I thought I should make sure I didn’t have mail or messages pending, but what was waiting for me was Olivia Sterling.She was plopped on the creaking wooden floor of my historic building right outside my office door, doing split stretches, but she bounced up as she caught sight of me, wincing slightly as she put her weight back on her feet. “Ms. Blaine, I’m so sorry—I should have called, I know, and I was going to, but I had the chance and I just dropped in. I was going to leave soon, but I thought I could wait just another minute and—”She was so preoccupied by her story that she didn’t seem to notice I was wet. I put my free hand up between us to stem the fast flow of her words. “It’s all right, Olivia. You don’t have to excuse your presence and you don’t have to tell me everything in five seconds or less. Slow down.”She caught her breath, nodding and sending her long blond ponytail bobbing and swaying, leaving trails of color and mist on my Grey vision. “You asked me to call, but I couldn’t,”
