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back to my car it was twilight. I paused to inhale one last breath of autumn, and to gaze at Venus blazing above the escarpment in a sky of deep, glowing blue.
    I’d satisfied my itch for the outdoors, but I had even more questions now. Who was Caeran’s look-alike, and why was he so unfriendly? He’d radiated “leave me alone” vibes. Most people who hiked in the bosque were pretty outgoing, but then, he wasn’t from around here.
    I drove back to campus, musing about having met not one, but two drop-dead gorgeous strangers in one day. Weird that I had run into the second one, but then, Caeran had said they were interested in fall color, so the bosque wasn’t an unlikely place for them to go. I hadn’t been thinking about that when I decided to go there—at least, not consciously.
    I wondered if it was just the two of them in town, or if there were more. The actor scenario seemed less and less likely.
    Maybe they were staying at one of the B&B’s in the area. That would make a kind of sense, except why had Caeran taken a bus instead of a rental car?
    Or could be they were visiting friends … but that felt unlikely. A local friend would have told Caeran what to expect at the university’s library, would have given him a ride. No, the more I thought about it, the more Caeran struck me as someone finding his way through a culture that was foreign to him.
    And that might explain his family member’s unfriendliness. Fish out of water, instinctively defensive. Made sense.
    Back at the dorm, I took a long, hot shower. I didn’t feel like going out again for a movie, so I worked on a paper that was due the next week, then read until it was late enough to try to sleep.
    Caeran dominated my thoughts as soon as my head hit the pillow. I let myself daydream about him, hoping to fall asleep. It took a while, and the fantasies got elaborate and a little far-fetched, before my brain finally gave it up.
    I dreamed about him, or maybe my memory got fuzzed with the daydreams. At any rate, when I woke up I was clutching my pillow. I got up, ate a carton of yogurt, went to my early class, then headed back to the library for my shift.
    Amanda didn’t work Thursdays, so again I had no one to talk to. The first couple of hours were busy, though—lots of folks in on their lunch hours.
    I hoped Caeran was going to show up, but if he didn’t, I’d look through the book and try to figure out what he was after. I might have to resort to a Spanish dictionary. There was probably one in the Wesley Collection that I could use.
    I did better at not looking at the clock, but I was still antsy the last hour of my shift. There was a real chance that Caeran wouldn’t come back. He hadn’t said for sure that he would. I kept telling myself that, trying to stay cool, but my brain was already picturing us sitting together.
    I tried pretending he had said he wouldn’t be returning. That sort of worked, at least so far as allowing me to appear unconcerned. I was very concerned, of course, but was able to hide it.
    I watched the digital clock on my monitor tick away the last sixty seconds of my shift. At four precisely I picked up my pack and logged out. No Dave to harass me in the break room, for which I gave silent thanks. I slung my pack over my shoulder and headed for the history display.
    Caeran was there. My heart jumped with glee. I slowed down, wanting to look at him for a moment before he noticed me.
    He was looking at a section of the display that covered the bosque. He seemed intent on it, but maybe he was just intent about everything. I remembered his look-alike from the evening before and wondered if they had talked about me.
    He sensed my presence and looked up. I smiled.
    â€œHi. Back for more?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œOK, let’s go.”
    We went up to the collection. I’d hoped we would talk in the elevator but there were some exuberant freshmen riding