Still, she occasionally thought of that look in Maddie’s eyes, yesterday and earlier today—that dark hunger—and her heartbeat would pick up again. That was her own problem, however, and she’d get over it. Best to keep things completely innocent between them, and that started with her thoughts. She suddenly thought of Sunday school. Sister Margaret had told her something very similar once when she’d been caught kissing the other altar girl, something about pure thoughts leading to pure actions. She wasn’t a believer by any means, but it was still good advice.

The party-rental business was housed in an enormous warehouse on the outskirts of town. Maddie drove into the lot and parked with a couple of minutes to spare. She pulled out a little sheet of paper from her coat pocket.

“Okay,” she said. “Here are all the things we need to get.”

“Do we have a guest count?” Ryann asked, scanning the list. They’d need numbers for all of this, especially this late.

“Jai and Stuart promised they’d keep it on the smaller side—seventy or eighty.”

She laughed. “Yeah, right. Let’s plan for an even hundred. I can always pay them back for extras, but better to be safe than sorry.”

Maddie laughed, too. “Exactly what I was thinking.”

They climbed out of the Bronco and went inside, Maddie’s phone ringing almost the moment they were in the door. Maddie excused herself when she saw the name, disappearing outside again, and Ryann explained to the woman at the front desk that they had an appointment.

Like Joan’s bakery, the reception area here was small—the rest of the warehouse and equipment behind walls and a closed door.

The woman indicated the fabric swatches and large plastic binders on the table, giving her an ordering sheet before leaving her there alone. As she was sitting down, taking off her coat, Maddie came back inside.

“Sorry about that. It was Erin—the brewer you met? Something came up on Monday, so she had to move the wine-and-cocktail tasting to today. I hope that’s okay. We’ll head over right after this.”

“No problem. This rental place seems pretty straightforward. It’s up to us what to pick, basically, and then we fill in this form. The woman that works here left me here alone.”

Maddie rolled her eyes. “Nice customer service. Oh, well—can’t expect people to leap over themselves during the busy season, I guess. We’re actually really lucky they had an opening. I called all over the place, and this was the last one within an hour’s drive.”

“I thought everyone said it wouldn’t be a problem booking things. That this ‘isn’t New York.’” She made air quotes.