Looking back Sisse knew it was this moment that would sting her the most. It wasn't his hands withdrawing. It wasn't losing her temper. It was that fine. It was that he turned away. That he didn't fight back. Because the truth of it was that he didn't think of her as a lady. That in one word all her unrealized fears had been confirmed.

Sisse couldn't stand to look at him as he walked away. Instead she hugged herself tight in her shawl and stared up at the moon trying not to let the angry bitter tears escape her lashes.

In that moment she felt all the losses in her life again. She missed her mother, she missed Sloane, she missed her childhood. This new world she would enter in six months was a confusing quagmire of feelings and expectations that would only lead to disappointment.

No. Sisse breathed. She refused to consider that it would lead only to more frustration. Just because of her experiences with Lester and Mr. Bixby did not mean she wouldn't have the chance to meet a handsome stranger who would sweep her off her feet this summer. She would cling to that hope, that dream. She would find her happy ending. One day. It just didn't have to be today.