The library smelled like old paper, dust, and that faint lemon polish Mrs. Okafor insisted on using every Friday. Usually I loved it. It was the kind of smell that settled my brain.
Today it did absolutely nothing.
I stood in the 809 section pretending to search for a book while my fingers drifted over cracked hardcovers and faded call numbers. I couldn't focus on a single title. My mind kept replaying the same moment over and over.
"Instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it."
Zane hadn't recited the line like he was trying to impress me. He'd said it softly, almost absentmindedly, eyes on the closed cover of the poetry book, like the words had lived inside him for years.
That was the part I couldn't shake.
It wasn't surprising that he read Mary Oliv
