Free Always (Spiral of Bliss #5) by Nina Lane

heating the air enough that people are shedding their coats. I spend the morning talking to students, answering administrative emails, and preparing for my classes.
    At eleven, I gather my notes for a seminar course and manage to focus for an hour and a half on discussing
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
with my students. Afterward, I stop at the main office to check my department mailbox.
    “Hi, Dean.” Grace, the administrative assistant, gestures to a package on her desk. “That just came from your publisher. Looks like it might be edits for your book.”
    “Great, thanks.” I pick up the package and take a few envelopes from my mailbox.
    I tuck the mail under my arm and switch my phone back on to check my messages. There’s a voicemail from Liv.
    My heart stutters. She never calls me when she knows I’m in a lecture or seminar.
    I access voicemail. My heart pounds harder.
    “Hi, it’s me.” Her voice is calm, but tense. “I just wanted to tell you that Dr. Nolan called and asked me to come in to her office. The appointment is at one. I know you have a lecture at one-thirty, but… well, I wanted to let you know. I’m heading over there now. I love you.”
    I hit the call button with a shaking hand. Liv’s phone goes to voicemail, which probably means she’s driving. I look at the clock. It’s twenty to one.
    “Dean?” Grace is looking at me with concern. “You okay?”
    “Yeah.” I shove the mail back into the box and cross the room to Frances’s office. “Is she in?”
    Grace nods. I knock on the closed door and push it open when Frances calls for me to come in. She’s at her computer, and she pauses to peer at me over the tops of her glasses.
    “Frances.” I’m gripping the phone so hard my fingers hurt. I don’t even know what to tell her. No one knows about this. “I’m… uh, I need to go.”
    She blinks. “Go? Don’t you have a lecture?”
    “Yeah, but I’m…” I stop and clear my throat, realizing that I’ve never said the words aloud. “Liv is… she has a lump in her breast.”
    “Oh, no.” Frances stares at me, her hand going to her chest.
    “She had a biopsy last week, and the doctor just called with the results.” The words come tumbling out in a sudden, hard rush. “She has an appointment at one, and I… I have to go.”
    “Of course.” Frances rises from behind her desk and approaches me, lines of worry creasing her forehead. “Do you know what the results are?”
    “Not yet. My lecture…”
    “I’ll take care of it. Where are your notes?”
    “On my desk.”
    “Okay, go on.” Frances pats my arm and walks with me to the door. “Stay positive, Dean. I’ll be hoping for the best.”
    I know I don’t have to ask her to keep this to herself. I run to my office to get my car keys and briefcase. Outside, the sun is blinding, the campus swarming with students going to and from class. It all looks painfully normal, but the raw terror snaking through me is anything but normal.
    I struggle to drive safely, tearing through a couple of red lights at the last minute and speeding down the highway to Forest Grove. By the time I pull into the parking lot of the doctor’s office, my heart is hammering and I’m almost out of breath. I hurry into the front door and veer toward the waiting room.
    I stop. Liv is sitting near the windows, her head bent as she leafs through a magazine. For a second, I let the sight of her calm my fear. She’s wearing a plaid wool skirt and white shirt, with the length of her hair pulled back by a headband.
    As if sensing my presence, she lifts her head and looks in my direction. Our gazes meet with a tangible force. She smiles—nervous but relieved. I approach her, reaching out to brush my fingers through the thick length of her hair.
    “Hey, beauty.”
    She squeezes my hand, twining her fingers through mine as I sit beside her. The scent of peaches fills the air.
    “I’m glad you made it.” Liv rests her head against my shoulder. “I