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about that.”
    Once he gave her the go-ahead, she stepped on the gas pedal and glanced at the open notepad on the seat beside her. Twenty-five Mulberry Lane. Since the town seemed to have only one main street, she was pretty certain that finding her house wouldn’t prove too much of a task. She was right. Less than two minutes down the main drag, past the post office, the bank, and the schoolhouse, she spotted Mulberry Lane. She negotiated the turn, pulled into the stone driveway, and killed the ignition. With her window still down, she took a moment to drag the fresh, aromatic country air into her lungs. Suddenly, the floral scent roused happy memories from the recesses of her mind. Was that lilac?
    The scent immediately took her back to her grandmother’s old house. God, she had loved those overnight trips, and how she and her granny would get up extra early to feed all the robins and blue jays littering her vast backyard. Honestly, Jaclyn had forgotten how much she enjoyed those mini vacations—she smiled at the memory of how much she loved nature in all its splendor. Maybe she’d pick up her own bird feeder and see what kind of birds she’d find in Serene.
    “How would you like that, Ruby?” She gathered her mewling
cat into her arms. “You can bird-watch, but you can’t bird-feed,” she added. Ruby purred her consent and rubbed against Jaclyn’s arm. Then another thought struck her. Mosquitoes. Her skin itched as she recalled the way the flies had peppered her childhood clothes.
    Cringing and fully expecting to be bombarded with insects, she climbed from the car and began waving her hand in front of her face like an escaped mental patient. The scarcity of dive-bombers stilled her movements. Okay, that was odd. Not an insect to be found. In fact, she couldn’t even hear one single cricket chirping.
    Bugs forgotten, Jaclyn grabbed the luggage from her trunk and glanced up at the house. She shaded her eyes and panned the quiet neighborhood. Apparently it seemed her arrival had garnered quite a bit of attention. Women and small children all stopped to stare, watching her over the rims of their lemonade tumblers.
    She plastered on a smile and waved. Time to make nice. A few of the children waved back. The women, on the other hand, not so friendly. She drew a deep breath and let it out slowly as visions of backyard barbecues and neighborhood clambakes danced in her head.
    Damn.
    When she realized Ruby had yet to exit the cool car, she scooped her up. “What’s the matter, girl? You couldn’t wait to escape earlier.” Ruby hissed, bolted from Jaclyn’s arms, and took off to find shelter under the front steps of her rental bungalow.
    “Ruby,” she called and crouched down on all fours to peer
under the two stone steps. She really didn’t have time for this. “Come her, girl.” Unfortunately, she only succeeded in staining the knees on her new white capris. For some reason, her cat seemed to have taken up permanent residence under the dark stairs, and despite her efforts, there wasn’t a damn thing Jaclyn could do to lure her out. After a few minutes she decided to deal with her cat’s bizarre behavior later. She climbed to her feet and fished her keys from her purse. Now it was time for a quick exploration of the town she’d forever wanted to visit before she headed over to the department store and set things into motion. The quicker she became productive, the quicker she could accomplish her mission and head home.
    Jaclyn slipped her key into the dead bolt, but noticed that the door was unlocked. Another quirk of small-town living, no doubt. She dropped her luggage inside and took a quick tour to familiarize herself with the furnishings and layout. A pretty blue vase on the coffee table caught her eye. She walked over to it, picked it up, and carried it to the windowsill, which she decided was a much better spot for it. Satisfied with her new rental property, she stepped back outside, and then