recognized Billy Scalino, one of those jocks he went to high school with. Billy’s eye widened in surprise when he saw Dan, and he offered a pleasant greeting.
“Nice to see you, man.” That was all he said, but Billy’s greeting was indicative of the town as a whole. People were nice here. That didn’t mean they wouldn’t tell you where to go if you pissed any one of them off. Dan shouldn’t have been surprised at the friendliness of the greeting, but a lot of years had passed between then and now. These men had better things to do—like making a living and raising their families—than to worry about some guy in the deli.
If he was going to do justice to his new book, a knock off the pedestal the industry had put him on would be useful.
In his head the story was starting to take shape. It wasn’t going to be like anything he’d ever done, and he had plans to start today. Now that his setting was shaping up, the specifics had a place to go.
*
Jane Fallon made herself a cup of burnt sugar tea and let the smell of caramel and vanilla drift over her. She added a dollop of local clover honey and inhaled the sweet steam. As flavors mingled, Jane knew that, quandaries aside, it was going to be a good day. Maybe even a special one.
Something had been buzzing around her for the last week. She felt like there was a familiar presence in her space. Eerie and comforting at the same time, a sense of familiarity in the feelings had her wondering exactly what the day might bring.
With Halloween in the rearview mirror and Thanksgiving a couple of weeks away, Jane knew it was time to start prepping for the Christmas shopping season. Her vendors had been calling about last-minute orders, but the stock room was already overflowing with goodness. She had holiday cards ready to go out today, an ornament tree with a selection of gorgeous hand-painted decorations, gift books, pens, kids’ books and puppets ready for shopping season. She was sorting out the decorations, which she would start putting up right before Thanksgiving.
A cold snap was on the way, and she was hesitant to let her uncle Joe, who was turning seventy-six in a few days, climb up on a ladder when temperatures with wind chill dipped to the single digits.
The bell over the front door of the shop jingled and right on time, she was greeted by her mom’s sunny grin. Still an active part of the shop, even though it was officially Jane’s, her mother kept her hand in some of the day-to-day operation.
“Good morning,” Kathleen Fallon sang. “Wow! It’s chilly! I think the temperature dropped ten degrees since the sun came up.”
Unwinding her long, multicolored scarf, her mother hung it and her big wool coat on the hook just inside the office. She wore her unofficial winter uniform of jeans, duck boots, and a chunky sweater in navy blue. The woman looked like a coed, even with the mop of curly gray hair that framed her face. Jane hoped that in twenty-five years she’d be as eager to meet the day as her mother was.
“I know. I just checked the weather. It’s going to be bitter tonight.” Jane poured her mother a cup of her favorite Earl Grey tea, no sugar or milk. “I’m thinking I’ll decorate inside a bit today.”
“Good plan.” Blowing on the hot liquid, her mother took a sip. “It’s going to get warm again, well relatively, by next week.”
“It’s supposed to be beautiful in Santa Fe,” Jane said, reminding her mother of the spa retreat she would be taking with her friends the following week.
“I know, but I’m still here for this round of cold. You know, I’ll miss you and everyone in town terribly, but I will not miss the nasty weather once I move south for the winter.” Gripping the mug with both hands her mom took another sip of tea. “What else are you checking off your list today?”
“I pulled some new mysteries for Dave’s mom. If he comes in, they’re right on my desk in the back.”
“He’s very sweet picking up books for his mother.”
“He is, but that’s the only thing I’ve done so far. I guess we’ll see what the day brings. Was Chloe excited to see her friends at the groomer?”
“As always.” Her mom had dropped Jane’s Collie off for her monthly spa day. Normally at the store,