He said, “Take it, or leave it.”

“Arrgh. Okay, I’ll take it.”

“Great. Tell Lasha I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Oh, and India, you might want to get on the Internet and look up the latest trends for teenyboppers. I think you can really grab them early if you pepper some of their lingo into your presentation.”

I hung up the phone.

After telling Lasha that Bobby was on his way, I returned to the workroom to retrieve Mark. He’d propped himself against the loading doors. Theodore purred in his arms. A small cluster of female students, a few of them library workers, surrounded them.

Erin, a willowy redhead, cooed. “He’s adorable.”

I hoped she referred to the cat, but she watched Mark from under her eyelashes.

I mumbled a greeting, then took Mark’s arm. “Ready to go?”

Mark bit his lip and nodded. I told the students that I had a family emergency and Bobby would be coming in early.

“Bobby, huh?” Erin said with orchestrated disinterest. Everything about her screamed seasoned. I’d seen Bobby check her out when he thought no one was looking and vice versa. I’d have to keep an eye on them this year. I don’t know if I could stand this job if Bobby got sacked for behavior unbecoming a librarian.

Once we were in my car, I called Mom and told her I was bringing Mark to her house.

“Why? What happened? Is Mark okay?”

“He’s fine. We’ll be there in a few minutes. Gotta go.” I snapped the phone shut.

During the short ride to our parents’ house, Mark sat silent, Theodore cradled in his lap. At each stop sign, I glanced at him, wondering if the day’s event would be enough to send him back over the edge.

Chapter Eight

I turned the car into my parents’ driveway. They lived in a brick, L-shaped ranch with dark purple shutters and bright red front door that they bought after my dad’s accident. While trimming a sycamore tree on the property of Stripling Presbyterian Church where my mother was pastor, my father fell from his self-made rigging and broke his back. He was paralyzed from the waist down.