Page 55 of Textbook Defense

“Feeling a little bit like chopped liver here,” Rowan muttered on her other side, and Jordy looked up at him with a grin.

They had opted out of a full guided tour, both because Jordy had obligations later and because a six-year-old’s attention span could only stretch so far. Instead, they hit the highlights. After the reading room, they went straight down to the Children’s Center to see the Winnie-the-Pooh exhibit, where Rowan made sad noises about his country’s cultural heritage being stolen by the New York Public Library.

Jordy raised a pointed eyebrow and Rowan, without missing a beat, said, “Well, what goes around comes around. Colonize the colonizers.”

Kaira didn’t get the joke, but she laughed at his tone anyway and then begged for a trip to the gift shop.

Asifthey were skipping that. What was the point of making his salary if he couldn’t spend an absurd amount of money in a library gift shop?

Of course, he didn’t want his kid to get spoiled, sosomeof the things he was going to buy would have to be for later. Maybe a happy-first-day-of-school gift for next month?

“You can haveonestuffed animal,” Jordy said firmly. He would not be swayed by Kaira’s puppy-dog eyes or the way she looked back and forth between Piglet and Eeyore.

Finally she sighed and put Eeyore back, “Because Piglet looks kind of like an armadildo, Daddy.”

That was Clem’s fault. She’d never had any trouble pronouncing it before.

A woman browsing the stuffies next to them valiantly choked back a laugh.

“Good choice,” Jordy said seriously. “You can pick out two books, okay? Do you want to go look at those next?”

When she nodded, Jordy looked over at Rowan. “Can you take her?” He glanced at Eeyore, knowing Rowan would understand the assignment.

Rowan saluted. “Meet you at the kids’ books.”

Jordy only meant to buy Eeyore, which he easily could’ve hidden away somewhere—the stuffed animal wasn’t that big. But somehow by the time he reached the checkout he’d also picked up a Winnie-the-Pooh tote bag for future library trips. Then, when he was about to pay, his eye caught on the display of Hundred-Acre Wood throw blankets behind the counter, and he thought about Rowan’s penchant for curling up on the couch while they watchedCSI: Toronto.

Sooner or later Rowan would move out. Did he have a throw blanket of his own? Jordy didn’t know how bad the black mold situation in his apartment had gotten. Maybe he’d had to throw some things away.

A good friend would get him a housewarming gift, right? Jordy would hate for Rowan to get cold in the evenings with no one’s leg to stick his feet under.

Jordy added the blanket to his purchase, paid, and was wondering how to be subtle about it when Rowan appeared at his elbow with Kaira on his other side. “I’ve got this if you can cover me for five minutes after?”

Jordy didn’t ask questions, just handed him the bag. Rowan didn’t have to know the blanket was for him.

Last stop was the café, where they grabbed a snack for Kaira and caffeine for the adults and Jordy sneaked a peek in Rowan’s bag. Gift editions ofAlice in WonderlandandThrough the Looking Glass—beautiful, but maybe not enough pictures for a six-year-old. Jordy wondered if he collected them for himself.

He was clearing away their tray when he almost ran into the woman from the armadildo incident. “Sorry,” he said automatically as he sidestepped so she could go first.

He thought she’d ignore him—that happened in New York, where sometimes ignoring people in your space was the politest thing you could do—but instead she smiled. “You’re fine. It’s good to see a young family out enjoying the library. Looks like you’re having a great time.”

“We are.” He laughed at himself a little. “Although the two of them more than me, I think. Kaira didn’t get her love of books from me.” Not that she got it from Rowan either, but—well, it didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to get into his complicated family dynamic with a stranger.

“Mm-hmm,” she said. “I saw you at the checkout. I think you like indulging them.”

So someone else had caught him. “I think I’ll plead the Fifth,” he said as sweetly as he could and grinned when she laughed. “You have a good day.”

Encumbered by so many bags, they opted for a cab back to the hotel, which Jordy was grateful for when, three minutes into the ride, Kaira declared she had to use the bathroom, even though he’d asked if she had to go before they left the library.

Then there was another group lunch, this time with smaller round tables instead of busy long ones that made it impossible to navigate the room. Unfortunately that meant it was more of a challenge to find three seats together and impossible to turn down an invitation from Brady Silver, the Shield’s baby-faced captain.

It wasn’t that Jordy didn’t like him. Everybody liked Brady. But he was twenty-three and married with a baby on the way, and he made Jordy feelso old.

He offered Kaira a fist-bump as she climbed into the seat beside him. “My favorite Shaw.”

“Hi, Cap!”

“And you brought a new friend.” Brady smiled his golden-retriever smile at Rowan and stood up to shake his hand. “Hey, I’m Brady. Everybody calls me Cap.”

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