Page 90 of The Library of Borrowed Hearts

Faced with such a question, there was no other choice. Jasper put a hand to his chest and groaned as if his every internal organ was about to explode. “I can’t… I’m not…” He pretended to falter where he stood. “My heartbeat feels faint. I think I need to sit down.”

Chloe took her lower lip between her teeth. “You poor thing,” she said in a quaking voice. “There’s no time to waste.”

With a skill borne of many years of librarian practice, she gathered the stack of books in one arm. She guided her other arm under Jasper’s elbow as if to support his tottering steps toward to the door. As soon as they felt the chilly blast of the fall air, she let go.

“Jasper, you wretch!” she said between gasps of laughter. “Gunderson has almost zero sense of humor. If he were to walk out now and see you standing on your own two feet, he’d probably fire me.”

“A guy like that?” He waved her off, his hands only slightly shaking now. The outdoors always had a calming effect on him that way. He didn’t know why he hadn’t seen the resemblance to Zach earlier. There were only a few people in the world for whom the fresh air was more balm than breath, who could find peace and serenity in an environment that was actively trying to kill you at every turn.

“He won’t touch your job without files of just cause and the full backing of the library board,” Jasper added with a grunt. “He’d be terrified of a lawsuit—or, worse, public outcry. His kind always is.”

“Huh. I never thought of it that way.”

Of course she didn’t. Chloe Sampson was in survival mode. She was so concerned with making it through each day—each week, each month—that she rarely stopped to breathe. Jasper knew because he’d done it for almost twenty years. By the time the twins had graduatedfrom college and the rest of his siblings had started to build lives of their own, Jasper had been treading water for so long that he hadn’t realized how close he was to shore.

“Jasper, I can’t take these books,” she said as they moved down the steps together. “They don’t belong to me.”

She didn’t try to help him, which he appreciated, but he was getting really tired of the books shuffling back and forth. He imagined the books were equally tired of it. They’d carried too many secrets for too long; all they wanted at this point was a place to rest their weary spines.

“Well, they don’t belong to me, either,” he said irritably. “And what’s more to the point, I don’t want them.”

As they reached the bottom of the steps, Jasper could feel the weight of Chloe’s gaze. It was heavy but not uncomfortable, like a blanket on a cold winter’s day.

“I’m sorry about Catherine,” she said. “It must be hard to see her again after all these years.”

Jasper snorted. “Losing her was hard. Believing her to be dead was hard. Watching her waltz back into my life as though the past sixty years never happened is a piece of cake compared to all that.” Something like a smile touched his lips. “It’s just like her, too. If anyone could be expected to stroll into town, with a son and a grandson and a life full of adventure behind her, it’s my Catherine. No one else would have had the nerve.”

“Wait.” Chloe’s nose wrinkled. “You mean you aren’t angry with her? You’re going to forgive her?”

His laugh was short and sharp, but not to the point of pain. Not anymore.

“I doubt she’ll ask for my forgiveness,” he said dryly. “Or, to be honest, that she even wants it. The thing you have to understand about Catherine Martin is that she’s very much like her namesake, no matter how much she might try to pretend otherwise.”

Chloe’s eyes dropped to the copy ofWuthering Heights. Without having to resort to the pages, she quoted the most apt line of all.

“‘I wish I were a girl again,’” she said, “‘half savage, and hardy, and free.’”

Jasper felt his chest grow tight. “She can pretend that she’s a grown woman now, with a family and responsibilities, but I know the truth. I always have. She’s a beautiful, entitled, cruel whirlwind of a girl, and I love her so much that nothing she says or does will ever change that. Not even death or, worse, sixty years of silence.”

Saying the words out loud seemed to give them life—and, by extension, to giveJasperlife. Chloe, however, only looked doubtful.

“I don’t understand,” she said, her brow furrowed. “Back at the house, you said that they don’t get to walk away and then come back like it doesn’t mean anything—that Catherine and my mom can’t act as though the rest of us don’t matter.”

For the first time in Jasper’s life, he found himself wishing he wasn’t such an obstinate crank of a man, and that his first reaction to pain wasn’t to lash out and inflict it in equal and opposing proportions.

“Ididsay that,” he agreed carefully. “And you have every right to question the wisdom that comes out of my mouth at this or any other time. But our situations are different, Chloe. Your brother and sister helped me see that. When Catherine left, she did it because she was trying to do the right thing, however misguided. When your mother left…”

He stopped, unsure how far he could push without making things worse. In the end, he decided there was no point.

“She wasn’t trying to do anything but make her own life easier,” he said simply. “She wasn’t thinking about anyone but herself.”

Chloe grew very still and equally quiet. “You think I should ask her to leave?”

Jasper absolutely thought that, but he’d have been damned if hewas going to tell this girl what to do. He was no more fit to provide life guidance than Theo.

“I think having her in your life would considerably ease your burdens,” he said, since it was no more than the truth. “She’s feeling enough guilt right now that you could probably ask for anything and get it. And that husband of hers seems like a decent enough guy. Money, housing, food, childcare, even a chance to go back to that college of yours…I imagine none of it is out of the question.”

“Oh,” she said. Just that—justoh—and what remained of Jasper’s resolve disappeared. He lifted the books from her hands and stooped to set them down on the nearest step. His back shifted, and he felt pretty sure his knees wouldn’t forgive him anytime soon, but he was pleased to find that he managed just fine.