“Good morning, ladies.” She greeted the group who stood by patiently. “Welcome to Bling…”

It had been a hectic day. Vanessa called Nan to ask her to come in early, but she wasn’t available until two, and could only stay until six, which wasn’t ideal, but it was better than no Nan at all. Vanessa hoped for a break so she could reorganize things a bit, but the customers seemed to come in waves for hours. As Grace had noted earlier that morning, the warm weather brought the tourists. Well, St. Dennis was a great place to spend a few hours on a sunny day, Vanessa mused during one of her few brief lulls. You could shop, have a great lunch, take a walk along the dock, or, she smiled, you could shop.

She stepped into the back room she used for an office and saw the white eyelet dress still hanging there. She was tempted to return it to the floor, but hesitated, remembering how the woman’s eyes had shined when she looked at the dress.

It can wait another day or so, Vanessa reasoned. Just in case she does come back over the weekend. I’d hate for her to be disappointed. She looked like a woman who’d had her fair share of disappointments.

The bell jingled over the door and she went back out to the floor. Three very stylish-looking women clustered around the jewelry counter.

“Welcome to Bling.” Vanessa smiled. “Was there something you wanted to see in the case?”

“The wide silver cuff there… the one with the red stone.” One of the women pointed a well-manicured finger at the top shelf of the glass case. “That is silver, isn’t it?”

Vanessa slid behind the counter and unlocked the case. “The wide cuff with the big hunk of carnelian? Yes, that’s solid silver, and the stone is real. Would you like to try it? There’s a pendant that matches, by the way…”

Before ten minutes had passed, the bracelet and the pendant had been sold, along with a pair of long, dangly citrine earrings that Vanessa had thought to put aside for Barbara to try. She probably should have taken them out of the case when she first arrived that morning, but she’d barely had a minute to breathe. Who could have predicted such crowds on a Friday afternoon weeks before the season began?

Her last customers left at seven-ten. She’d hoped to have them out of the store sooner, but they’d lingered over the belts she’d unpacked earlier in the week, and she sold three of the pricey accessories to a woman who purchased one for herself and one for each of her daughters. Vanessa straightened up stacks of shorts and sweaters as quickly as she could, tucked all the hangers back onto their racks, checked the dressing rooms and the displays where handbags and scarves had been moved around. One last look to ensure that everything was neat for Nan to open in the morning, then she locked the cash in the safe and the front door behind her.

Vanessa dashed across the street to Lola’s, where Grady greeted her with a warm smile that sent a tingle down to her toes.

“I was just about to walk over to your shop to see if you’d forgotten,” he said.

“I was so busy today, I could hardly keep track of who was coming in and who was going out.” She looked for the waiter. “I could really use a glass of wine.”

Grady grabbed a bottle from the table. “Is white okay, or would you rather have red?”

“White is fine, thank you.” She eased into a chair and sighed as she slipped her feet out of her shoes.

“Would you like a glass, or should I ask for a straw so you can drink it straight from the bottle?”

“A glass would be fine.” She laughed.

“So you were saying you had a busy day.” Grady took the chair next to her.

“Amazing. I’m usually not this busy until the end of May. Caught me totally unprepared.” She spotted Mia in the group at the other side of the table, and blew her a kiss.

“Don’t you have help?”

“I have an employee, Nan, who comes in part-time, several days each week starting in June, though she’s helping out this week. I may have to add a full-time person, though, if this keeps up. Not that I’m complaining-I love that my shop is doing so well-but it’s hard keeping up.” She took a sip of wine and leaned back in her chair. “Steffie is loaning me someone to close for me tomorrow night, though, so that I don’t have to make the choice between closing up in the afternoon or leaving the reception at seven.”

“Steffie owns the ice-cream shop?”

Vanessa nodded. “She’s a good friend.”

“I stopped in there with Hal today, after we got back from crabbing. I had two scoops of Mocha Berry Vanessa, by the way.”

“What?”

“She said it was a brand-new flavor. Mocha Berry Vanessa.”

Vanessa thought about her deal with her friend, and the way Steffie’s eyes lit up when she first saw herself in the dress.

“She really did it! She named an ice-cream flavor after me.” Vanessa laughed. “What’s in it? And more importantly, was it any good?”

“Mocha ice cream and raspberries. Highly recommended with a sprinkling of chocolate chunks and pecans.”

“I’m definitely going to have to sample that before she retires the flavor.” She took another drink, then sat the glass on the table. It felt so good to be off her feet, sipping a glass of excellent wine. She had to admit, the company went a long way to improving her mood. “So you crabbed today. Where did Hal take you?”

“Everywhere. Name someplace. That man knows more places where crabs hide. We were in the river-”

“The New River? The one that runs along St. Dennis, then into the Bay?”

He nodded. “And we went out to some island, then along a cove. To a nature preserve to see the migrating birds.”

“Ah, you got the full tour.”

“Only by water. After we docked, we went back to the police station and steamed the crabs we caught.” He took a sip of beer. “Don’t forget, you’re walking me around town on Sunday.”

“I won’t forget.” She paused, then asked as casually as she could, “What time are you planning on leaving St. Dennis?”

“I’d like to be on the road by around three.”

“Are you catching a flight back to Montana?”

He shook his head. “No, I’m driving to Virginia, staying over, and doing a hike on Monday morning.”

“Oh.”

“Bull Run Mountains. I heard it was a good climb. I’ve been looking forward to it.”

“Oh,” she said again, because she couldn’t think of anything else to say.

The waiters came in to serve dinner, and everyone sat at the table. More toasts were made again this night, and more tears shed. By the end of the evening, Vanessa’s head was pounding, mostly, she thought, from all the champagne she drank at the end of every toast. When she got up to leave, she wobbled.

“Whoa, there.” Grady stood and took her elbow.

“Sorry. Just a little unsteady. Sorry. I’m not used to this much champagne.”

“I’ll walk you out to your car.” He was still holding on to her arm.

“Actually, I walked to work this morning, so I’ll be walking home.” She leaned on the back of the chair to steady herself.

“Are you sure you’re all right?”

“Hey, you try standing in these four-inch heels for…” She checked the wall clock. It was nine-thirty “… thirteen and a half hours.”

He looked at her feet. “I don’t think they’d fit.”

She peered down at his. “Well, the straps are adjustable.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know how that plum color would look with my white athletic socks.”

“Oh, dear God, don’t put pictures like that in my head,” she groaned, and Grady laughed.

“Come on,” he said, “I’ll drive you home.”

“I need to say good night to everyone first.”

“Let’s do that.”

They made the rounds-hugs and kisses and see-you-in-the-mornings-then made their way out to Grady’s rental car.

“You just go to the stop sign and take a left at the first street,” she told him as he opened the passenger-side door for her.

“I remember.” He slammed the door and walked around to the driver’s side and got in. “Your house is almost to the end of the third block. Lots of pink and purple tulips in the front yard.”