Erin mentally flipped through an assortment of responses and discarded all of them. “Not much.”
Raya began rolling smaller carts out of the way to get to a larger cart. “Not much? You either need to get out more—or you’re leaving out the good stuff.”
“Actually,” said Erin, “I made a new friend.” Raya was more of a work friend than a best friend, but it felt good to open up to someone, and Raya had always been insightful, if a bit unorthodox.
Raya froze in mid-roll and looked over her shoulder at Erin. “What?”
Erin nodded.
“Is this ‘friend’ of the gentleman persuasion?”
Erin nodded again.
“You’re not on the rebound already, are you?”
Erin raised her eyebrows. “Why would you say that?”
Raya chuckled as she pushed a cart over to Erin. “I don’t know.”
“After what Mark did, I’m not exactly eager to get mixed up with someone new,” said Erin.“You want me to take care of him? I know swamps where his body will never be found.” She nodded sagely at Erin. “Except maybe by an alligator.”
Erin was pretty sure Raya was joking—but with Raya, it wasn’t always easy to tell. “It’s okay. Really.”
“All right. You just say the word.” She moved the scattered carts back into place. “So what’s he like, this new friend?”
Erin weighed how much to tell the quirky librarian. “He’s—nice.”
Raya turned off the back room lights and shut the door. “They’re all nice, baby, until they’re not.”
They returned to the library proper and sat down in two reading chairs facing each other.
“I know,” said Erin. “But he’s different. Really different.”
“Like, good-looking? Is he smoking hot? Because that might make it worthwhile.”
Erin laughed. “Yes. No. I don’t know. You’re making me lose my train of thought.” Erin dropped her head into her hands.
“Sorry. Go on. No, wait a second.” Raya leapt up and crossed the library to her personal mini-fridge, retrieved a soda, and snagged a bag of cookies from the cabinet above the fridge. She carried the goodies back and plopped into her seat across from Erin. “Okay, go on.”
“He’s just a friend.”
“Sure, sure. Tell me about Mr. New Hot Friend.” Raya popped a cookie in her mouth and chased it with a swig of soda. “Your family know about him?”
Erin twisted her necklace and looked down at the floor. “Definitely not.”
Raya grinned. “Oh, not bringing the family in on this one, huh? Damn, he must be something special.”
“He wanted to help me move my classroom.”
Raya sat up. “Seriously? Why isn’t he here today?”
“I guess I could bring him in … ”
“Hell, yeah, you will! I gotta meet this guy.”
Erin ignored the tiny voice whispering that this might not be the best plan. After all, moving a whole classroom would be exceptionally difficult for one person. Andy’s help would make it much easier.
“We could even have lunch together tomorrow,” said Raya.
