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“Where would you like it, sweetheart?” Sly rumbled in his deliciously deep voice.
A shiver ran through Maria. All she wanted was to see the new sign up, then to go back to Ophelia where she could curl up with her fiancé and a cup of hot cocoa, letting his warmth and the heat of her drink banish the last of her bad dreams away.
But first—
She walked next to the existing sign. “Why not here?”
Weeds were beginning to wind up the weathered post. The overgrown grass nestled the bottom of the wood, but once Sly used his impressive strength to hammer it out of its spot, the pre-dug hole made it easier for him to install the new one.
Halfway done, he wiped a bead of sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. It was pretty chilly out for mid-October. The slight wind had sent Maria’s long black hair whipping around her throat as she nibbled on her thumbnail, watching Sly’s back muscles work as he swung the hammer.
One more swing and Sly shifted on his heel, gesturing at the sign. “What do you think?”
It wasn’t her best work. Her favorite types of signs to work on ended up as masterpieces. Like the one she painted for Gloria’s Sundae Shoppe that featured a thirteen scoop ice cream sundae under the shop’s name, or the beautiful flowers that bordered every incarnation of Ophelia’s sign.
This one wasn’t pretty. It was serviceable.
Instead of a shaped piece of wood, cut and sanded and stained before being painted, Maria chose a basic rectangle and painted it yellow. Then, in blocky black letters, she drew four words in the center:
DEAD END
