Prologue

      “You haven’t finally decided to sell that beautiful house of yours and downsize to something a little smaller and more modern, now have you?”

      It wasn’t really a question. Maizie Connors, sitting opposite the attractive woman in Jack’s Hideaway, Bedford’s newest trendy restaurant, knew better than to think that Charlotte, a woman she had known for close to forty years, would ever sell the house she loved so much. When she’d taken the unexpected call from her old friend that morning, Maizie had suspected something was up, but she’d instinctively known it had nothing to do with Charlotte making use of Maizie’s successful real estate business.

      “What?” Charlotte asked. Sitting ramrod straight, doing her best to appear cheerful, Charlotte Stewart was caught off guard by the question. She also felt somewhat embarrassed, not just because of the deception she’d allowed to continue, but because of the real reason for her getting in contact with Maizie in the first place. She cleared her throat and stalled for time. Trying to get her thoughts together in order to find the right words. So far, they had frustratingly managed to elude her. “Oh, no, I haven’t,” she confessed, then added in a sincere moment of truth, “I don’t think I’ll ever sell that house. It’s where all the good memories are.”

      Maizie smiled, nodding her head knowingly. Unlike Charlotte, who had gone stylishly