First Impressions

life.
    Under thin arched brows, her eyes were large and dark. Whatever emotion she felt was mirrored in them. They were rarely cool. Habitually, she wore her hair short, and it curled naturally to frame her face in a deep honey blond. As her temperament was almost invariably happy, her face was usually animated, her small, sculpted mouth tilted up. The adjective used most to describe her was
cute.
Shane had grown to detest the word but lived with it. Nothing could be done to alter sharp, vital attractiveness into sultry beauty.
    As she rounded the last curve in the road before coming into town, she had a sudden flash of having done so before—as a child, as a teenager, as a girl on the brink of womanhood. It gave her a sense of security and belonging. Nothing in the city had ever given her the simple pleasure of being part of the whole.
    Laughing, she took the final yards at a run, then burst through the door of the general store. The bells jingled fiercely before it slammed shut.
    “Hi!”
    “Hi, yourself.” The woman behind the counter grinned at her. “You’re out early this morning.”
    “When I woke up, I discovered I was out of coffee.” Spotting the box of fresh doughnuts on the counter, Shane rolled her eyes and headed for them. “Oh, Donna, cream filled?”
    “Yeah.” Donna watched with an envious sigh as Shane chose one and bit into it. For the better part of twenty years, she’d seen Shane eat like a linebacker without gaining an ounce of fat.
    Though they had grown up together, they were as different as night and day. Where Shane was fair, Donna was dark. Shane was small; Donna was tall and well rounded. For most of their lives, Donna had been content to play follower to Shane’s leader. Shane was the adventurer. Donna had liked nothing better than to point out all the flaws in whatever plans Shane was hatching, then wholeheartedly fall in with it.
    “So, how are you settling in?”
    “Pretty well,” Shane answered with her mouth full.
    “You’ve hardly been in since you got back in town.”
    “There’s been so much to do. Gran couldn’t keep the place up the last few years.” Both affection and grief came through in her voice. “She was always more interested in her gardening than a leaky roof. Maybe if I had stayed—”
    “Oh, now don’t start blaming yourself again.” Donna cut her off, drawing her straight dark brows together. “You know she wanted you to take that teaching job. Faye Abbott lived to be ninety-four. That’s more than a lot of people can hope for. And she was a feisty old devil right to the end.”
    Shane laughed. “You’re absolutely right. Sometimes I’m sure she’s sitting in her kitchen rocker making certain I wash up my dishes at night.” The thought made her want to sigh for the childhood that was gone, but she pushed the mood away. “I saw Amos Messner out in the field with his son haying.” After finishing off the doughnut, Shane dusted her hands on the seat of her pants. “I thought Bob was in the army.”
    “Got discharged last week. He’s going to marry a girl he met in North Carolina.”
    “No kidding?”
    Donna smiled smugly. It always pleased her, as proprietor of the general store, to be the ears and eyes of the town. “She’s coming to visit next month. She’s a legal secretary.”
    “How old is she?” Shane demanded, testing.
    “Twenty-two.”
    Throwing back her head, Shane laughed in delight. “Oh, Donna, you’re terrific. I feel as though I’ve never been away.”
    The familiar unrestricted laugh made Donna grin. “I’m glad you’re back. We missed you.”
    Shane settled a hip against the counter. “Where’s Benji?”
    “Dave’s got him upstairs.” Donna preened a bit, thinking of her husband and son. “Letting that little devil loose down here’s only asking for trouble. We’ll switch off after lunch.”
    “That’s the beauty of living on top of your business.”
    Finding the opening she had hoped for, Donna pounced on it. “Shane, are you still thinking about converting the house?”
    “Not thinking,” Shane corrected. “I’m going to do it.” She hurried on, knowing what was about to follow. “There’s always room for another small antique shop, and with the museum attached, it’ll be distinctive.”
    “But it’s such a risk,” Donna pointed out. The excited gleam in Shane’s eyes had her worrying all the more. She’d seen the same gleam before the beginning of any number of outrageous and