Natalie shook her head. “Not a clue.”

“Well. Speaking of surprises …” Tess turned over the book Natalie had placed on the table. Her eyebrows lifted. “Hello. What’s he like in person? Please say this picture isn’t twenty years old.”

“It’s recent. And to be honest, it doesn’t do him justice.” Natalie couldn’t suppress a blush.

“Well, look at you,” Tess said with a grin. “You like him.”

“Oh, come on. I don’t want to be that awful,” she said. “My boyfriend’s only been gone a short while. I was so wrong about Rick … well, I’ve been questioning my own judgment. I’ve got no business thinking about another guy.”

“You’re not awful. You’re human. You were about to break up with Rick. That doesn’t make the crash any less tragic, but your heart had already changed.”

Natalie sighed. “I’ve gone over and over that day in my mind. If he had proposed, what would I have said?” She shuddered, plagued by guilt. “I would’ve had to say no, and I would have felt horrible and so would he.”

“And both of you would have muddled through and moved on,” Tess said. “But because of what happened, you’re stuck with an unfinished situation you’ll never get to finish.”

“Exactly,” said Natalie.

“Listen, you have to let that shit go. Promise me.”

“I’ll work on that. It’s hard, though. I want to believe happiness is going to be possible again one day. Then I think about my mom and I just can’t.”

“She would hate that.”

“I know. Like I said, I’ll work on it.”

A cheery whistle and the jingle of the door alerted her that Peach had arrived for the day.

“Speaking of work,” Natalie said, getting up. “My builder is here. He’s been single-handedly patching up this poor old building.” She briefly introduced Tess and Peach.

Tess fake-swooned behind his back, mouthing, He’s gorgeous.

When he went upstairs to get to work, Natalie scolded her. “He’s fixing my building, not my dating life.”

“Okay.” Tess sounded dubious. “About this building,” she said. She picked up a large archival box and set it on the table. “Let’s get down to business. I have information about that vase you found.”

“Actually, Peach found it,” Natalie said. “It was in the crawl space out back.”

“Is your grandfather up?” Tess asked. “I think Andrew will want to hear this. And Peach, too, since he found it.”

“I hope that means you have good news.” Natalie went back to her grandfather’s apartment and knocked. He was getting ready for the day, and he looked good. His shirt was buttoned correctly, and he was freshly shaved and combed. His eyes were clear and focused. “Morning, Natty-girl. I was just coming out for coffee.”