Page 53 of Forget Me

“No, I—I’ll take them with me. I’m sure I can find a vase or a glass of water to park them in at the library.”

I’d definitely scored with the flowers. It gave me the courage to ask, “Can I walk you to the library?”

She tilted her head. “Actually, we could always use more volunteers. Could you stay for an hour or so and hold a shelter pet while a kid reads to you?”

“Absolutely!” Mimi was inviting me along? My grin had to be ridiculously wide. “And I’ve even been background-checked.”

“Your own cousin background-checked you before he hired you for his security team?”

He had, the asshole. Family meant nothing to him. Though since it was me, he had a point. “Yeah, and I’m clear.”

“Okay, then. Let’s go.” She turned and walked briskly down the sidewalk.

I caught her easily with my long stride. “What you do is admirable, Mimi.”

“What? You mean, being an accountant?” She eyed me sidelong. “Or spending an hour or two on a Saturday helping kids feel more confident about reading?”

“Both. I never went to college.” I’d told her that the night at the bar, but she didn’t remember. “Your career is impressive. And then to add on what you do for the foundation and other volunteer work besides, it shows your commitment.”

“Thank you.” She sniffed the flowers cradled in her arm. “Ben’s done so much more. He got into nonprofit work first. I’m just following in my little brother’s footsteps.”

“No, you’re not. You’re blazing your own trail. Your way.” She’d told me all about it that night.

She hummed, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with me.

Why didn’t she see it? “You have such drive. You can do anything you set your mind to.”

She snorted. “Anyone can do that.”

“Not anyone.” Not me. We stopped at a street crossing.

Like she’d plucked the thought out of my brain, she asked, “Why didn’t you go to college?”

“I wanted to. Had always planned to. I even had a baseball scholarship. But my father got sick my last year in high school. It had always been the two of us, you know? After my mom left.” I reached for his ring, but of course it wasn’t on my finger. I shoved my hands in my jacket pockets. “I couldn’t go to college and leave him, not after all he’d done for me. He needed help at his store. And at home when he got too sick to work. So I stayed.”

“What happened?”

The signal changed, and I stepped into the crosswalk. I’d told her all this, too, in the two hours we’d talked. But I didn’t mind repeating it. Every time I said it, it was a little easier. “He died a few years later. And his treatments were expensive. I didn’t have money for college. I was too old to play baseball by then.”

Her shoulder brushed mine. “I’m sorry. About your dad. Ben went to college as a nontraditional student, you know. You could, too.”

I shrugged. “I’m happy doing what I’m doing. I’m helping my cousin. Protecting my aunt, who always looked out for me. I don’t need college to do that.”

She side-eyed me again. But there wasn’t any judgment in her tone when she said, “I guess not.”

She stopped in front of the library. “Are you sure you want to do this? The literature isn’t exactly gripping. It’s mostly picture books.”

“Of course.”Anything for you.

Mimi helped me sign in as a volunteer, then the librarian set us up on cushions on the floor. Because Mimi was slightly less allergic to cats, we asked for a pair of them. She had a fat brown tabby named Mrs. Butternut, and they handed me a black kitten named Roger. Roger didn’t seem interested in sitting quietly beside me and purring the way Mrs. Butternut was doing with Mimi. He pawed at my hand with his tiny, sharp claws, then he sank them into my T-shirt and climbed toward my neck.

“Oh, no,” Mimi said, laughing. “He’ll shred your shirt.”

“Shred my skin, more like.” The little bastard’s claws were razors.

“Here, take this toy. I don’t think Mrs. Butternut will mind.” She handed me a plastic wand with a few feathers attached to it by a string.

As soon as I wiggled the toy, Roger pounced. I yanked it up out of his grasp, and he leaped to catch it. While we waited for a cat-loving kid to show up, I danced the feather for him, and he bounded after it again and again while Mimi uncharacteristically giggled.

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