The cottage, which had been in her family for centuries, had been one of her favorite places since childhood. When she’d grown up, she and Morgan had turned it into a shop with Morgan’s herbal remedies on one side and Fiona’s healing crystal jewelry on the other. The cottage was off the beaten path. It was the off-season now with no tourists about, so the cottage was blanketed in silence. A single bird tweeted in the barren trees outside as Fiona breathed in the earthy smell of herbs and old wood. The morning light filtered in through the window, illuminating the hand-hewn pine counter that doubled as Morgan’s work area and the place where they rang up purchases. Fiona started toward her workbench on the far end of the room, eliciting a creak from the dry wood floor as she crossed. Morgan rushed in behind her, slamming the door shut against a gust of cold air and snow. “Gosh, it’s cold out.” “And in here.” Fiona’s words came out in a cloud of condensation. “We should turn the thermostat up.”
