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Addie had second thoughts about walking into such close quarters with this man. The doors rattled open.
    â€œHappy is good,” she said softly as she turned her shoulders in order to slip easily past him. “So is help.”
    He got in.
    She took a deep breath and tried to act casual, as if she had not spent the last few days watching him, wondering how things might be different if he weren’t on his way out of Star City on December twenty-fourth and she weren’t going to stay here as long as she possibly could.
    Of course, that hinged on her being able to bring Goodwin’s back from the brink.
    As the door slid shut on the upper floor of the warehouse building, she said, “I thought we should go through the old Christmas displays. Doc says they’re scattered all around this building, but the oldest ones should be on the first floor, near what used to be the second set of windows.”
    â€œCool.” He faced forward.
    She thought about making small talk, about asking him how Jesse liked the new school or when Darin Goodwin was expected to return from his honeymoon. But Doc had told her that Jesse loved the school and Darin would be back in a few days at least twice already.
    Just keep your mouth shut and your mind on the task at hand , she told herself. Then she stole a sideways peek at Nate.
    She thought of how great he was with Jesse, how patient and kind. And how, with just a few words or a wink, he could have stern Maimie Goodwin giggling like a schoolgirl. She thought of how it had felt to throw convention to the wind and kiss him the first day she’d ever laid eyes on him.
    That thought made her cheeks burn hot and her throat close up, but not so much that she didn’t manage to blurt something out in hopes of distracting him, andherself, from her discomfort. “So, if I can’t get any publicity for this publicity stunt, what do you think the Goodwins will do?”
    â€œYou’ll get the publicity.” He sounded so sure.
    She wanted to believe him. The elevator dinged to say it had settled on the second floor, and the doors shambled open on a floor packed full of furniture, probably display models from over the years, and stacks of old household goods still in their boxes.
    â€œIs this an elevator or a time machine?” Nate wondered aloud.
    â€œI wish it were a time machine. I’d love to have seen this old store in its heyday. I don’t recall it as much different from the way it is today.” She sighed and pushed the button for the first floor.
    As the doors slid shut again, Nate looked at her with a kind but curious gaze. “You really do love this place, don’t you?”
    â€œEvery bit as much or more than you want to get away from it,” she shot back, not meeting his eyes for fear he might see how sad the reminders made her of what Goodwin’s had once been and what he and she could never be.
    â€œI don’t want to get away from it,” he corrected her with a gentle power in his hushed tone.
    â€œYou don’t?” Her hair fell over her shoulder as she swung her head to make eye contact with him at last.
    â€œI just don’t have any particular reason to stay.” His gaze did not waver as he added, quietly, “Unless…”
    The elevator dinged once again, and this time the door rolled open smoothly.
    â€œUnless what?” she wanted to scream but kept silent instead.
    â€œGuess this is our floor,” he said, extending his arm to encourage her to move ahead of him. “What are you looking for?”
    She gazed up into his eyes.
    â€œI’m looking for something that I’m not sure I’ll ever find,” she whispered enigmatically before she squared her shoulders and got back to work. “That is, anything that might date back to the original publicity stunt. Doc says they used the same signage for the first four years, so they had lots of duplicates.”
    She marched to the