Chapter 4

      “Ow!” Mary rammed her hip into the book cart for the third time this morning.

      Darn it. Why couldn’t she watch where she was going? After all, she’d been employed as the assistant librarian here at the Honey Creek library for the past eight years. Certainly by now she should know where everything was located.

      Absolutely nothing had been going right. Not since she and Jake had parted ways last Saturday morning in the parking lot of the Bozeman hotel. That morning had been so hopeful—so full of promise. They’d exchanged cell phone numbers and had stolen a few public kisses.

      He’d said he would call. But her friend Susan told her that was what they all said.

      Not in romance novels. In her favorite books the couples might have their troubles, but things always worked out in the end. If a hero said he would do something, he did it. The heroic characters she’d read about in romance novels were what had given her the idea that a man could be trusted.

      Not that she’d had many examples of that in real life.

      Nothing her father had ever said was the truth. He’d cheated on her mother. He’d probably cheated his business partners and friends. He’d even cheated about his own death.

      Jake was not like her father. Yet Jake had said he would call, and here it was a rainy Tuesday morning and no word yet.

      Why couldn’t she get over what had happened between them? Yes, he’d been her first lover and she knew a woman’s first was supposedly a big deal. But this yearning to make love to him all over again seemed to have put her under a spell. A strong and unyielding spell. Was that natural? Being reckless wasn’t like her. Or at least not like the person she used to be.

      If she could just see him again. Maybe she would discover that he wasn’t everything she remembered. Maybe.

      A squeal of delight coming from the children’s book section caught Mary’s attention. She started walking that way to find out which book had enthralled the little girl.

      One of the biggest changes Mary wanted to make in her life was having kids. She wanted one, or maybe two—or three. Now that she’d lost the weight and it was possible to think about such things, it seemed children were on her mind a lot.

      As she passed by the computer stations, empty at this hour, she fought the urge to stop and look up Jake Pierson. To check up on his background. But she would never do that without telling him first. It seemed dishonest.

      “Mary, may I speak to you a moment?” Mrs. Banks, the head librarian, motioned from her office.

      Mary changed course and headed her way. She’d been meaning to have a serious conversation with her boss for the past couple of days. Ever since she’d decided to change her whole life. But, well, the time had never seemed quite right.

      Mrs. Banks ushered her into the tiny office and shut the door behind them. “Have a seat, Mary. I’d like to tell you something. My husband has decided to retire from his job and he wants us to move to Arizona. He likes the weather there.”

      “No kidding?” Mary couldn’t imagine living anywhere else but Honey Creek. This was home. All her family and friends were here, along with everything else she knew and loved.

      Mrs. Banks put her hand up as if she was about to say something profound. “I gave three weeks’ notice to the Library Board last night. They asked me to suggest my replacement.”

      Mary began shaking her head before her boss even finished her thought.

      Mrs. Banks must’ve noticed the denial in Mary’s expression because she gave her the cordial smile of a long-time business comrade. “I know you don’t have the credentials, Mary. But if you really want the job, I’ll go to bat for you.”

      Mary’s boss had been her mentor from the beginning, and Mrs. Banks must’ve assumed Mary wanted what she wanted. She did not.

      “You could always get your master’s degree in Library Science while you worked,” Mrs. Banks added. “It’ll be difficult to accomplish both at the same time in this small town, but it’s possible.”

      “Thanks.” Mary’s mouth rushed to say something else, but her mind was lagging as she fought to find the right words. “But…I… I’ve been meaning to tell you…I’ve been thinking about quitting myself.”

      Mrs. Banks raised eyebrows expressed what she thought of that idea. “You don’t want to work at the library anymore? What will you do?”

      Good question. One Mary had been mulling over for weeks. “I have a few ideas. But I was hoping for a little time to check things out.”

      “Does this have anything to do with the authorities finding your father’s body last week?”

      “No.” And that was the truth. Her father had nothing whatever to do with her wanting to make some changes. After all, she’d lost over a hundred pounds on her own—before his body had been found for the second time.

      “I see. Then I can tell the board to look for someone else?”

      Mary nodded, but bowed her head rather than face the disappointment in Mrs. Banks’s eyes.

      “Okay then. A young woman who used to live in Honey Creek recently contacted me about a