He absolutely adored her. She was so adorable even when she was awake. Right now, she slept.
“I’m surprised you haven’t asked to walk up and down the town square carrying her,” Eliza said. “Women would be all over you.”
“I wouldn’t use my niece in such a way.” He pressed a kiss to her head.
“Yeah, as if that boy needs any encouragement with those women. If I was ten years younger, I’d have myself a toy boy,” Aunt Betty said.
Caleb winked at the older woman, and everyone laughed. Eliza, of course, groaned.
“You have to do it, don’t you?” Eliza asked.
“I can’t help it.”
“Where’s Lilly?” Caleb asked, changing the conversation.
The kitchen went silent, and he glanced up.
“What?”
“Lilly didn’t want to come. I think she likes her Sunday mornings in front of that laptop of hers. It’s the only day she doesn’t work her ass off. I can’t believe how much she works. Nearly twenty-three years old, she doesn’t date, but she works.”
“Speaking of nearing twenty-three,” Jane said. “How about we throw her a birthday party?”
Aunt Betty smiled. “You know, I think that would cheer the girl up. Just the other day I asked her what she wanted, and she told me not to worry. She didn’t celebrate her birthday. Her mother has never gotten her a birthday cake. There were presents for a short time, but nothing to really make her birthday pop.”
“Then we’ve got to get her here. I’ll make a cake from scratch. You can do some flowers, Betty. We can allow that girl to have a birthday surrounded by all of us,” Jane said.
“We can get gifts,” Rome said. “Do we know what she likes?”
They turned toward Eliza.
“Nope, don’t look at me. When I babysat for her, she loved to study and read. She was always a hard worker. That’s about as much as I know when it comes to her.”
Caleb didn’t like that, but he was determined to find out everything he could about her. It wasn’t like it was a challenge. He spent most of his days thinking about her, wondering what she was doing. She was an obsession.
What Betty had said surprised him. “She doesn’t date?” Caleb asked, drawing the attention back toward him. “What? I’m only asking in case we need to invite him.”
Betty chuckled. “No, she doesn’t date. Never been on a single one.”
Chapter Two
Lilly slid the history books back into the right selection. Some people had amazing taste when it came to the books they picked out. She loved this part of the job, taking all the books that had been returned and placing them back on their shelf. She stroked the spine and then saw there was one on the occult.
She loved to learn.
Moving toward their spiritual section, she found the place among the real ghost stories and hauntings. She put the book right back in. Her trolley now empty, she made her way back downstairs, putting it near the reception desk and seeing a small pile of books already waiting.
She lined them up neatly on the trolley and served a customer who was checking out three romance novels.
Once she was done, she stood and waited, keeping an eye on everyone. They were due a small delivery of brand-new books.
They didn’t buy them often, but with the small investment, they tried to keep the library as modern as possible.
She loved this place. The smell of old musty books as well as the fresh scent of new ones. They were a comfort to her.
Lilly served two more customers, and when it came to the third one in line, she looked into Caleb’s smiling face.
“Hi,” she said, smiling right back at him.
“Hey, beautiful. So, this is where you escape to during the day.”
“I don’t escape anywhere. It’s nice though. Peaceful. Are you meeting a hookup here? No making out in the shelves.”
Caleb frowned. “No. No women. I came looking for you.”
“For me?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, okay. Is everything okay? Aunt Betty? Eliza? Darla?”
“They’re all fine. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
She nodded, tucking some hair behind her ear. She usually wore her unruly hair in a tight ponytail, but today, she’d decided to let it out. “What would you like? A tour?”
“I was … I would like to take you out to dinner.”
“Dinner?”
“Yes. It’s nearly closing, and it’s late, and I could eat. I was passing the library and figured it was rude not to invite you to come and eat. Would you like to eat with me?”
Lilly stared at him with a frown. “Don’t you have a date?”
“No date. Just you and me, some food. If you don’t want to, I’m sorry for asking.” He took a step back.
“Yes, I’d love to have some food. Aunt Betty’s busy tonight and she told me to fend for myself. I’d love to have some food.” She didn’t like to splurge on the extra expense, but the diner was affordable. “Would you like me to meet you there?”