His embarrassment was adorable, and I felt a surge of . . . something. Not maternal instinct, because I wasn’t anywhere close to old enough to be Ryan’s mother—but something like that. Was there a word for a sisterly version of this? I settled on “familial” as the closest comparison. Ryan was part of my family. My bookmobile family. And I was going to do whatever I could to help him.

*   *   *

I stayed in the cabin while the rain poured down, talking about this and that. I did my best to keep the conversation away from sports, because that never boded well for Minnie, but there was only so much I could do, especially since the baseball season had recently started and there was a die-hard Detroit Tigers baseball fan in the cabin.

Ryan was deep in a very one-sided discussion of pitching staff when the rain stopped and the sun broke through the clouds.

“Oooh, look at that,” I said, jumping to my feet. “The sun’s out. I really need to get moving. Sorry to leave you, Ryan, but I need to work on digging up information about Charlie Seller. And John Pinnock. And all the other suspects. The sooner I do that, the sooner you can get back to your regular life.”

Ryan nodded. “Sure, I get it. And thanks for the books.”

He patted the pile that I’d brought him; a heap of selections from the Friends of the Library book sale room. Five dollars for a full bag of books, and not a little plastic bag, either, but a nice big brown paper bag from Chilson’s grocery store, complete with handles.

“Should keep you going for a couple of days,” I said, smiling, as he stood. “Maybe next time I’ll bring Rafe, if that’s okay.” Though we’d never been on hugging terms, I pulled Ryan into a huge one. “It’ll get better,” I said as I stepped back.

“Hope so,” he said, and opened the door.

I went outside, and quickly turned around to face Ryan, gesturing at the sky. “Look!” There was a massive rainbow. A double, solid from left to right, and growing more and more brilliant. “It’s a sign!” Mostly a sign of the specific physical circumstances that created a rainbow, but still.

When I reached the far edge of the clearing, I glanced back. Ryan was still standing in the doorway, staring at the rainbow, his expression full of hope and longing.

“I’m going to figure this out,” I said quietly to myself. “Soon.”

*   *   *

Back home, I changed out of my wet pants, and Rafe and I talked about lunch options. Making something was a possibility, since that morning we’d planned to start the thawing process of a pound of hamburger, but neither of us had remembered to get the hamburger out of the freezer.

“It’s good to patronize local establishments,” Rafe said as we walked into Shomin’s Deli.