I bolted out of my chair and ran upstairs.
• • •
“So what did they say?” Kelsey asked. “Are you the new director?”
Four of us were crammed into my office. I’d been told by the board to talk to every staff member as soon as I could and was doing my best to comply.
“Not a chance,” Donna said. “She didn’t want the job last summer. She’s not going to want it now.”
The board had offered me the position, but Donna was right. I still didn’t want to be director. Not yet anyway. “They’re going to ask their second choice,” I said. “Graydon Cain.”
Josh scrunched up his face. “What kind of people name their kid Graydon? He’s bound to be an uptight suit.”
“Worse than Jennifer?” I asked.
His face scrunched even tighter. “We didn’t think Jennifer could be worse than Stephen, but she was.”
Though that had nothing to do with how Graydon Cain might run the library, I knew what he meant. But since there was nothing I could do about it, I decided not to worry. We’d deal with our new library director when he arrived. Why ruin the next few weeks with fussing over something we couldn’t change?
“By the way,” I said, “this morning I also found out the library board isn’t really interested in that new software Jennifer was pushing.”
“Wait. What?” Josh’s face unscrunched.
I beamed. “She’d presented a proposal to the board to sell some of our rare books to fund the purchase, but the board told me they weren’t in favor.” The board president had said he’d told Jennifer the board would listen seriously to everything she brought them and she must have made assumptions from that polite policy.
“Yeah?” Josh grinned and started bouncing on his toes like a six-year-old. “That’s cool. That’s real cool.”
“I’ll say.” Kelsey blew out a huge sigh. “If I’d had to learn how to run one more system, my head might have exploded.”
Donna’s face was a mirror of my own. “The world is righting itself,” she said. “It’s about time.”
Out in the hallway, I heard a familiar shuffle of large feet. I looked pointedly out my open doorway, and my coworkers turned in time to see Mitchell Koyne walking past, his head bent down to read the book he had in his hands.
A sense of peace settled over me, because Donna was correct—the world was indeed righting itself.
• • •
Even though I’d slept late two mornings in a row, Saturday’s dramatic events caught up with me by the afternoon. Fatigue tugged at my eyes and I lost count of the times I yawned. Just before five o’clock, Holly, Donna, and Kelsey came into my office and stood in front of me in a solid row.
“Go away,” Holly said.
I blinked. “Excuse me?”
Donna gave Holly an elbow in the side. “What we’re saying is we think you should leave. Go home. We can cover the library until eight. You had a rough weekend, and now that you’re going to be interim director again for a while, you’re going to need your rest.”
“That’s right,” Kelsey said, nodding. “We can’t have you getting sick.”
Their concern made my throat tight. “I appreciate your concern, I really do, but—” My protest was cut short by a huge yawn.
“Right,” Holly said. “Ladies?”
Kelsey stepped forward and picked my backpack up off the floor. Donna took my old coat from the doorknob and Holly came around the desk, took my hands, and pulled me to my feet. “Leave,” she ordered, and gave me a quick hug.
Donna held up my coat and shook it invitingly.
“Doesn’t seem like I have much of a choice,” I muttered as I slid my arms into the sleeves.
“Hello,” Holly said. “That’s the whole point. Get out and don’t come back until tomorrow.”
She was probably right. They all were. “Thanks, you guys,” I said. “You’re the best.”
“Yeah, we know.” Holly pushed me in the direction of the lobby. “Git!”
As I pushed open the library door, I was surprised to see the complete absence of snow. The day’s sunshine, accompanied by temperatures that had crept up into the mid-fifties, had melted everything. I felt a small pang for Jennifer, who would never know the beauty of northern Michigan in winter, and whispered “Good luck” in her general direction.
Instead of taking the most direct route back to the boardinghouse like a good girl, I decided to walk downtown. It was too nice outside not to take advantage of the last hour of sunlight, and Holly’s last directive had been simply to leave the library, not go home and go to bed.
The sun was casting lengthy shadows across the sidewalk, and I was enjoying the sight of my unbelievably long legs when someone called my name.
“Minnie!”
I turned and saw Leese climbing out of her SUV. Her broad face was wearing a smile that was even broader.
“You look happy,” I said, understating the obvious.
“Hah!” She took a few long strides and reached out in my direction. “Come here,” she said, wrapping her arms around me. “This is what you get for now.” She gave me a smacking kiss on the top of my head.
Squirming a little and wondering if this was how Eddie felt when I snuggled and kissed him, I said into her shoulder, “What did I do this time?”
She gave me one more rib-breaking pulse and released me. “Next time you need a favor, call me. The next ten times you need a favor, call me. Middle of the night, first thing in the morning, right after I get into my pajamas, doesn’t matter, I’ll come running.”
I squinted at her. “At some point I’m going to know what you’re talking about, right?”
She laughed. “Fred Sirrine. He called me this morning, and this afternoon he hired me as his estate’s attorney. He also said he’ll recommend me to all his old fogey friends, his words, not mine.”
Fred Sirrine. The name sounded familiar, but . . . then I had it. Former neighbor to the Boggses.
“That’s great,” I said. “But I didn’t do anything. All I did was mention your name.”
“Sometimes that’s all it takes, especially for the guy who used to have the title ‘President of the Americas for Ford Motor Company.’” She gave me another crushing hug, declared everlasting appreciation for my help, and headed into the wine shop.
“Huh,” I said to no one in particular. Then I suddenly remembered that, with Jennifer gone, I’d be free to start up the outreach lecture series I’d suggested, with Leese as the first speaker. I took one step after her, but again heard my name.
“Minnie!”
I turned and this time it was Aunt Frances who was headed toward me. “Hey, there,” I said. “Did you hear? I’m interim library director again.”
“Old news.” She grinned. “I heard that at the post office ten minutes ago.” She waved a handwritten envelope. “This is the new news. Picked it up in the box just now.”
My eyes tried to read the return address, but she was fluttering it too fast, and I was afraid if I kept trying to read it I’d get motion sickness. “Are you going to tell me what it is, or am I going to have to guess?”
She beamed. “It’s from my late husband’s cousin Celeste Glendennie. I don’t think you’ve ever met her. She’s a second cousin once removed, or is it a third cousin?” Aunt Frances pursed her lips, then shrugged. “Some sort of a cousin. She’s been living in Nevada for the last thirty years and she wants to come back to Michigan.”
“That’s nice,” I said.
Aunt Frances laughed. “I’m not to the good part yet. She has agreed, sight unseen except for the pictures and video clips I’ve e-mailed her, to buy the boardinghouse and to keep it running.”
Um. “Does she know . . . I mean . . .”