When he got closer to the library he heard voices. He remembered the one thing the librarian, Mrs. Tinkersley, wouldn’t tolerate was anyone talking in the library. It was the one place he’d never heard voices, unless they were whispered ones. But even those weren’t allowed by Mrs. Tinkersley.

Following the sound of the voices, he headed toward what he recalled as one of the smaller conference rooms. When he entered it seemed everyone sitting at the table looked up. “Good evening,” he greeted them, feeling nervous somewhat.

“Kaegan, come on in,” a woman he knew as Susan Langley said as she smiled broadly. “You know everybody here.”

Yes, he did. All former classmates. He moved around the table and shook hands with Laura Crawford, whose family owned several businesses in town, and Charlette Hansberry, who owned a nursing home. Moving to the other side of the table to shake more hands, he remembered Derrick Conyers, who played on the football team, and Doug Bostic, who played basketball and who’d been their star swimmer. They smiled as if they were glad to see him.

He checked his watch, wondering where Bryce was. He hoped she hadn’t talked him into joining the committee, only to back out. As if Susan read his thoughts, when he slid into one of the vacant chairs at the table, she said, “Bryce just texted me that she’s on her way and will be here in a few.”

The woman’s words released a load of pressure that had been building in Kaegan’s chest. Just knowing Bryce was on her way meant everything.

* * *

BRYCE GLANCED AT her watch as she raced up the steps to the school. She hated being late when going anywhere, although she still had five minutes. She had intended to get here with time to spare, but had gotten stuck on the phone with a client.

When she entered the library she heard voices, so she moved toward the conference room where the voices were coming from. The door was open and she smiled as she walked inside. She was about to greet everyone when she saw Kaegan. He had come. She had wondered if he would. More than once she’d been tempted to call him to remind him of tonight’s meeting and decided that, since he’d been the one to accept her offer to join, he should care enough to make sure he kept his word and remembered to come. He had.

“Come on in, Bryce. You arrived with two minutes to spare, but since you’re here we can go ahead and get started,” Susan said.

“Hello, everyone,” Bryce said, as she swiftly moved to sit in the only vacant seat, which happened to be across from Kaegan. She forced herself not to glance over at him and instead tried to focus on what Susan was saying as she called the meeting to order.

One of the reasons she’d decided to be a part of the committee was because Susan was known to be a very organized individual, who didn’t believe in wasting time. That meant the meeting would follow an agenda and they would be leaving at the allotted hour.