Fuzzy Logic by Susan C. Daffron

am.”
    Joel lifted his head from her neck, looked at her face, and sighed. “Oh.”
    “Maria keeps leaving her Cosmo magazines here and I read an article about how most couples break up because of fights about money. Didn’t we just have a money fight? It seems like we did.”
    Joel propped himself up on his elbows and looked down at her face in the moonlight. “I think we had a discussion about money. Not a fight.”
    “Shouldn’t we talk about it? I don’t know why you reacted the way you did. And I don’t want to break up.”
    “I think you may be reading a lot more into one conversation than you should.”
    Kat sat up and wrapped her arms around her knees. “I don’t know. Are you an investor if you help build the kennel? Should we have contracts and legal stuff? For the business? Should I set up an LLC? I’m not sure what LLC even stands for. I guess it’s a type of corporation, right?”
    Joel sat up next to her and put his arm around her. “Okay, now you’re really over-thinking this. I said maybe you should have savings. Not that you have to become the Donald Trump of the dog-boarding world. And you know I’ll help. By the way, before you mention it again or worry about it—no, I definitely don’t want to break up.” He leaned over to kiss her for emphasis.
    Kat poked him gently in the ribs. “So does that mean you are just a cheapskate then? Because when I was kidding around about feeding me, you got all weird.”
    He tilted his head slightly. “I suppose maybe I was a little weird. I spent a lot of years taking care of my sister. Figuring out how to feed her was on my mind a lot back then.”
    Kat ran her hand through his dark blonde hair and gazed into his eyes. “I didn’t think about that. Okay. I get it.”
    He smiled. “But I still might be kind of a cheapskate, too. I had to be frugal for a long time.”
    Kat smiled in return. She had an over-active imagination sometimes and Joel’s unflappable, rational nature often had a way of calming her down. It was a relief to understand what he was thinking. Like a dark cloud had lifted. “Being frugal is great if you’re calculating how to save money on fixing the house and building the kennel. But when it comes to my birthday, you can feel free to splurge.”
    Joel gathered her up in his arms and kissed her. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Chapter 4
Research
    T he next day at the library, Jan sat at the front desk entering book data into the computer. In a way, the mindless data-entry work was soothing. It was a good thing she hadn’t drunk any wine last night. Maria had looked somewhat shredded by the time she disappeared down the stairs. But she didn’t have to return to work the next day, so presumably she could sleep it off.
    The front door of the library opened and Jan glanced up from her monitor. Michael was walking toward the desk. What was he doing here? Her heart raced and she sat up straight in her chair. She’d hoped she’d never see this guy again. So much for that idea. She hadn’t been exaggerating to Kat and Maria. He definitely was as good-looking as she remembered. Today, he was even wearing a cowboy hat, so he really did look like the Marlboro man. Maria would have had a heart attack.
    Jan smiled at the thought. “Hello, Michael. What brings you to the Alpine Grove library?”
    With an amused glint in his brown eyes, he said. “You weren’t kidding, huh? You really are the librarian here.”
    “I have no reason to lie.” She fidgeted with a pencil in her hands. He hadn’t answered her question. What was he doing here?
    “Oh, come on. People lie at weddings. They’re like high-school reunions. You think, ‘hey, I’ll never see these people again and they’ll never know I’m really a janitor in Petaluma.’”
    “I never asked you what you do. Are you a janitor in Petaluma?”
    Michael grinned. “Actually, no. I work in advertising. That’s why I’m here. My agency is shooting a commercial and I need to