"Hi."
A man in a long brown coat appeared on the other side of the mannequin Rose was dressing.
"Hi," she said, "Sorry, I'm a bit busy. If you want help-"
"No, no. I don't want any help. I just wanted to say..." He paused. The look in his eyes was frightening. He seemed sad and excited all at the same time. And the way he looked at her, you would have thought... But that couldn't be right.
He tried again. "I just wanted to say, it was always you, Rose."
Startled, Rose cleared her throat and glanced down at the mannequin's arm. She opened her mouth to say something (exactly what she did not know) but when she looked up he was no longer there.
"Krissi," Rose called over to the nearby sales assistant. "Did you see where the man in the coat went?"
"No," said Krissi absentmindedly. "Why? Did he nick something?"
Rose laughed at her colleague's lack of interest in the security of store goods. "No," she said and continued to smile as she went back to work.