Chapter 192

• The boutique had been quiet all afternoon. The kind of quiet where you could hear the faint ticking of the clock on the back wall and the soft hum of the refrigerator in the stockroom. I had spent most of the day folding scarves, rearranging a stack of handwoven shawls, and brushing a faint trail of lint from the shoulders of two display dresses. It was work I could have done in half the time, but I was in no rush.
• Julian was at the counter, reading something on his tablet. Every so often, he would glance at the front door as if expecting someone to come in, but no one did. The rain outside had thinned to a steady drizzle, soft enough that you could forget it was there until you looked out at the wet pavement.
• I was carrying a box of newly delivered ceramics to the display table when Lena stepped in, shaking the rain from her coat. She greeted Julian and then looked at me with a face that told me whatever she had to say would not be small.