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When I meet his gaze and discover he’s made the exact same expression, I nearly lose it.
Alice, on the other hand, somehow remains stony. Firm.
“I’ve finished most of it,” Evie reassures her.
“How much is ‘most’?”
“Like,” Evie winces over the math, “eighty-five percent? But I can do the rest when I get home. I promise.”
“You promise?” Despite having never met a gentler woman than Alice, I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of the look she’s reigning down on Evie at that moment. “Pinkie promise with a breaking penalty of dishes for a month?”
Sensing victory, Evie nods vigorously, agreeing to all the terms.
Arc Adventures must be some game, I decide.
“Yes, yes! Totally! Promise! Now, can I go?”
Alice nods.
“If Holly’s parents can drive you home, you can go. If it’s after dark, no scooter.”
Evie drums her hands on the desk in excitement.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” No sooner had she appeared than Evie is sprinting back off in the other direction. “Holly!” she calls out down the aisles. “She said yes!”
Almost regressing before our eyes, Alice exhales, tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, and morphs back into the shy librarian as she turns back to us.
“Sorry about that.”
“No problem,” I murmur, watching the streak of auburn hair that is Evie darting towards the door. Her friend, a pretty girl with ringlets, follows behind with a similar eagerness. “Don’t ever apologize for showing me Tough Alice. I like her.”
As Alice shrugs, she picks up the romance novel still hovering on the side. For a moment, I wonder if she even registers that she’s picked it up. Or if it’s some kind of instinct, a seeking of the familiar when she’s confronted with something unsettling.
“I guess it’s easier to be confident when you don’t have a choice,” she says. “Someone has to be the adult, and it can’t be Evie. Can’t really escape that kind of reality.”
I hadn’t pried when we’d met up before the harvest dance. But it had been impossible not to notice that Alice’s home had been missing a few key components. Like a mother. And a father. She’d noticed my curiosity at the time and given me the basic facts. Car crash. Instant orphanhood. Guardian to her sister.
I hadn’t pressed further.
“Hey,” I tell her, “that’s what books are for, right? Escapism?”
This brings a smile back to Alice’s face, at least. Taking the opportunity of a positive note, David exhales and rubs his palms together.
“Well, it was nice to meet you, Alice,” he says. I feel a hand on my shoulder as he’s turning me in the direction of the door. “And thanks for your expert guardianship of apparently the only working modem in town. But I think we need to get going.”
Alice smiles and nods, unoffended.
I, on the other hand, am surprised.
“We do?” I ask.
“Yeah. I want to find some kind of grocery store before it gets too late for opening hours.”
“What do you need? Maple syrup?”
“We need everything. Your house is a disaster and ingredients are kind of necessary for the whole cooking thing.”
“Good luck with that,” I say, reaching out to grab Alice’s hand. I give it a squeeze of friendship as a means of goodbye. She grins back at me and waggles her fingers as I’m steered away. “There’s no power to the kitchen yet.”
