brushed her hair, took the mascara from her purse, and added three coats to her pale lashes. She searched for lipstick, but all she could find was an old tube of Dr. Pepper lip balm, her favorite since high school. Right now, more than anything, she wished Madison was here with her purse full of high-end makeup.

As soon as she finished, she packed each music box into its original packaging; then she wrapped them, one by one, all in different paper, as Mr. Hunk hadn’t specified any particular style of paper. Of course, she had been so flustered that she hadn’t shown him her selection, either. She’d hope for the best. She took her time with each box, sad to see them go but thrilled with what their purchases did for Razzle Dazzle’s bottom line. Mom would be beside herself when she told her about this huge sale. Dad would be reinforced in his beliefs that the store would continue to hold its own.

Lauren packed each wrapped music box in three of Razzle Dazzle’s reusable cloth bags, and then placed them two to a few larger bags, in the hope they wouldn’t bang against one another and break. After the amount this was going to cost Mr. Hunk, surely he would be extra careful when he loaded his car with his purchases—though she didn’t recall seeing a car parked in front of the store, and this early in the day, she would have noticed. Maybe his friend who has the birthday on Christmas dropped him off. No, that didn’t make sense because Lauren would have seen that, too. There was one taxi service in Fallen Springs, and she hadn’t seen it either. Maybe he had walked. But from where? The only lodging in Fallen Springs was the Langdon House, a beautiful bed-and-breakfast that rarely had a vacancy, as it only had four rooms.

This was absolutely none of her business, though Lauren knew he was not from Fallen Springs. She would have known had someone like him lived here. He stood out like a giant, and a very handsome one, too. No, he definitely was not local, of that she was sure.