Page 29 of Hit the Ground
“I did. A couple weeks ago.”
He nodded. “I noticed…that day at the diner. When you were on your date.”
I wrinkled my nose. “I remember.” That had been an incredibly awkward few hours. We’d had nothing in common, and I’d overcompensated by laughing too much. At least it had been a good lesson in what I didn’t want in a future partner.
“Right.” He rested his elbow on the shelf beside him. “It looks nice, but you didn’t need to change it.”
I stopped myself from smoothing a hand over my bouncy curls. “Iwanteda change.”
He cleared his throat. “Hope it wasn’t because of me—of what I did.”
I let out a quiet laugh, shaking my head. “No, Caleb. The changes I’ve made have nothing to do with you.”
He nodded once, then harder a second time, like my answer had really mattered. “Good. That’s good.”
“Yeah.” I exhaled slowly, unsure where to go from here. He wasn’t clueing me in. “Is there something I can help you with, or was that it?”
A faint smile curved his lips, and his eyes flicked up to mine, warmer now. “Actually, I was wondering if I could get a library card.”
That surprised me enough I almost lost my footing and stumbled into my cart again. Luckily, I caught myself on the shelf. “A library card? You don’t have one?”
He shrugged one of his massive shoulders. “Never needed one before. Jesse always checks out his own books. But there’s one I’m interested in reading, so I figure it’s time.”
“That’s a very good reason.” I smiled, and it wasn’t even wobbly. This was my territory—where I was most confident. I could handle Caleb here. “I can definitely help with that.”
I led him between the stacks and out to the main desk. Jesse watched warily as we passed, but Caleb waved, telling him everything was all right without breaking step with me.
I moved behind the desk, gesturing to the clipboard with the sign-up sheet. “Just fill out your name and address there. I’ll get you all set up.”
He picked up the pen, his big fingers dwarfing it, and bent over the paper. I tried not to watch him, but failed spectacularly. His handwriting was unexpectedly neat, almost blocklike.
“How long have you been a librarian, Alice?”
I jerked my eyes from the paper. His head was still bowed, the pen moving rapidly as he filled in the blanks.
“Since I finished my master’s degree five years ago.”
He nodded. “You need that kind of degree to do this job?”
“Not to work in a library, but to be a librarian, yes, you do.”
He finally lifted his head to eye me with interest. “You have a master’s degree and you’re still waitressing.”
“It fills my nights.” My mouth curved into a half smile. “And I don’t know if you know this, but being the head librarian in Sugar Brush isn’t exactly going to make me a millionaire.”
Though technically, I was one now. I only had to lose my entire family for that to happen.
“No, I guess not.” He shook his head. “I should have guessed it.”
“Guessed what?”
“That you were a librarian. The way you always snuck in reading a few pages between customers.”
My heart flipped. He’d noticed that…yet, he’d missed a whole lot more.
“You didn’t have to guess, Caleb.” I lifted my chin, meeting his warm gaze. “Anytime in the last four years, you could have asked.”
“Yeah.” He put down the pen and laid his big hand across the application. “I should’ve. I’m seeing that now.”
