Page 29 of The Luminosity of Loriana Harper

Glad to see some things never change.

She adored the little one—another faithful attendee of the Toddlers and Books program. As she rose, she hesitated.

“Hello, Marnie.” Rusty’s voice was quiet. Almost shy.

If he wasn’t a married man, Loriana’d be encouraging him to ask Marnie out.

“Hello, Rusty.” Her demeanor was as open with him as it was with any man. She guarded herself carefully, but opened up that façade just a crack.

She had with Mitch as well, much to Loriana’s delight.

Justin waved to Rusty and then to the entire group. “Time for us to be off.”

“Us as well,” Ravi chimed in. “Victor’s going to wake up cranky, and Violet’s going to want to go to sleep on the ride home, and that’ll be an unmitigated disaster.”

A disaster Loriana occasionally envied, but mostly found relief she didn’t have to deal with those problems herself. She waved as the four men took off, their children in tow.

“We’re parked at the library. Might we walk you back?” Rusty’s words were again quiet, and his attention mostly focused on Marnie.

“That’d be lovely.” Loriana patted him on the back. “Then we’re headed to my place for hot chocolate. Would you like to come with us?”

Rusty’s look of indecision, with the littlevbetween his eyebrows, was adorable.

“We’d love to.” He glanced down at Mira. “But my wife’s not well tonight, and I don’t want to leave her alone too long.”

“Ah well, I understand.” She refrained from repeating Deanne’s concern.

None of my business.

Yes, but not sticking her nose into it proved difficult.

The four of them set off toward the library. Rusty, pushing the stroller, accompanied Marnie. Loriana, Mitch, and the wagon took up the rear. She wanted to say something, but words weren’t coming. Instead, she let the silence linger.

Marnie and Rusty spoke, but Loriana couldn’t hear the words over the conversations others were having.

The crowd on First Avenue had dispersed, but many people had parked on Second, and the library lot was quite full as well.

When they arrived at the library, Rusty bade them farewell and headed to his SUV.

After Loriana unlocked the door, she, Mitch, and Marnie made their way inside.

Although the heat was lower at night when the library was empty, it was still much warmer than outside.

Marnie stomped her boots. “Okay, it’s cold out.” She gazed out the window. “I’m glad the snow didn’t come, because it’d make the roads messy, but it would’ve been nice for the kids.”

Loriana agreed—with both sentiments. “I’m going to put this wagon in the storage room.” She pivoted to Marnie and Mitch. “Use the facilities if you need to, or you can at my house.” Probably a little too bossy, but sometimes she couldn’t help herself. She disappeared with the wagon and returned five minutes later to find Marnie alone. She cocked her head.

Her co-worker shrugged. “He said something about removing his long johns and asked if I had a bag. I gave him one of the cloth ones.”

Even as she finished speaking, Mitch reappeared. Carrying a cloth bag.

Loriana nudged him. “I think I would’ve liked to see your long johns.”

This time, without question, he blushed. His dark skin pinkened, then he cleared his throat and held up the bag. “Really nothing to see. Stereotypically Canadian—red thermal.”

Adorable.

“Well, you’ll have to show them to me some other time.” She indicated to Marnie. “You ready to go?”

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