Page 8 of TBR: Dead But Well Read

It would’ve been a whole lot easier to follow my advice if he hadn’t been so dang yummy.

Shaking my head, I resolutely pushed the naughty images running through my brain into a box and locked them away. I didn’t throw the key away, though. Who knew when a girl might have needed some inspiration for her spank bank?

“I’m telling you, I feel perfectly fine!” Bertha’s loud huff brought my attention back to the melodrama playing out in front of me.

“Bertha, I appreciate how hard you work for us here at the library. I’d rather you take a few days off, than risking you having a breakdown. We all need a little R&R from time to time. There’s no shame in it.” The manager’s voice was gentle but firm, and I couldn’t help but grin.

Once the director made up her mind, there was no undoing it. Bertha would be taking a vacation whether she wanted to or not.

That meant Wasabi was safe from exterminators until she returned. And even then, I doubted Bertha would be so quick to bring up the topic of rats to the manager for fear it would only help to usher her into early retirement.

Wonderful! With that distraction out of the way, I could get back to tackling my TBR list.

The whoosh of the library’s main door opening caught my attention, and I turned to find Tim, the delivery driver, carrying several boxes.

The library had received a large donation, and the funds had been earmarked for purchasing new books. Using my computerskills, I’d managed to add a few novels to the list before the director had placed the order.

Waiting for them to arrive had been more painful than my death. I rushed to Tim’s side, practically dancing around him in unbridled glee.

“Hi, Tim!” Tilly called out, appearing from between two shelves and hurrying toward the counter.

“Well, hello there, Miss Tilly.” Tim huffed, dropping the stack of boxes on the counter. He shivered. “It’s cold in here today.”

Tilly clicked her tongue against her teeth and shook her head. “Yes, we’ve been dealing with a draft in here for the past few years, but no one has been able to figure out where it’s coming from.”

Grabbing a small handheld device from his belt, he began scanning the packages. “Probably just an old building thing.”

I rolled my eyes and took a step away from Tim. The cold had nothing to do with the library being old and everything to do with it being haunted…by yours truly.

Right after my death, I’d haunted the one bookstore in town, but it hadn’t worked out. The constant chimes from the cash register and the beeps of the credit card machine had nearly driven me to become a screaming banshee. Although, by far, the worst part had been the aromatic scent of coffee that wafted through the bookstore from the tiny cafe setup in the corner of the shop.

Coffee was one of the only things I missed about being alive, and I decided for everyone’s wellbeing, I needed to find somewhere quieter to spend the rest of eternity. Otherwise, I might’ve tried my hand at possessing someone’s body just so I could taste the caffeinated nectar of the gods one more time.

I was much happier spending my days and nights inside the quiet library, even though it meant I sometimes had towait many months for new releases to make their way into the collection.

As Tilly and Tim continued sharing small talk, I shifted impatiently from one foot to the other.

“Come on,” I whined. “Just admit you have the hots for each other so we can get this show on the road. There’s a book in that box that I’d like to read before I die of anticipation!”

They didn’t respond, not that I’d expected them to since they couldn’t hear me. Sadly, I was forced to endure their awkward attempts at flirting for another ten minutes before Tim tipped his hat and headed out the door.

“Finally!” I sagged onto the counter in relief.

Tilly added to my agony by taking a full five minutes to find her preferred box cutter, but at last, she sliced the tape on the first box. I watched with bated breath as she lifted one book after another from the box and set them on the counter. She had removed half the books from the box when I spotted the book I’d desperately been waiting on.

The latest release from none other than Raven Kennedy.

“Finally!” I squealed, fighting the urge to snatch the book from Tilly’s hands.

The library already had one librarian on a mental health leave. If Tilly started screaming about ghosts and floating books, we’d be down another one.

I clenched my fists at my side and stared longingly as she laid the book on the counter. But the moment she turned to put the empty cardboard box on the floor, my self-control snapped and I snatched the book. Laughing maniacally, I clutched my treasure to my chest and darted toward the archive room.

There were only two guests in the library at that early hour, but I wasn’t worried about them spotting me. I was moving at a pace the human eye couldn’t track.

My speed was a ghost perk that was thoroughly wasted on me. I could count on one hand the number of times I’d run since my death… which was exactly never.

Even when I’d still been among the living, I hadn’t been fond of running. And the last time I’d attempted to run, I’d ended up dead, so look where it had gotten me. But a new book by my favorite author was worth the risk.

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