“It’s okay.” Harper sniffled and forced a smile at her. “I think I just needed to let off some steam.”

A couple of patrons were still staring suspiciously at her, so Harper offered them an apologetic smile.

“Sorry about my outburst, folks,” she told them, and straightened up. “It won’t happen again. You can go back to your browsing.”

She crouched down to pick up the books she’d left on the floor, the ones she still had left to put away. She’d honestly meant to pick them up and go about her work, but as soon as she was safely hidden behind the shelves, it hit her.

Gemma might never come back, and even if she did, Harper had no idea if Gemma would even still be her sister. No matter what happened from here on out, the little sister Harper had always known and loved was gone. And nothing Harper could do would bring her back.

She put one hand over her mouth to keep quiet as tears spilled down her cheeks, and she put her other hand on the shelf to steady herself. Her whole body shook as she cried, but she managed to stay relatively silent.

“Hello?” a voice said behind her.

She turned her head to the side, hiding her face as best she could from whoever stood behind her.

“Um, Marcy’s at the desk,” Harper said, swallowing back tears. “If you need help finding a book, check with her.”

“Harper, I don’t need help finding a book,” he said. She glanced back over her shoulder to see Daniel.

“Daniel.” She turned away from him and rushed to wipe her face as inconspicuously as possible. “Of course you would come here now.” He didn’t need to see her all snot-nosed and sobbing.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m fine. Everything’s fine.” She sniffled, grabbed the books, and stood up, realizing that she probably looked the best she could hope for, and turned to face him. “What can I do for you?”

“Were you crying?” he asked, his voice warm with concern.

She lowered her eyes, refusing to look up at him, but she could feel his eyes searching her. He moved even closer to her, so he was mere inches away, but Harper just hugged the books to her chest and stared down at her feet.

“I’m working, Daniel, so if you don’t need anything from me, I should probably get back to it,” she said.

“I know you’re working, and I wouldn’t bother you if it wasn’t important,” Daniel said. “Can you take, like, five minutes to go somewhere and talk with me?”