David set the final page flat on the desk so Owen could see it too. The fleet proposal was for forty-two vehicles, service contracts included, renewed annually, a number that made Owen’s pen go still in his hand. It was the single largest account either dealership in the county had competed for all year, and Bennett Ridge Farms had been quietly deciding which showroom deserved it. Nora had walked into Blake’s dealership in dusty flip-flops not to buy three SUVs, but to find out how they treated a customer they assumed had nothing. Blake had answered that question loudly, in front of witnesses, and now he was watching the answer cost his employer everything.

Blake stood frozen in the doorway, breathing hard, having sprinted across town the moment his own boss called him screaming. He looked from the contracts to Nora’s worn hem to the three keys already on Owen’s desk. “Mrs. Bennett,” he started, “there’s been a misunderstanding, I didn’t realize who you were.” Nora finally looked up at him, calm as still water. “That was rather the point,” she said. “You didn’t need to know who I was to treat me like a person. You only needed to want to.”