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have arranged for Albert to pick you up at seven.” She swept out before Annie had even the tiniest chance to object. She had already begun to understand entirely why so much seemed to happen in this town – as soon as Mariette got involved there was no stopping her.
    She dressed carefully. She wanted to make a good impression on her new neighbours. Didn’t want any of the parents of her students to think she would be in any way a bad influence on them. She pressed the ribbons and lace on her best dress carefully, and curled her hair becomingly. When she finally looked at herself in the mirror she was pleased with the effect. She looked pretty, but not too girlish; respectable, but not too much like an old maid. When Albert knocked on her door at seven she was waiting nervously.
    Albert had a smart little pony and a comfortable gig. He drove sedately. It didn’t entirely surprise her. Everything about Albert was steady and reliable. But she liked him a lot, and he was bright and passionate about passing on his knowledge to his students. He offered her his hand to help her down when they arrived, and though she knew she didn’t need his help she took it. He was the type that would be offended if she didn’t she was sure.
    The ranch house was magnificent. It had clearly had a lot of work done to it, and quite recently too. The paint looked fresh and bright, and there were twinkling candles in jars all around the yard and on the wide porch. “I am so pleased you came,” Melissa said as she hurried out to greet them. “Your dress is lovely Annie, and don’t you look smart tonight Albert!” Their hostess hustled them inside, where it seemed the entire town was waiting to greet their new schoolteacher. Annie was more than glad she at least had a few friendly faces in the crowd to help her through the mass of new ones.
    In the corner of the vast kitchen there was a face she had known her entire life, even though it couldn’t possibly be him. Edward looked as if he would rather be anywhere than here, and that reminded her of David too. He had never enjoyed big parties. He had enjoyed more intimate evenings, with just a few of his closest friends. She couldn’t help it, she needed to be sure. And even though she knew this was hardly the time, or the place she found herself drawn to the man who was, in fact, a stranger to her. “Good evening Mr Cole.”
    “Good evening Miss Fitzpatrick.” He seemed nervous, and fidgeted as if he longed to move away, but was too polite to offend her so.
    “I understand you have been a real help to both ranches, have helped every night. That must have been hard, given you have a very difficult job to do in the daytime too – one that needs a lot of attention to detail.”
    “It has indeed been hard, but I grew up with it. It was strangely good to be back out on the land. It has been a long time,” he said wistfully. Annie tried to look past the carefully waxed moustache, the wide sideburns to see if he could be her David, but there was enough that was changed to make her doubt her senses – even though they were screaming at her that it had to be him. She had never felt attracted to anyone but him, and now her body was reacting to this stranger in just the way it had done to David. She could feel the Goosebumps rising on her skin, the tingling of anticipation as they stood so close together that she could smell the warm musky smell of his skin. Every part of her felt alive, alert in a way it hadn’t since he had gone. She supposed it was because he was just so like him, but something told her it was more than that.
    She knew that people could have doppelgangers, but she doubted that they would even smell identical to one another. She had known twins once who had been completely identical in virtually every way, but they had both had a distinctive smell, Gabriel of lemons and Abraham of spice. She had so loved David’s manly scent, soap and musk, and the mint from his tooth powder.