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“Because I don’t want anyone to witness your murder.”
“You’ll be changing your opinion on ghosts real quick if you kill me today.”
His face remains blank as he makes a right turn and pulls into a parking space.
I hop out of the truck before he has a chance to say something and head inside the library. The faint smell of old books and recently brewed coffee lingers in the air as I make my way over to Beth, the librarian, who sits behind the help desk.
I’m so focused on my mission to get the special key to access old newspapers that I don’t have a chance to become anxious about seeing her.
Look at that progress.
“Hi, Beth.” I lean against the counter with a hesitant smile. Beth has been working here since I was a kid, with hair the size of Texas and a wardrobe straight out of the 1950s.
“Dahlia! I heard you were back!” She drops a stack of books before running around the desk with her arms wide open.
I hold up my cast to stop her from pulling me into a hug.
She frowns. “What happened?”
“Fell off a ladder. How areyou?”
She holds me at arm’s length and assesses. “Better now that you stopped by to visit. It’s been a good while since I last saw you.”
“I know.” Staying away was easy compared to the alternative.
Facing the fractured person I have become.
“If I had known you were stopping by, I would have brought my copy of your design book.”
“You bought one?”
She beams. “Of course!”
Something in my chest swells.
“I’ve kept up with all the latest and greatest things you’ve been up to. Team Dahlia forever, am I right?” She holds her hand out for me to slap.
“Right.” I barely manage to hide my flinch as I high-five her.
“Do you plan on sticking around forever now that you and that Olive broke up?”
Beth is the first person in town to address my ex—albeit incorrectly—yet instead of panic, I’m hit with a burst of laughter.
“I’m not sure about that. I doubt Julian and I can last more than a few months in the same place without killing each other, so I’ll be heading back to San Francisco by the new year.”
Beth looks over my head with a raised brow. “Julian Lopez? What are you doing here?”
My muscles go rigid as I turn to find Julian glaring at me.
“I’m with her.”
“Why?” I blurt out.
The vein in his cheek flexes as he ignores my question.
“Do I need to remind you two about the rules?” She nods toward the plaque behind the desk. A majority of the library rules were added after a few incidents between Julian and me over the years with lighters, air horns, and Nerf guns.
“No, ma’am,” we both say at the same time.
