Page 108 of Kaine

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“I’m here from Ash Industries.”

I look up from my perch on the counter the next day, half expecting to see Kaine.

But it’s definitely not Kaine, unless Kaine has taken to not shaving and wearing a dangling emerald earring in his left ear.

“Um, okay. What can I do for you?”

“I’m here to take care of the installations,” earring man tells me.

“What installations?”

“The installations Mr. Ashley specifically ordered yesterday.”

“Um, okay. You’re going to need to talk to my manager.” I turn and walk to Harold’s office. “Er, Harold? Something about installations from Kaine’s company?”

“Oh. Great! Send them in.”

“They’re in.” I follow Harold out of his office. “What’s going on?”

“Well, Kaine came to talk to me yesterday about the smoke alarm situation thing. Then he told me about this new product his company’s launching and he offered to outfit our building with the new smoke alarms. We wouldn’t have to pay for it, some sort of deal thing subsidized by his company and the city. Whatever. And as a return favour, we’re letting his company hold the launch of their new product at the library next week.”

“Oh. That’s sounds like a great idea.”

“Good, because you’ll be in charge of the function,” Harold informs me.

“What?”

“It’ll be great publicity for the library. Everyone’s still following your story, and now there’s a happy ending.”

I groan.

The last thing I want is MORE publicity.