Calvin Bell liked routines.
He arrived at Holy Oak Elementary precisely at 7:23 every morning, brewed the same dark roast in the library staff room, and opened the doors to the library at 7:40 sharp. It was quiet in the morning - just him, the books, and the soft hum of the computers warming up.
Until the day Ainsley Adams barged into the library, trailing construction paper behind her like confetti.
"Help," she said dramatically, cheeks flushed, arms full of glue sticks and tissue paper. "I need to print twenty name tags, and my printer jammed and I might cry."
Calvin looked up from his cataloging spreadsheet. "Good morning to you, too."
"I've been up since three. Jeremy dropped the ball on grocery shopping. Again. So I'm literally starving. Also, do you know what it's like trying to cut out twenty butterflies when your scissors disappear?"
Calvin blinked, then smiled - just slightly.
She caught it. "Was that a smile? A real one?"
He rolled his eyes, stood up, and gestured toward the printer. "Name tags. Let's save the butterflies first."
It was the first time he made space for her.
It wouldn't be the last.