“Don’t you dare,” Kristen said in a near snarl. “I need to know that one thing will stay the same after . . . well, after. Knowing we’ll be together at least once a week is an anchor in my life. I need this, Minnie. I need you.”

I blinked. Kristen did not do heart-on-sleeve emotions. “Well, okay then,” I said. “We’ll figure it out.”

“Okay,” she said, and I thought I detected a watery sniff.

My spoon went after the last of my custard. “I need you, too,” I said to the ramekin, because I didn’t do heart-on-sleeve very well, either.

“I know,” she whispered.

“It’ll work out,” I said, not sure exactly what I was talking about, but knowing it was true. “Whatever happens, we’ll make it work.”

After a sniffly pause, she said, “Okay.”

And I was suddenly sure that it would be.

*   *   *

By design, I arrived at the library before anyone else the next morning. I checked the entire building, top to bottom, front to back, inside and out, making sure that everything was in order. Graydon had been gone a week and the last thing I wanted was for his return to be marred by an unexpected problem.

Things happened, after all. Pipes burst. Vandalism happened. Roofs leaked. Janitorial crews used the wrong cleaning fluid and ruined carpets. I’d heard of all those things happening to other libraries and I didn’t want any of them to happen on my temporary watch.

My last inspection was in the break room, where everything looked fine, so I blew out a sigh of relief and started making coffee.

“You’re here early.”

I looked up and smiled at my boss, who was standing in the doorway. “Hey, Graydon. I could say the same to you. How was your vacation?”

“Great, but I never did get the hang of the time difference. Next time my wife and I go somewhere, it has to be in the same time zone.”

Laughing, I filled a mug and held it out. “Here. Have a non-Kelsey coffee on me.”

“Thanks. How did things go last week?”

I caught him up with a few minor personnel issues, said that Holly had casually introduced two library patrons who had ended up making a romantic dinner date, and told him Hunter had done well in his first bookmobile driving run.

“Sounds like a good week,” he said cheerfully, sitting in a chair and gesturing for me to join him. “How did the board meeting go?”

“Oh. That.” I paused. “Um, it was fine.” True enough, because the actual meeting had gone as expected. No surprising questions or unsettling discussions. Those had all happened before the meeting started.

“Fine?” Graydon repeated. “If it went so fine, why do you look as if you’ve lost a winning lottery ticket?”