Penny spent the rest of the afternoon holed up in her room at The Maple Bed and Breakfast, doing what she did best: research. The rickety old wooden desk in the corner of the room was a far cry from her sleek, modern office in Boston, but once her eyes locked onto her laptop screen, the clutter of the room faded into the background. It didn't matter that she was sitting on a creaky chair, or that the faint smell of old wood filled the air. All that mattered was the task in front of her.

She had a problem to solve, and she knew exactly how to tackle it.

Her fingers danced over the keys as she dug into the details of the Knudsen's sale. The sportswear store had been an Avon staple for decades, a place where everyone—locals and tourists alike—went to find everything from ski gear to local souvenirs. But now, it was gone, replaced by a large, impersonal coffee chain. Penny's instincts told her that something didn't sit right with the sale, and her suspicions only deepened as she dug into the records. The buyer had concealed their identity behind an LLC—Greely, LLC.

The name struck Penny like a jolt of electricity, and she paused for a moment, the weight of it settling over her. Greely. That name... it was too familiar. It had to mean something.

She pulled up a local map of Avon, her mind racing through the town's history as she scanned the streets, but nothing turned up. Why was the name Greely so familiar? Penny's mind raced. The LLC was too close to home, too personal for comfort. Even though she couldn't quite put her finger on it. 

Penny couldn't ignore the eerie familiarity of it all. She leaned closer to her screen, her eyes narrowing as she sifted through more documents. The more she dug, the more questions arose, but one thing was clear: there was something deeply connected between the mysterious buyer, the Greely name, and the town of Avon.

But why hide behind an LLC? Penny wondered. What was the true motive here?

Her fingers paused for a moment over the keys, the familiar twinge of unease creeping into her thoughts. She had come to Avon to figure out why these businesses were being sold, but this new discovery was leading her down a path she hadn't expected. And the more she uncovered, the more she realized she might be uncovering something far bigger than she had originally thought. Something tied to her past, to Avon's quiet history, that she wasn't sure she was ready to face.

As the sun set outside her window, Penny pushed away the uncertainty swirling in her chest. She had a job to do, and no matter how personal this had become, she couldn't allow herself to be distracted. She would get to the bottom of this—she had no choice.

Penny tossed and turned through the night, the weight of her thoughts keeping her from finding any rest. The bed at The Maple Bed and Breakfast was cozy enough, with thick quilts and soft pillows, but it felt foreign to her in a way she couldn't shake. The quiet of the room seemed to amplify the noise in her head—the relentless swirl of questions and memories she couldn't push away.

The name Greely clung to her thoughts, even as she closed her eyes and tried to sleep. She couldn't help but search for the connection over and over in her mind. Greely, LLC. It felt like a thread that had been pulling at her since she first heard it. The Greely name was tied to her somehow.

Despite the tugging of this mystery, Chris still pushed to the front of her mind. The thought of him was inescapable, even though she tried to focus on the task at hand. She had left Avon and left him behind with a clean break, or at least, she'd thought she had. But his face had been there in the café today, lingering in her mind even as the town's familiar faces had surrounded her. She couldn't push him out of her thoughts, not with everything that was unfolding. His voice, that last conversation they'd had before she'd driven away to Boston, echoed in her mind.

"I don't know if I can wait for you, Penny."

She hadn't wanted him to wait. She had been so certain of what she wanted, so focused on the life she had planned in the city. But now, as she lay wide awake in her old town, those words felt like a weight, a question that had been left unresolved between them. Had she made the right choice? Had he really let go of her, or was he still holding on to something that only existed in the past?

Her chest tightened with a mix of guilt and confusion, as the past and present collided in a way she hadn't expected. How had she let herself forget what she had here in Avon? The life, the love, and the simple connections that had once felt so real—how had she pushed it all aside for a future she wasn't even sure was hers to claim?

Penny groaned quietly and shifted in the bed, trying to get comfortable, but sleep remained elusive. The town, the Greely name, Chris—it all felt tangled up together now, impossible to separate. And yet, she couldn't ignore the fact that there was something bigger at play here, something in the heart of Avon that she hadn't yet uncovered. Maybe it was her past haunting her, or maybe it was just the urgency of her work, but she knew she couldn't ignore the feeling that something was coming to a head.

She sat up in bed, her mind racing. It was late, and the quiet of the inn only made her thoughts feel louder. She needed to sleep, to clear her head, but she also knew that this restless night wouldn't end until she could make sense of everything. 

Penny finally swung her legs over the side of the bed, standing up and walking to the window. The town square was empty in the soft moonlight, and the chill of the night air seeped through the cracks in the window frame. She rested her hands on the windowsill, staring out at the familiar buildings, but her mind was still a whirlwind of thoughts.

With a sigh, Penny closed her eyes for a moment, drawing in a slow breath. She had come back to Avon to solve a mystery, to fix what was wrong, but now she was tangled in something much bigger. As the night stretched on, Penny knew she had to dig deeper, not just into the mystery of the buyer, but into the town and herself. She had unfinished business here, with the town and with the people she had left behind. And until she figured it out, there would be no rest.

The quiet of the night continued to press against her, but Penny was no longer trying to fight it. She had to face the past before she could move forward—whether she was ready to or not.