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The Lynburn smiled back at her. Kami liked his smile almost as much as she liked his camera.
“Seriously,” said Angela. “Go away now.”
There was only so much rudeness anyone could be expected to take. Kami seized Angela’s arm and pulled her from the sofa. “Would you excuse us for just one moment?” she said to the Lynburn. “My colleague and I need to confer in our office.” With that, she hauled Angela into the empty stationery cupboard and shut the door behind them.
In the darkness, Angela asked, “Why am I in a cupboard?”
“There are only two important things for us to discuss right now,” Kami said. “The first is that to be a success, our newspaper requires a photographer.”
“What’s the other thing?”
“He’d be excellent decoration for our headquarters,” Kami said. “You have to admit, he’s very good-looking, and I need a photographer, so can I keep him, please, oh, please?”
Angela sighed. In the cupboard, the sigh was like a gust of wind. “Kami, you know I hate guys being around all the time. They won’t stop staring and bothering me and giving me the sad, sad eyes like a puppy dog until I just want to kick them. Like a puppy dog.”
“So you have some puppy issues,” Kami observed.
The cupboard door swung suddenly open.
The new boy stood framed by the bright light of the office. “Sorry to interrupt,” he said. “But I can hear everything you’re saying.”
“Ah,” said Kami.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I can take a hint. Especially if the hint is along the lines of—” He did a good imitation of Angela’s dismissive gesture. “Go away now.”
Angela looked fondly reminiscent. “We’ve had some good times together, haven’t we? I’ll always remember them. After you go away.”
The boy’s brow wrinkled slightly. “Also, you might not have noticed, but this is a cupboard.”
“I admit our private office is of modest dimensions,” Kami told him. “But that’s the way we like it. Just because we’re the editors doesn’t mean we need special privileges. We’re not snobs.” She climbed out of the cupboard, and the new guy offered his hand. She didn’t need it, but she took it all the same.
He smiled again. “My name’s Ash Lynburn.”
Kami beamed at him. “I thought so. We don’t get many new people in town. Tell me all about yourself, and let me get a pen so I can write it down. Did I mention that you’re hired?”
“Kami’s always like this,” said Angela.
Even though Kami knew Angela was saying it with love, she was saying it in front of someone Kami wanted to impress. She hesitated, then reached out to Jared in her mind, and uncertainty washed away in the wave of reassurance she got back. “True,” Kami said cheerfully. “I am a born reporter. But you know, the old family moving back into the manor house—everyone who comes into my mother’s place is talking about it.” She looked at Ash. “My mum’s place is Claire’s,” she said. “Bakery in the morning, restaurant in the evening. Best food in Sorry-in-the-Vale. We’ll take you there when we have weekend staff meetings.”
“I’ll look forward to it,” Ash said. He still had hold of her hand.
Kami shook hands firmly, then pulled her hand away and walked over to her desk: she needed it to take notes. “I’m Kami Glass,” she said once she had a pen and a notepad. She waved at Angela. “This one-woman welcoming committee is Angela Montgomery. Congratulations! You’re part of the team. Your first assignment is to go out to the stairs and take some pictures of Angela standing on them slapping her ass.”
Angela said, “I’m going back to the cupboard.”
They all ended up at the stairs, Kami coming in order to drag Angela and staying in order to interview Ash. Ash ran from the top to the bottom of the stairs a few times, trying to get the best shot of Angela (though there was no way to get a bad shot of Angela, all swishing hair, snapping eyes, and perennial annoyance), and answered all Kami’s questions pleasantly, if cagily: Where had the Lynburns been? Oh, all around. Where had he liked living most? Oh, here.
“So, now that you’re back, do you think you’ll be staying?” Kami looked down at Ash, pen poised over her notepad.
Ash lowered his camera and looked up at her. Light flooded down the corridor, lending his hair a sheen of hazy brightness. “Sorry-in-the-Vale is where we belong,” he answered, and for the first time he did not sound calm and lighthearted. He sounded as if he was making a promise, one he intended to keep. “We’re going to stay here forever.”
Kami woke that night from a dream of being someone else, to the sound of screaming in the woods. She reached for Jared.
He answered, awake too, comforting and curious at once. Are we going t
o go see what’s happening?
As soon as the silent voice in her mind asked that, the sound stopped.
