That startled a laugh out of him, which made her spin around and stare at him with a look that was just as startled.

“It’s not that kind of library,” he said, looking away quickly. “It’s a private collection. Less Peppa Pig and more old, academic texts and reference materials. There are books here you can’t get anywhere else in the country. Everything is listed on the library’s website and I usually get requests for books from professors and academics. They used to come here, but once the girls arrived, that stopped. So yes, I do have to send the books in the post each time.”

“What if they get lost?” she asked, looking slightly horrified at the possibility.

“Part of my job is to digitize every book in the library so that there’s no risk of permanently losing anything. Ideally, we’d loan out that copy rather than send the actual, physical book, but legally speaking, we’re not allowed to circulate unauthorized versions.” He pointed to the three books stacked neatly beside his laptop. “And if a request comes in for a book I haven’t yet had a chance to digitize, I pause whatever I was doing before, scan the book in, and then send it off. It’s not a perfect system, but . . .” He shrugged, trailing off.

She nodded, approaching one of the bookshelves. He stood up, walked around his desk, and leaned back against it so that he could keep a wary eye on her, but she touched the books with a careful, light hand.

“You should do that more often, by the way,” she said, her eyes on the spine of the book in front of her. “It’s nice.”

“Do what?”

“Laugh.”

Jamie blinked, taken aback. He crossed his arms over his chest, suddenly not quite sure what to do with them.

But Mika didn’t seem to expect a response, and an instant later, she had vanished behind a row of bookshelves. He didn’t follow her. Instead, he looked down at Circe, who looked back at him as if to say Yes, that did just happen.

His phone chimed with a text alert, and he tugged it out of the front pocket of his jeans.

Ian had sent him a screenshot, followed by a text: He’s not budging. Dick.

Jamie, the reigning king of the school of glass half-empty, had expected no less. He pinched the bridge of his nose, blowing out an exhausted breath.

That was, of course, the moment Mika chose to reappear from between the shelves. She looked at him with a small crease between her eyebrows and said, quite gently, “Are you okay?”

He surprised himself by telling her the truth. “Some days, I think I’m too tired to keep keeping secrets.”

Jesus, what the hell was wrong with him? Why didn’t he just tell her all about his childhood while he was at it?