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Another uncertain pause. “Am I in danger?”

“Not to my knowledge.”

“So… Why are you calling?”

This was what people did, did they not? They called. “I am sorry if I am interrupting—”

“Aren’t you upstairs right now?”

“Yes?”

The door to 221C opened and shut. The stairs were taken two at a time.

“Why didn’t you just knock?” There was a knock at Avery’s door. “Like that?”

The anxiety that had clutched at her chest released, and she opened the door, but kept the phone to her ear. “It seemed more polite, in case you were otherwise occupied.”

Saga’s eyes shone as they met Avery’s, a wide smile forming as she also continued to speak into the phone. “Very considerate of you.”

“Yes, I try.” That smile was infectious, no matter how hard Avery fought it.

“Are you going to hang up?”

“I thought I would let you. This is my first social phone call, and I am not entirely sure what one is supposed to do when you are face-to-face with the person you were meant to be communicating with long-distance.” Taking pity, Saga hung up the phone and pocketed it. “So, as neither of us appear to be in mortal danger. What are you up to?”

Avery mimicked the motion and looked over her shoulder, indicating the rather large but neatly stacked pile of library books. “I have just completed my last book.”

“How was it?”

“Comprehensive,” Avery remarked. “I do not know if I needed the information about London during the Ice Age, but it was informative nonetheless. And I suspect most readers are not attempting to fill a very specific two-hundred-year gap.”

“Did you need help carrying it all back to the library?”

“Perhaps, but that was not my reason for calling.”

“I don’t have any interest in pissing off a librarian, Avery.”

Avery flustered at that. “I had no intention of recruiting you—the audacity of the notion, really. If I had reinforcements, she might be induced to do the same, and one Susan is quite enough, thank you.”

“I met her, you know. She seemed really lovely.”

“Yes, like a snake hypnotizing prey right before it strikes.”

“Fine.” Saga laughed. “So why did you call? Because you missed me?”

Avery felt painfully aware she had been slouching and that perhaps her hair was out of place. And her vest needed straightening.

Which somehow communicated something else entirely to Saga. “You did, didn’t you?”

“I enjoy your company. There is nothing about that fact that I have kept from you in any fashion,” Avery snapped petulantly. “Is it mischievous for me to reach out for a social call? To invite you out for a cup of tea, or ask how you are faring, especially given the emotional hardship you have recently endured?”

Why was Saga’s smile so amused? Even more so, why was her amusement so pleasing to look at? “No.”

“Good,” Avery spat. She took a moment to adjust her vest again. “Would you like to go get tea?”

Still smiling, she stepped aside to allow Avery to join her on the landing. “A pastry might do me some good too.”

“A pastry would set me for life,” Avery agreed, closing the door behind her. They reached the bottom of the stairs before she got to the meat of the real question she wanted to ask. “So… How are you, then?”