Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

"What can you do in ten minutes?" The girl asked.

Corley's face was expressionless as he said, "Ever heard how curiosity killed the cat?"

"Sorry."

"Once the money's in your pocket, keep your mouth shut." Corley threatened.

After getting home and showering, Roseanne planned to review a few papers before hitting the sack.

Just as she sat down, she received a message from Corley.

[You left your gloves in my car.]

He attached a photo of the gloves. They were indeed the ones Roseanne wore that day.

It then dawned on Roseanne that she had taken them off after getting into the car because the heating was high. Corley had kindly taken them from her and set them aside.

She had forgotten them when she left.

[Can I drop by to pick them up sometime?]

has

your gloves. I'm taking an MBA course at Kingswell University. Since you're an alum, if it's not too much trouble, maybe

him asking for a favor, and considering she had forgotten her gloves, making it her oversight, she felt even more obligated. Given that Corley needed help with something she could

[I'm free next Friday at 11 a.m. Does that

objections and sent an OK gesture in

...

day they had agreed, Corley parked his car

quaint street not

had a knack for decoration that appealed to the younger crowd, making it

chose a seat by the window. Roseanne arrived a few minutes later, and

vintage record

a soothing, foreign song, exuding a bohemian charm. Corley ordered

gloves." He had packed the gloves in a

to take them.

the air rich with the aroma of coffee beans, the ambiance neither too cold nor too dry, utterly comfortable. "Do you come

through the floor-to-ceiling window, lay a river, completely frozen

over its

in a

layer of snow from the previous