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her head and walked past him along the hall to her office. "You weren't wrong. We didn't discuss the tour at all."

"What did you discuss, then?" Chris asked, following her.

Kate set her briefcase on her desk. She stared down at it silently. Then, instead of answering, she asked, "Chris, if you could live forever, would you?"

He gave a bark of laughter. "Shit, no! Live forever and have authors chasing me for eternity? Dear God, you'll give me nightmares."

Kate smiled at the exaggerated horror on his face, but said, "I'm serious, C.K. Say you didn't have to deal with writers anymore. You could live somewhere else, with someone you love very much. You would have money, love, live forever and never age."

"What's the catch?" he asked with the cynicism she expected.

"The catch would be that, because you didn't age, you would have to give up your family and friends and disappear from their lives forever. To have your one passionate, almost all consuming love, you would eventually have to give up many people you love."

Chris whistled softly. "That's a tough one." He thought about it briefly, then said, "Well, I guess it would depend upon how much I loved her. I mean, family are special, but they have family of their own."

Kate frowned. "What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "Well, couples have kids who grow up, fall in love, move away and have kids and a family life of their own. The original family are still important to them, but their own children become a priority. When push comes to shove, their own family comes first."

"Yes, but"

"Is this character a man or a woman?" Chris interrupted. Kate blinked.

"What?"

"The character? I presume you're fretting over the plot of a book, yes?"

Kate hesitated, then nodded. She could hardly tell him that it was real life. He'd think her nuts, she'd gone off her cracker. "A woman."

Chris nodded. "That makes it easier, then."

"It does?"

"Sure. Women have been faced with this decision down through ages. From medieval times on, they grew up, married and moved away, usually far enough that they didn't see their family ever again," he pointed out. "After all, it wasn't as if they could hop a plane."

"No," Kate agreed slowly.

"Heck, you even faced a similar choice when you came here to work. You left your family in Nebraska."

Kate frowned. "That's different. They're there if I need them. It isn't like I will never see them again."

"Well, they'll still be there for this character, too. It isn't like they will die when she disappears from their lives. She could probably see them from a distance, keep tabs on them. And if there was an emergency, and she really had to, she could probably approach them in the future. Somehow."

Kate nodded slowly. She hadn't thought of that. She might not be able to speak to them but"

"Is this a modern book or an historical like his first?" Chris asked.

Kate hesitated. He obviously thought she was concerned about Lucern's latest book. "Modern," she said at last, leaving him his delusion.

"Hmm, that makes it a bit harder," he decided.

"Why?" Kate asked.

"Well if it was a medieval like his first one, the heroine could move away and still correspond with her family. They would never know she wasn't aging. But nowadays, it would be hard to move somewhere that wasn't a flight away."

That might work, Kate thought to herself. She smiled at him. "You're pretty good with plot devices, my friend."

"That's why they pay me the big bucks." He gave her a wink.

Kate laughed. None of them got paid big bucks. They were underpaid, overworked and stressed most of the time. And she had moved all the way from Nebraska to do it. They were all insane, she thought with a shake of the head. But they loved books. She picked up her briefcase and headed for the door.

"Where are you going now?" Chris asked with interest. He fell into step beside her.

"Home to bed. I need more sleep before I can consider your suggestions properly."

Kate slept long and hard, mostly because she was sure there was an answer to her problem in what Chris had said. If she could just think clearly, she would find it. That belief eased the ache in her heart and gave her some hope for a possible future with Lucern.

It was mid-afternoon when Kate awoke to the sound of knocking on her door. Stumbling sleepily out of bed, she dragged her fuzzy pink robe and pink bunny slippers on over her