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“I’m sorry for your loss,” he said, his gentle words wrapping around her like a hug.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Who is running the shop while you’re here?” he asked.

“My sister, Sylvia,” she said. “I was posting a letter to her when I ran into you.”

“Then I’ll have to thank your sister one day, because without that letter, I wouldn’t have met you.”

“That might be the only thing to thank my sister for,” she said.

He frowned. “You two don’t get along?”

She paused, wondering at the most gracious way to explain things to him. But when she saw his open, earnest expression, she simply said, “We didn’t talk for a number of years, but when my mother died, we both inherited the business.”

“You don’t sound thrilled about that,” he commented.

“No, I’m not,” she said honestly. “I worked right by Mum’s side until the day she died. Sylvia left home as soon as she married. It’s not fair.”

The song ended, and she expected him to step back, to put some distance between the two of them. However, he held on to her as he said, “It’s funny, but something similar happened in my family.”

“Really?” she asked.

The band started back up again, and he led her into the next dance.

“My family has sold farm equipment for the past thirty years. My older brother, Louis, never showed any interest in the store. He went off to Iowa City for college and played football until his knee gave out. He was talking about going to law school out east after graduation. Louis always had the book smarts.

“When Dad died, I’d been working for the business officially for a couple years, but really I’d been selling on the shop floor since I was fourteen. I was pretty mad when I found out that Dad hadn’t changed his will, and he still had the business going to both of us.”

“What did you do?” she asked.

“I was certain that Louis would sell his half to me and go off to Connecticut for his law degree. Instead, he stayed in Newton. Turns out that the first night he was back for Dad’s funeral, he met Muriel.”

“Muriel?” she asked.

“My now sister-in-law,” said Jack with a smile. “He fell head over heels in love with her at first sight, and from that day on, law school out east was off the table.”

“But didn’t that bother you?” she asked.

“That Louis found the love of his life? No. That he blew up all my plans in the process? Sure. I did plenty to work up a head of steam while thinking about how I’d put in all of the work and he was going to just swoop in.

“Then Louis came to me with an idea. He told me he wanted me to hire him, just like I would any other employee, to run the business side of things. I told him I didn’t need someone to do all of that, that I could handle it, but he finally talked me into it by promising me that it would free me up to do the actual business of making all of the money he would be minding.

“For the first six months, we fought like cats and dogs, but it turns out Louis was right.” He laughed and gave a shake of his head as though he couldn’t quite believe it. “I had more time to talk to customers and to sell. Louis and Muriel got married, and after they had their first son, the business had its most profitable year.”

A little flicker of hope flamed up in her chest. Perhaps she and Sylvia could find a similar sort of peace. Perhaps they could find a way to work together, to save the business—

A brick wall of an obstacle rose in front of her. Louis had wanted to come back to his old life in Iowa. Sylvia would never condescend to do that.

“Who’s minding your shop while you’re both off fighting?” she asked.

“That old football injury kept my brother out of service, no matter how hard he argues with the draft board. He does everything else he can, selling war bonds and things like that, but I know it’s killing him to be left behind.

“Now, I don’t know your sister from Adam, but I do know that sometimes people can surprise you.”

She sighed. “I’m glad things worked out between you and Louis, Jack, but Sylvia isn’t like that. She only stepped in because I was conscripted and there was no one else to do it.”

He inclined his head. “Let me ask you this. When you asked your sister for help, did she kick up a fuss?”