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“Are you the artist?” the older wohed and pointed to her nauest”

“You can’t be too careful at these things” The wohtly as if to reassure her “I’d hate to offend anyone, after all beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but apart from the vibrancy of the colors in this one…no, it’s not for ht to charity”

Piper bent to see as on the ultra-tiny price tag and snapped back straight with shock This was another world It had to be with nu that looked like an elephant had painted it, but she couldn’t let on she was a financial fish out of water Neither could she let on that she didn’t know the whole occasion was about raising norant freeloader “It is…vibrant,” she said diploht environment, a modern loft conversion with plain white walls, maybe”

“Or one of those cheap hotel lobbies,” the other woray eyes on Piper’s earrings “Givewith the sea in it Iup here in the mountains”

“I knohat you h and absentle as she stole a glance at the woet down to Florida as often as I can, Fiona, but it’s a long way”

Fiona smiled and stretched out a hand toward Piper’s face “That s” She felt one between her fingertips “Silver?”

“Solid I can’t wear plate, just pure base old, silver, and platinum”

“Oh, me neither Besides, who on earth would want cheap alloy jewelry anyway? I’d rather be unadorned”

“Exactly,” Piper said with feeling and turned her attention back to the painting

“Now tell me,” Fiona murmured, “where does a lady who has far too much jewelry already direct her husband to buy a pair of earrings just like yours? And that ale, the colors are perfect for me”

“Ah, this is kind of aard…”

“Florida soo on vacation?”

“Sort of”

“Don’t be mean, tellidentical stuff, I’ll takeexactly the same because all the pieces are unique, forathered in the Sanibel area of Florida”