She wiped the black marble and fell back into the wish. Hank had been talking to her, as he did whenever they were alone; then suddenly, he stopped. The rain had just turned everything silver, and a chill was in the air.

Hank looked over his shoulder. There was only the field, the thick grasses, the softly singing river. And the two of them, together.

He moved toward her.

“Ella,” he said, “I want you to know something. I want you to know that you’re a very beautiful and a very desirable girl.”

Then he gathered her in his arms and pulled her to him and pressed his lips, roughly, against hers . . .

She was lying next to him on the wet grass, telling him that she had never been kissed, really kissed, in a grown-up way, in her whole life, when the bell tinkled.

Ella blinked and looked up.

A young man in a dark suit stood in the doorway. He was tall, with straight black hair, and his eyes were on her.

He closed the door, and the bell tinkled again. “Hello,” he said.

Ella smiled, tentatively. She said “Hi,” but her accent turned the word into something that sounded like “Ha” and she felt embarrassed, because this was a stranger to town. Someone from the East, probably. You could see that.

He walked over to the counter, close to her, and returned the smile. “I wonder, miss,” he said, “if you could give me some change. I need a whole lot of dimes.”

“Just a second,” Ella said, “and I’ll see.” She pressed the No Sale button on the cash register. “All right,” she said.

The stranger had climbed onto a stool. He gave her two one-dollar bills. “Can you spare twenty of them?”

“I guess so.”

She dug out a handful of dimes, counted twenty, set them in a pile on the counter. She couldn’t imagine what anyone would want with so many dimes, but she didn’t feel it would be right to inquire. A long-distance call would require a lot of change, but you could use quarters in the coin box.

“Thanks.”

It was suddenly very quiet: only the sound of the electric fan, turning lazily, and the tick of the clock, and her own breathing.

The stranger’s eyes seemed to cover her, but they were warm and friendly. There was nothing to be afraid of, after all. Mr. Higgins would be back in a few minutes.

“Would you care for anything else?” she asked.

“Well,” the young man said, “I think maybe I could use a cup of coffee.” His voice was clear and solid, yet not in the least hard. It was a very nice voice.