I took the black velvet box from my pocket and set it back inside the drawer, right next to the yellowed silk.
The click of the mahogany drawer locking the silver locket away for now was the only sound in the room.
The blue plastic pen in my hand felt heavy as I approved a small car loan for thirty-two hundred dollars.
It was ten in the morning on Thursday, and the hum of the fluorescent lights overhead was the only sound in my corner of the Oakhaven Credit Union.
Outside, the cold autumn wind was blowing the first dry maple leaves across the asphalt parking lot.
I leaned back in my vinyl chair, rubbing the bridge of my nose where my reading glasses had left deep red dents.
A young man in a yellow uniform walked through the double glass doors carrying an oversized white envelope.
He stopped at the reception counter, looked around the empty lobby, and then pointed toward my desk.
“Are you Margaret?” he asked, his voice echoing in the quiet lobby.
