The rest of the tour took forever. Dad and I took turns leading the tour. The entire time, Kate hovered at the back, on the fringes, like she’d done at the wrestling tournaments. Tonight her hair was sleeker and her lips were full of gloss, but she was the same girl. Watching everyone. Studying them. She’d watched her brother’s opponents wrestle, then she’d talked to him.

No one else had spotted what she was doing, but she’d been as responsible for Jason’s success in the sport as his coach had been. Jason, of course, had done the hard work, but she’d helped him strategize. She’d gotten his head in the sport and helped him focus.

What would it be like to have someone like that at my side?

I’d wanted to know then, and I wanted to know now.

I hadn’t pursued her back then. She’d lived in a different town. I’d been college-bound on the fast track into King Oil. I could’ve wrestled on scholarships, but I couldn’t have split myself between a sport and school. So I hadn’t asked her out. I’d assumed her life had gone in a direction away from mine.

Then I’d been told I had six months to marry. And the first woman I’d thought of was her. What were the chances she was still in Billings? What were the odds she was single? What were the odds we were even compatible? A fascination from a distance as a teenager hardly made a valid foundation for marriage.

But if I had to marry, then I was going to give it a shot with the only girl who’d ever seen the real me. When I’d learned she worked in town and still went by her maiden name, I’d had to officially meet her.

It wouldn’t do to go into the library and pretend to check out a book. What department did she work in? What were her hours? A guy like me couldn’t roam the library without getting noticed. I didn’t know anything about her social life or how I could “run into her” otherwise. I couldn’t look up Jason after ten years and ask about his sister that I’d never talked to.

So, I had devised a plan. I’d pitched it to Dad and he’d taken the bait. We’d give local municipal bodies tours after work hours and host an open house just for them. Let’s invite some city departments first.

And tonight was finally library night. Like I’d planned.