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Walden is silent for a moment before he answers. “Blaze is the smart one in our family,” he says. “And she’s ambitious. I mean, I’m ambitious, but for me, town politics, maybe county politics, is about as far as I’m ever going to go. She deserves more than running a tiny little backwater library out here in the middle of nowhere. She could be working for a major university or heading up an entire library system in a big city. She doesn’t belong here.”
I stare at him. “Are you telling me you’re deliberately hamstringing her career in some fucked-up, misguided attempt to help her?”
Walden sets his jaw and stares out at the parking lot again. “If you want to put it that way, I guess I am.”
I unclench my teeth long enough to answer him. “In other words, this is the opposite of nepotism. This is punishing her because she’s your sister, not helping her.”
“We grew up together. I can’t help that I know she was made for bigger things.”
“With all due respect, that is not your call to make,” I growl.
“With all due respect, you might be biased.” He turns his head to look me in the eye. “Do you want her here? Or do you want what’s best for her?”
Because I don’t know what to say, I give him the look that I save only for when one of my men has done something colossally stupid and dangerous. To his credit, Walden doesn’t flinch.
A thread of doubt winds through my chest. Blaze might well be happier somewhere else. Walden’s right—she’s smart and ambitious and capable of so much more than she’s doing now.
Here in Welkins Ridge, even with a bigger budget, she’ll never be more than head librarian of a tiny library, serving a relatively small population. Maybe I’m being selfish by wanting her to stay. Maybe her interviews are her chance to go be someone, to use her talents to serve a wider audience and help more people.
“Still not your call,” I mutter. I need to get away from Walden before the urge to hit something becomes too overwhelming. “I need to get to work.” I turn and stomp off toward the station.
“Stay safe!” Walden calls behind me.
I ignore him and take my phone out as I walk.
I swear I withdrew our bid, I text. We need to talk. Night shift now. Breakfast tomorrow?
There’s no response, not that I really expected one. I’ll keep trying. I put the phone back in my pocket just as I reach the door of the fire station and head inside.
* * *
Despite not getting any sleep, I’m at Blaze’s front door with an iced soy vanilla latte and some pastries from the Flying Saucer at nine a.m. I bring Jackie along. Even if she’s willing to shut the door in my face, I hope she won’t be able to shut the door in his.
But even after knocking numerous times and waiting, there’s no response. I walk down the steps and peer into the garage through the window to see that her car is gone. Damn it. I must have missed her when I went to the Flying Saucer.
I glance at my watch. The library doesn’t open for another hour, but if she’s trying to avoid me, that’s where she’s most likely to be.
Reluctantly leaving Jackie at home, I head downtown. Coffee in one hand and the bag of pastries tucked under my arm, I bang on the glass front door and even try it to see if it’s locked.
It is, and no one comes to the door.
Well, someone will have to open it sooner or later. I don’t have anywhere I need to be, so I lean against the wall and decide to wait it out.
I just hope she shows up before all the ice in her latte melts.
I’ve only been there a minute when the older woman who works there walks up to the short flight of steps. Today, her glasses are neon green and yellow plaid, and she’s holding a set of keys in one hand and limping slightly.
She glances at me as she makes her way up the steps. “The library opens at ten.”
“I’m looking for Blaze Wilder,” I tell her. “Can I give you a hand?” I reach to help her up the stairs, but she waves me off as she gets to the top.
“Well, you won’t find her here,” she says briskly, pushing past me to put the key in the lock.
“Do you know where she is?”
She gives me a hard stare. “Don’t think I don’t know what happened at the town council meeting last night, young man. If she doesn’t want to talk to you, I’m certainly not going to tell you where to find her.”
“That wasn’t my fault, and I need to talk to her about it.”
