“Hey little brother.”
One hand on the door to The Daily Grind, Jace cursed Livia’s proclivity toward being early for everything. But he fixed a smile on his face as he turned to greet her. “Hey big sis.” He wrapped an arm around her in a hug.
“So, Mom tells me there’s a girl.”
“There’s no girl.” There wasn’t. He hadn’t even asked Tara out, so there couldn’t be a girl. Right? “How’s the library treating you?”
“Could be better. Our hours are going to be cut again. I just know it.”
Jace winced. The Wishful Public Library had been suffering from epic budget constraints the past year and a half, a reflection of Wishful’s languishing economy. Livia, the children’s librarian, had been operating at three-quarter’s salary for months. Given the salary was a pittance in the first place, that was
