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“She wants to get her hands on Daddy’s books,” I said.
“Someday I’ll introduce you to them, June Bug, but not today.” He pulled the flaps of the box open and removed the top books. I heard him sigh in contentment.
“These are yourfirstbabies, huh?” I asked.
Knox frowned. “Two months ago, I would’ve said yes, but now…” He looked at Juniper, love in his eyes. “There’s no comparison. These are just books. Special books. Damn good books. But just books.”
“With a bad-ass custom bookcase to call home,” I said.
“And a dragon to watch over them,” Knox said, glancing at the carving with a sparkle in his eyes.
“Just like Juniper has you. Speaking of, any luck tracking down Juniper’s mom?”
He scoffed. “She doesn’t want to be found. Once I have paperwork drawn up, I’ll hire a PI to get her to sign away her rights.”
“Do you think she will?”
“Her disappearing act says it all.”
Nodding, I sat next to him on the floor, peering down at his prized possessions. “So these are the good ones, huh?”
He took out a hardcover. “This is the first epic fantasy I ever read. My seventh grade English teacher, Mr. Crandenberry, recommended it. I’d never read anything like it. He started feeding me fantasy recommendations, and later some hard-core sci fi, and I never looked back. I’d stay after class to talk books with Mr. C.”
I could so totally imagine thirteen-year-old Knox falling in love with these books with the moody, beautifully illustrated covers. The dust jackets were nearly pristine even though the books were clearly old and well loved. “I bet you were teacher’s pet.”
Knox took three more of the thick hardcovers and shelved them on the bottom row. “He was a mentor to me, almost like a father figure. Would you believe I still went to see him when I was in high school?”
“Yes,” I said, laughing. “Easily. I’m glad you had someone like that in your life. My favorite teacher ever was Mrs. Tolbert. Third grade. She picked the best books to read out loud.”
“Mr. Dawson wasn’t your favorite, huh?” Knox asked, his tone teasing.
“Mr. Dawson,” I said with a sigh. “A lot of girls had a crush on him.”
“Should I be jealous?”
I tilted my head, shooting him a flirty look. “Nah. Math is a total turn-off. I hated trig with the heat of a thousand suns.”
“He had nice things to say about you at one of our dad nights.”
I went on alert. “You guys were talking about me? At this super-exclusive single dad party?”
“Only in terms of nannying and teaching. They all agreed you’ll be a hell of a teacher.”
“Oh. That’s nice of them.” I wasn’t quite used to people praising my plans, mainly because I hadn’t had any for so long.
“They were sincere. Both Max and Chance seem to know you pretty well.”
“I’m sure they think they do. That’s life in a small town when you’ve lived here your whole life.”
“Or had your personal business posted all over the town app,” he said good-naturedly. “It still pulls me up short when I meet someone and they know all about me and my daughter and half my life story.”
“You’ll get used to it fast. How about I take the books out and hand them to you and you can put them where you want them.”
I handed him another four books after looking at the titles. All four of these had different authors, but each one had at least one dragon on the cover. “I’m starting to see where the dragon thing came from.”
As Knox took the stack from me, his phone sounded with a message. He took it out of his pocket, read the screen, and frowned.
“Everything okay?” I asked, digging another three heavy books out.
