Page 8 of Falling

“Well, I guess I got it because her dad assumed I was going to marry his daughter.” I shrugged.

I’d meant it about coming back here for the gnocchi. The library backed onto the bar, so I’d have plenty of opportunity.

“And now I’m in the middle of nowhere because it was the only job I could find and I only got it because Evie knew a guy who knew a guy, and I’m an academic librarian, I have no idea how to run a public library. And I feel like I moved three tons of books today and I can’t even go home and have a hot shower because there’s no hot water in the cabin, or if there is I can’t figure it out. And there’s a draft from the bedroom window because it doesn’t close and the stove doesn’t work. There’s not a single bookshelf in the place and I have no idea where to get one and I miss my plants,” I said in a rush.

Tears pricked at my eyes. The last thing I wanted to do was cry in front of a total stranger, but this was the first time I’d let myself talk about all of it. Everything I’d lost and how much had changed for me and how not-particularly-well I was coping with it.

Maybe Booker would think I was ridiculous.

Maybe I was ridiculous.

“That’s a lot,” Booker said after a heartbeat.

A sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob escaped me. I turned my focus to the remainder of my meal, cheeks burning with embarrassment. What must he think of me? We’d known each other less than an hour at this point and here I was, pouring my heart out to him.

Booker set a thick slice of fresh, fluffy sourdough with the most perfect crust on the side of the plate. I used it to mop up what was left of the sage butter, glad to have something to put in my mouth to stop my heart from spilling out of it again.

“Okay, so,” he began once my mouth was full again. “One problem I can solve instantly is that my hot water system works, so you’re welcome to shower upstairs. The water pressure is incredible, you’ll love it.”

I looked up at him, swallowing my current mouthful while I stared.

“I’m a total stranger,” I said.

“So?” Booker shrugged. “I’m proposing to trust you with my shower, not my life.”

“Wouldn’t it be weird?” I asked. “To have a total stranger in your shower?”

“No?” Booker said, brows furrowing.

Oh, right.

Because other people hooked up all the time. He’d probably had dozens of strange men in his shower. He was attractive and funny and kind, he obviously wouldn’t have any trouble finding people who wanted…

Uh. I should maybe not have been speculating about his sex life, especially right in front of him. Not that he could hear me or anything, but it still felt impolite.

“Are you sure?” I asked, the desire to stand under a hot shower for five minutes overriding the weirdness of the situation.

“I’m sure. Finish your food and your whiskey, I’ll go set out clean towels. See if I can find you some clothes that might fit.”

I looked Booker up and down, doubtful that any clothes he owned would fit me, but nodded.

He gave me another one of those lopsided smiles, kinder than I had any right to, and backed off.

“Thank you,” I called out as he disappeared around a corner.

“Anytime.”

4

BOOKER

“I’m not denying he’s maybe the most casually beautiful man I’ve ever seen,” Seth said, getting between me and the selection of houseplants out front of the florist that all looked more or less the same to me. “I just didn’t take you for being into the tweedy little nerd type. I mean, it’s fine, it’s a good type.”

“It is just possible,” I said, checking the label on a lacy… fern, maybe? Probably a fern. I knew next to nothing about houseplants. I’d expected Seth to be more help. “That not everyone in the whole wide world fits into a neat little box. You should know that.”

I didn’t have to look at Seth to feel the raised eyebrow he was giving me.

“And I also never said he was my type,” I added. “What I said was that he’s scared and alone and he needs someone to lean on.”