The morning was quiet enough that I could hear the kettle click off from the back of the boutique. I had been here since just after sunrise, not because I had to be, but because I wanted the stillness before the first customer walked in. The Kyoto silk in the window caught the early light, softer now than yesterday, and I could see faint outlines of people stopping on the street to look.

I was cutting pattern paper when Claudia came in, her scarf still pulled high against the wind. She had a ...