Shrugging, he pushed up his glasses. “She’s fine, I guess.”
“You guess?”
“She doesn’t tell me everything, you know.”
I smiled. “I know, but I haven’t seen her for a while. Did she tell you anything exciting?” I thought he might clue in and say something about Lia’s twins. I didn’t want to rob Lia or Brandy of the opportunity of telling him the good news, but if he already knew, I wanted to celebrate with him.
Ryan pressed his lips together. Maybe he thought I didn’t know and was trying to keep Lia’s twins a secret from me.
“It’s okay,” I said, “you can tell me.”
He shook his head. “No, I better not.”
“Okay,” I agreed, letting it go.
“Mrs. Hermosa! Mrs. Hermosa!” Breaking the moment, Caleb shouted as he ran toward me, holding his favorite fantasy author’s latest book. “Why didn’t you tell me this was out? I’ve been waiting so long for a new book.”
I laughed at my sweet great-nephew. “I wanted you to find it for yourself. But let’s remember, there’s no running in the library.”
“Okay. I’m going to check out the book before anyone else can.”
“All right.”
Another student joined us, asking if he could get on the list to check out the book after Caleb.
“Absolutely,” I told him. “In the meantime, let me show you another series you might enjoy.”
After that, the rest of my day was busy with classes, individual students, and administrative work. I also spent time trying to find an author for our Meet the Author event.
Right before the last bell of the day rang, Brandy surprised me by coming into the library. “Am I interrupting?”
“Of course not. I’m glad you’re here. It feels like forever since I last saw you. What’s been going on?”
For a split second, she froze as if I’d asked something intrusive instead of just a simple question. Brandy had always been horrible at hiding her feelings.
Realizing that I was waiting for an answer, Brandy offered a smile that came nowhere close to reaching her eyes. “I’ve just been busy. Troy and I are trying to clean out the garage so we can actually park our cars in there one day. Oh, the boys started soccer. I’ll send you their game schedule as soon as I get it.”
“Wonderful.”
Sighing, she glanced around the library. “Everything looks so cute, and the chair works perfectly there. Are those the lamps that used to be in the living room when we were growing up?”
“They are.” Despite knowing she was trying to distract me, I responded to my niece’s questions and comments as though everything was fine. I’d never been good at confrontation, finding that sometimes it was better to ignore uncomfortable situations than to deal with them directly.
“I’m sure you got the message about the good news,” I said.
She stared at me blankly. “What good news?”
I glanced around the library, making sure we were alone. “About the parole board’s decision. Didn’t Troy tell you?”
“Oh, that. Yes, Troy told me.” Her response lacked any emotion, just like her husband’s had. Then again, they both were so busy with their own lives. They probably hadn’t given Eddie another thought since our return from Texas.
Still, the way she picked at her fingernail polish set me on alert. “I wish you’d tell me what’s wrong, honey.”
“Nothing’s wrong, Aunt Ruthie.” Her expression took me back in time to when she was five years old and obsessed with cutting her own hair.
She’d stood in front of me, a pair of scissors in her hand, and her bangs chopped to pieces. No, Aunt Ruthie, I didn’t cut my hair. I promise.
“Brandy, honey...” I softened my voice.