With a loud CRASH, the brief silence in the room was shattered. Florence Langley had smashed a teacup.
Shirley Thorne's attention was instantly captured, and she reflexively glanced toward the source of the sound.
Florence Langley looked like she wanted to smack herself. She scrambled to pick up the pieces of the teacup, held up a hand as if to say *stop*, and said, "You two carry on. I'm going to the hotel to get our food."
With that, she quickly scurried away, moving faster than ever before.
Once the woman was gone, Shirley Thorne finally snapped back to reality. She realized she had been nervously twisting the tassel in her hand into a tight braid.
"Mr. Grant..."
Shirley Thorne began softly, a million questions swirling in her mind, but she didn't know where to begin. Her heart hammered in her chest, and she felt completely overwhelmed.
