Kristine had been annoyed with herself for feeling disappointed. After all, it wasn’t like she’d gotten Kevin anything spectacular for their anniversary—just a silver pen engraved with the words Patient and mine—but at least that had meaning. Kevin used to think the words were, “Love is patient, love is mine” instead of “Love is patient, love is kind.” Silly stuff, but they’d laughed about it.
Either way, there was no point in being upset. Kevin was busy and they’d been together for so long. Did it really matter what he got her? Besides . . .
Glancing at her reflection in the rearview mirror, Kristine gave herself another guilty look. Her bright red hair was pulled up in a sloppy bun and her eyes looked tired, as though she’d stayed out much too late. She was hardly the perfect wife—she’d spent their anniversary drinking wine with another man. If Kevin knew about that, he probably wouldn’t give her anything but the silent treatment.
When the sign for the store finally loomed into sight, Kristine felt her spirits lift. The brightly colored wooden cutouts depicted a variety of skylines across the globe and were made up of different shapes and sizes. The Places You’ll Go zoomed across in fluffy white skywriting.
Walking in, Kristine was delighted to see the store was busy. A young couple flipped through a guide on Hawaii, a student explored the section on travel memoirs and an older couple browsed through books on Ireland. Annie, Kristine’s dear friend and associate, was ringing up a customer.
Kristine loved Annie. At forty, the woman still dressed like a child of the eighties and sported an ever-changing array of Kool-Aid streaks in her hair. Considering Kristine was too timid to get her long red hair cut into an interesting style or paint her nails a funky color, she admired Annie’s adventurous spirit.
“Hey, stranger.” Annie rushed over. As always, she smelled like Electric Youth perfume, which she’d once ordered from eBay as a joke. “I’m happy you’re back. And . . .” Her hazel eyes danced behind thick black-framed glasses. “I have something to tell you that will just smack you across the face.”
Kristine laughed. “That sounds awful.”
“Oh, it’ll smack you in a good way,” Annie promised. After nodding at Sara, one of their college helpers, she said, “Have some coffee with me.”
Intrigued, Kristine followed Annie to the sunken area of the store with the purple velvet couch and coffee display. Slipping off her sandals, Kristine tucked her legs underneath her. The soft velvet of the couch was cozy as a blanket and she yawned.
“Wild night?” Annie joked, pouring them both a cup of coffee.
“You know me.” Kristine kept her voice light. “As wild as they come.”
“Give yourself more credit.” Annie passed over a full mug. “You could be wild if you wanted to.” After adding sugar to her coffee, she eyed the display table. “Should we have some cake?”
“Yes,” Kristine said automatically. “Without a doubt.”
Each day, The Places You’ll Go set out complimentary coffee cake from the bakery next door. They spent a good part of each day debating whether or not to eat it or skip it. Considering the selection today was a crumbly pastry covered in powdered sugar, Kristine was not going to let today be a skip-day.
“Decadent and messy.” Kristine laughed as crumbs spilled down her turquoise button-up shirt. “Okay, so tell me.” Brushing the crumbs into her hand, she made a neat little pile on a napkin. “What’s this big news?”
“Well . . .” Annie raised a pierced eyebrow. “One of our fabulous employees entered The Places You’ll Go in the Valiant Travel essay competition. And . . .” She paused dramatically. “We won.”
Kristine gasped. “You’re kidding!”
Valiant Travel was a well-known online travel site. People from all over the world visited to voice compliments or complaints about hotels, airlines and tour companies. Kristine always encouraged her customers to post their travel clips. It was rewarding, somehow, to watch people she knew climb pyramids or cross a desert while carrying guidebooks from her store.
“That’ll be some good publicity,” Kristine said excitedly.
“Not just publicity.” Annie spoke into her coffee cup like it was a microphone. “The winning essay has won the owner of the store and the essay writer a weeklong, all-expenses-paid trip to . . .”
“A trip?” Kristine’s heart started to pound. “Oh, my gosh. Really? Where?”
“Rome.” Annie bounced up and down. “Kristine, you finally get to go to Rome!”