I sank into a chair and rubbed at my temple. “I keep thinking I’ll catch up. That there’ll be a break, but the break never comes.”
Austin didn’t say anything at first. He just sipped his coffee and studied me like I was a riddle he didn’t want to solve too fast.
“Then I guess we hold the line until it does,” he said.
It wasn’t advice. It wasn’t a fix. Just a simple, solid thing to say. Like anchoring a tent in a windstorm.
His words lodged somewhere in my chest.
We sat there for another minute or two, silence stretching between us. It wasn’t uncomfortable. It just ... was.
Eventually he stood. “All right. I should let you work. I’m heading to the job at Elodie’s place, but I’ll be back in time for after-school pickup.”
I walked him to the door. He paused on the threshold, like he was going to say something else, but he didn’t.
Austin tipped his chin and stepped out into the sunlight, and I watched the door shut behind him before sinking to the floor in a puddle.
The library’scommunity room smelled like old paperbacks and lemon-scented floor cleaner—the sterile freshness that never quite masked the scent of time. The Keepers were already mid-chaos when I arrived, embroidery hoops and tea canisters spread across two folding tables like we were planning a very polite coup on a Friday night.
Elodie was perched at the head of the table, arranging mismatched china into neat little rows while the head Keeper, Helen, fussed with a lace tablecloth that refused to sit straight. I moved toward a seat by the window and pulled out my needlework, though calling it that felt generous. My sunflower looked like it had survived a small but devastating fire.
“You’re late,” Helen said without looking up. I had known Helen since I was a kid. She was in her sixties now but just as youthful as I always remembered. She was always smiling, her freckles dancing across the bridge of her nose as it crinkled. Her dark-brown eyes seemed to twinkle with some secret knowledge. Her salt-and-pepper hair had changed styles throughout the years, but lately she was keeping it in short twists that brushed her temples.
“I’m here,” I said, dropping my purse into a chair. “That’s the best I could do.”
“I saw your ... helper today,” my mom, Angela, said with a grin, looping the word like a lasso and tossing it straight at me.
I kept my eyes on the teacup in front of me. “Helper?”
“You know,” she said, nudging my sister Elodie with an elbow. “Austin. The tall, handsome one who looks like he was carved out of someone’s daydreams. The man who picked up Winnie at school this afternoon and had every mom at the pickup line sucking in their stomachs.”
Elodie’s face twisted. “Why were you at the school?”
Mom blinked innocently. “I was just passing by on my walk. It’s important to stay limber and fit as you age.”
I harrumphed.
Mom was a busybody. Her walks were almost certainly a part of her mission to know everything about everyonein town, her daughters included.
“Austin is our new neighbor and is just filling in. Temporarily.” I clattered the teaspoons into the saucers a little louder than necessary. I gestured at the delicate porcelain in front of me. “What are we even doing here?”
Kit shrugged. “Tea party, obviously.”
“Oh, so he’s themanny,” Helen said brightly, not letting me change the subject so easily. “Lucky you.” She waggled her eyebrows.
“He’s not the manny,” I muttered, though admittedly the title was kind of hilarious.
Mom tilted her head. “No? Because from what I could see it kind of looked like he was walking Winnie out like he owned the place.”
“Is thereanyprivacy in this town?” I inhaled slowly through my nose. “Austin is just helping out for a few days. It was Brody’s idea.”
“Mmm. Helping,” Mom echoed, not bothering to hide her smirk. “How chivalrous.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Can we please talk about something else?”
That only made them smile wider. It was a blood sport, really. One flicker of discomfort and they circled like sharks.
“Fine, fine.” Elodie poured the first cup of tea. “I vote we talk about the Lady instead.”
