“Well, I’m not so nervous today. I mean, I was yesterday. After you got off the bus, I kind of had a freak-out so I called Merry and she talked me down.”

“She’s a good friend,” I prompted, hoping he’d say more but not wanting to push.

“She’s the best. She knows how to deal with me.”

“Which is…?”

“Well, that depends. She either tells me to pull my head out of my arse and stop being such a dick, or she talks me back from the ledge. It totally depends on what I need more, which she seems to know better than me. And I work at the library.”

I nodded slowly. “That would explain the knowledge of books.”

He smiled. “It would.”

“I’ve never been to the library here. I have no excuse. I’ve been here for six months.”

“You should come by one day,” he said, blushing a little. “I could show you around. It’s really so much more than just a library.”

“I’d like that.”

The barista delivered our drinks, and Jordan thanked her with a grin, his unrestrained grin. I kinda got the feeling that Jordan had two settings for nervous. One being where he was nervous, yes, but felt comfortable enough to ramble wildly. The second kind was him being nervous but not comfortable enough to ramble. He had his guard up today, and that saddened me a little. I wanted the relaxed, comfortable, rambling Jordan. Not someone who felt they couldn’t be themselves.

I was going to ask if he wanted to leave, but he narrowed his eyes at me, a puzzled, thoughtful look to his face. “Can I ask what you do for a living? I mean if you can tell me.”

“If I can tell you?”

“Well, yes. I might have searched online for you,” he said, cringing. “For my safety, of course. I mean, I don’t just meet anyone for coffee without at least trying to find out something. I don’t even know your last name let alone what you do for a living. But I searched the name Hennessy because seriously, just how common a first name is it? So I googled, and I have to admit, I have admirable internet skills.”

I smiled at him because here was the nervous rambling. “Admirable internet skills?”