My main man!” Alvin shouted into the receiver. “Life treating you good down south?” Despite the static on Jeremy’s cell phone, Alvin sounded remarkably chipper. “I’m fine. I was calling to see if you’d still like to come on down and help me.”

“I’m already gathering my gear,” he answered, sounding out of breath. “Nate called me an hour ago and told me all about it. I’ll meet you at Greenleaf later tonight—Nate made the reservation. But, anyway, my flight leaves in a couple of hours. And believe me, I can’t wait. Another few days in this stuff, and I’ll go crazy.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Haven’t you been reading the papers or watching the news?”

“Of course. I’ve yet to miss an issue of the Boone Creek Weekly.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind,” Jeremy said. “It’s not important.”

“Well, anyway, it’s been an absolute blizzard since you left,” Alvin informed him. “And I mean North Pole stuff, where even Rudolph’s nose is worthless. Manhattan is practically buried. You got out of here just in time. Since you’ve left, this is the first day that flights are even close to being on schedule. I had to pull a few strings to even get the flight I did. How can you not know about this?”

As Alvin explained, Jeremy tapped his computer keys, calling up the Weather Channel on the Internet. On the national map, the Northeast was a blanket of white.

L-I-B, he thought. Who could have guessed?

“I guess I’ve been busy,” he said.

“Hiding’s more like it,” Alvin said. “But I hope she’s worth it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t bother pulling my chain. We’re friends, remember? Nate’s been in a panic because he can’t reach you, you haven’t been reading the papers, and you haven’t been watching the news. We both know what that means. You always get like this when you meet someone new.”

“Look, Alvin . . .”

“Is she pretty? I’ll bet she’s beautiful, right? You always strike gold. Makes me sick.”

Jeremy hesitated before answering, then finally gave in. If Alvin was coming down, he’d learn soon enough, anyway.

“Yeah, she’s pretty. But it’s not what you think. We’re just friends.”

“I’m sure,” he said, laughing. “But what you consider friends and what I consider friends are just a little different.”

“Not this time,” Jeremy said.

“Does she have a sister?” Alvin asked, ignoring the comment.

“No.”

“But she has friends, right? And I’m not interested in the ugly one, remember . . .”

Jeremy felt his headache coming on again, and his tone took on an edge. “I’m not in the mood for this, okay?”

Alvin paused on the other end. “Hey, what’s going on here?” he asked. “I’m just joking around.”

“Some of your jokes aren’t funny.”

“You like her, don’t you? I mean, you like her a lot.”

“I told you that we’re just friends.”

“I can’t believe this. You’re falling in love.”

“No,” Jeremy said.

“Hey, pal, I know you, so don’t try to deny it. And I think that’s great. Weird but great. But unfortunately, I have to cut this short if I’m going to catch my flight. Traffic is miserable, as you can probably imagine. But I can’t wait to see the woman who finally tamed you.”

“She didn’t tame me,” Jeremy protested. “Why aren’t you listening to me?”

“I am listening,” he said. “I just hear the things you’re not saying.”

“Yeah, whatever. When will you be here?”

“I’m guessing around seven tonight. I’ll see you then. And, by the way, say hello from me, okay? Tell her I’m dying to meet her and her friend . . .”

Jeremy ended the call before Alvin had a chance to finish, and, as if to underscore the point, he shoved his phone back into his pocket.

No wonder he’d been keeping it turned off. It must have been a subconscious decision, one based on the fact that both his friends had a tendency to be irritating at times. First, there was Nate the Energizer Bunny and his never-ending search for fame. And now this.

Alvin didn’t have a clue as to what he was talking about. They may have been friends, they may have spent a lot of Friday nights staring at women over beers, they may have talked about life for hours, and deep down, Alvin may have honestly believed that he was right. But he wasn’t, simply because he couldn’t be.

The facts, after all, spoke for themselves. For one thing, Jeremy hadn’t loved a woman in years, and though it had been a long time, he could still remember how he’d felt back then. He was certain that he would have recognized the feeling again, and frankly, he didn’t. And in light of the fact that he’d just met the woman, the whole idea seemed preposterous. Even his highly emotional Italian mother didn’t believe that true love could blossom overnight. Like his brothers and sisters-in-law, she wanted nothing more for him than to marry and start a family, but if he showed up at her doorstep and said that he’d met someone two days ago and knew she was the one for him, his mother would smack him with a broom, curse in Italian, and drag him to church, sure that he had some serious sins that needed confessing.

His mother knew men. She’d married one, raised six boys, and was sure she’d seen it all. She knew exactly how men tended to think when it came to women, and although she relied on common sense instead of science, she was completely accurate in her judgment that love wasn’t possible in just a couple of days. Love could be set in motion quickly, but true love needed time to grow into something strong and enduring. Love was, above all, about commitment and dedication and a belief that spending years with a certain person would create something greater than the sum of what the two could accomplish separately. Only time, however, could show whether you’d been accurate in your judgment.

Lust, meanwhile, could happen almost instantly, and that’s why his mother would have smacked him. To her, the description of lust was simple: two people learn they’re compatible, attraction grows, and the ancient instinct to preserve the species kicks in. All of which meant that while lust was a possibility, he couldn’t love Lexie.

So there it was. Case closed. Alvin was wrong, Jeremy was right, and once again, the truth had set him free.

He smiled with satisfaction for a moment before his brow began to wrinkle.

And yet . . .

Well, the thing was, it didn’t quite feel like lust, either. Not this morning, anyway. Because even more than wanting to hold her or kiss her, he simply ached to see her again. To spend time with her. To talk to her. He wanted to watch her roll her eyes when he said something ridiculous, he wanted to feel her hand on his arm like the day before. He wanted to watch her nervously tuck strands of hair behind her ear, and listen as she told him about her childhood. He wanted to ask her about her dreams and hopes for the future, to know her secrets.

But that wasn’t the strange part. The strange part was that he couldn’t perceive an ulterior motive for his impulses. Granted, he wouldn’t say no if she wanted to sleep with him, but even if she didn’t, just spending time with her would be enough for now.

Deep down, he simply lacked an ulterior motive. He’d already made the decision that he would never again put Lexie in the position he had the night before. It had taken a lot of courage, he thought, to say what she had. More courage than he had. After all, in the two days they’d seen each other, he hadn’t even been able to tell her that he’d been married before.

But if it couldn’t be love and it didn’t feel like lust, what was it? Like? Did he like her? Of course, he did, but that word didn’t quite capture his feelings, either. It was a little too . . . vague and soft around the edges. People liked ice cream. People liked to watch television. It meant nothing, and it didn’t come close to explaining why, for the first time, he felt the urge to tell someone else the truth about his divorce. His brothers didn’t know the truth, nor did his parents. But, for whatever reason, he couldn’t shake the realization that he wanted Lexie to know; and right now she was nowhere to be found.

Two minutes later, Jeremy’s phone rang, and he recognized the number on the screen of his cell phone. Though not in the mood, he knew he had to answer, or the man would probably burst an artery.

“Hey there,” Jeremy said. “What’s happening?”

“Jeremy!” Nate shouted. Through the static, Jeremy could barely hear him. “Great news! You can’t believe how busy I’ve been.

It’s been a madhouse! We’ve got a conference call with ABC at

two o’clock!”

“Great,” he said.

“Hold on. I can’t hear you. This reception is terrible.”

“Sorry . . .”

“Jeremy! Are you still there? You’re breaking up!”

“Yeah, Nate, I’m here . . .”

“Jeremy?” Nate shouted, oblivious to his answer. “Listen, if you can still hear me, you’ve got to use a public phone and call me here. At two o’clock! Your career depends on this! Your entire future depends on this!”

“Yeah, I got it.”

“Oh, this is ridiculous,” he said, almost as if talking to himself. “I can’t hear a thing you’re saying. Hit a button if you caught everything I’m saying.”

Jeremy pressed the 6.

“Great! Fantastic! Two o’clock! And be yourself! Except for the sarcastic part, I mean. These people seem pretty uptight . . .”

Jeremy hung up the phone, wondering how long it would take for Nate to realize that he wasn’t on the line anymore.

Jeremy waited. Then waited some more.

He paced the library, he wandered past Lexie’s office, he peeked out the window for signs of her car, feeling a growing sense of uneasiness as the minutes ticked by. It was just a hunch, but nothing about her absence this morning seemed right. Nonetheless, he did his best to convince himself otherwise. He told himself that she would come in eventually, and later he’d probably laugh about his ridiculous feelings. Still, now that he was finished with his research—other than possibly finding anecdotes in some of the diaries, which he hadn’t finished going through yet—he wasn’t sure what to do next.

Greenleaf was out—he didn’t want to spend any more time there than he had to, even though he was beginning to like the towel hangers. Alvin wouldn’t be here until the evening, and the last thing he wanted was to wander around town, where he might be corralled by Mayor Gherkin. Nor did he want to hang around the library all day.

He really wished Lexie had been a bit more specific in her note about when she might show up. Or even where she’d gone. He couldn’t make sense of the note even after reading it a third time. Had the lack of detail been inadvertent or something she’d done on purpose? Neither possibility made him feel any better. He had to get out of here; it was hard not to think the worst.

After gathering his things, he went downstairs and paused at the reception desk. The elderly volunteer was buried in a book. Standing before her, he cleared his throat. When she looked up, she beamed. “Well, Mr. Marsh!” she said. “I saw you come in earlier, but you looked preoccupied, so I just let you go. What can I do for you?”

Jeremy adjusted the notes beneath his arm, attempting to sound as casual as he could.

“Do you know where Ms. Darnell is? I got a note that said that she was out, and I was just wondering when she might be coming in.”

“That’s funny,” she said, “she was here when I came in.” She checked the calendar on her desk. “She doesn’t have any meetings scheduled and I don’t see any other appointments. Have you checked her office? Maybe she’s locked herself in. She does that quite a bit when the work starts piling up.”

“I have,&rd............