The vice president would have chimed in, her face kind but firm. “Not that we’d keep you from ever going out, of course. But you just wouldn’t have time to do the same amount of outreach. You’d have to hire an assistant. A new you.”

I pondered the idea as my coworkers kept talking. What would the New Me have looked like? Taller, for sure. Shiny straight hair. A couple of kids in school. Would have been an assistant librarian downstate somewhere and looking to make a fresh start. Would have been thrilled to be working in Chilson. Would have had a to-do list starting with redecorating the bland assistant librarian’s office.

“Minnie, you’ve heard that, too?” Kelsey asked.

“Sorry?” I asked vaguely, seeing paisley wallpaper rolling up my office walls.

Josh snapped his fingers. “Earth to Minnie. Come back from wherever you are.”

The vision vanished. I breathed a sigh of relief. “Did I hear what?”

“Ash Wolverson and Chelsea Stille.”

I smiled. “They’re a great couple, aren’t they?” The incredibly handsome Ash and I had briefly dated a couple of years ago, but it had been like hanging out with a brother. Fun, but no passion. We’d parted on friendly terms and I’d been thrilled when I’d started seeing Ash and Chelsea, the sheriff’s new office manager, walking down the street, hand in hand.

Kelsey’s eyebrows went up. “Then they’re back together? Good.”

“Wait.” I shook my head, flushing out the last of my inane decorating daydream. “What are you talking about?”

“So many brains,” Josh said sadly. “Yet she uses so few of them.”

“More that she just doesn’t pay attention.” Kelsey eyed the mostly empty coffeepot and moved to start making another, ignoring the collective sigh. “You had your chance,” she said. “Anyway, I was saying that I was at the Round Table yesterday, waiting to pick up lunch, and saw Ash and Chelsea, sitting in a booth and, you know, not talking. For ten minutes straight. They just stared at the table the whole time.”

That wasn’t good. “You think they broke up?”

She shrugged. “When they got up to leave, I heard Ash ask if there was any way she’d change her mind. And she said, ‘Only if you change yours.’ Then she walked away. No kiss, no hug, no ‘see you later.’ Ash looked like the world had ended, and when Chelsea walked out, I could see she was crying.”

It certainly sounded like a breakup. I walked back to my office, slowly as to not spill my topped-off coffee, and hoped that Ash and Chelsea could work through whatever it was that had pushed them apart. Every relationship was a mystery, though, and there were probably an infinite number of reasons why things could fall apart.