One – 04

“How did it go?”

I grimaced and shook my head. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answers to, Neve.”

She winced and sighed, reaching for the next book in the stack. It had taken us practically all winter, but we’d managed to catalogue most of the books salvaged from the university library—most of them. There were still a few boxes left, and Neve and I had been stringing the project along, not quite ready to be done with the task just yet. No one bothered us while we were with the books—it was like some kind of unspoken rule. She and I could talk about anything without fear of being overheard.

Of course, that might have had something to do with the day that she’d thrown an encyclopedia at Rory when he’d walked in at the worst possible moment. He’d had the bruise for weeks.

I slumped into my usual chair with a heavy sigh and watched her as she flipped open the book to the first few pages. “He’s taking Thom with him.”

She glanced up from the book, pen poised over the legal pad next to it. “Thom didn’t mention anything like that to you, did he?”

“Bingo.”

Neve shook her head. “I thought that you agreed that you two wouldn’t do that to each other.”

“We usually don’t.” I scrubbed my hand over my face. “I’m sure he was just waiting for the best moment to tell me.”

“Which I’m sure would be right before they left when you had absolutely no time to stop them.”

I smiled ruefully. “I wish you weren’t right about that.”

She shrugged and grinned back. “I think we’re starting to know each other’s significant others pretty well at this point.”

“We do,” I agreed, then sighed again. “What are we going to do, Neve? Neither of us want them going.”

“There’s no talking them out of it?”

“Hell no,” I said. “Not unless something catastrophic happens, and none of us want that.”

She nodded emphatically. “That’s the last thing we need right now.”

Something exploded outside.

It was as if the fates had overheard and decided to screw us once again.

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