Page 146 of Checking Out the Librarian

Connor was the type of guy who did what he said he was going to do, so he’d go home to bed and Jonathan shouldn’t worry. At least, not while he had work to do. Or, at least, not to the exclusion of doing work.

He swung the carrier a tiny bit, approximating a baby swing, which he assumed baby cats would also like. Before Lily could make up some of her usual bullshit about influenza or food poisoning or whatever, Boss Becca arrived. “What is this? Another cat, or the same one?”

Their explanations sufficed, and he and Lily moved all of Kitten’s gear to the break room, then he rummaged in the bag for the makings of a bottle. The man who was so organized he slipped felt pads between his nonstick pans had sent a jumbled mess of far too much stuff with Kitten.

“I don’t understand. It looks like Connor brought everything.”

“So?”

He showed Lily the contents of the tote bag. “All the toys. And all six cans of food. We only need one here, and I have others at my place. This is Connor’s whole supply until the next box I ordered arrives.”

Lily shrugged, which meant he was worrying about nothing and should move on.

Kitten had grown bigger so quickly, and he could really smack his paws on the bottle and the hand that held it and even try to knead. He also purred while he suckled. Lily appeared to be near tears from sheer joy.

Jonathan glanced at the door to the public areas. “Maybe I should ask Becca if she wants a turn?”

Lily narrowed her eyes and made a hissing sound through her clenched teeth.

“Right, not taking him away from you, Aunt Lily. Just thought maybe our boss would be a smidge more cheerful about the whole situation if she also had the chance to feed the little tyke.” He didn’t see an alternative to leaving Kitten in the carrier for the next couple hours. It broke his heart, but he knew intellectually that Kitten would nap, like Connor.

“I mean, letting her do the bottle part is probably better than asking her to do the next part?”

Lily sighed and popped the nipple out of Kitten’s protesting mouth. “You’re not wrong. Get her.”

As soon as he asked Boss Becca if she wanted to give Kitten a bottle, she took off to the break room. Jonathan wasn’t sure he’d seen her walk so briskly other than for a fire alarm.

In moments, Lily had the feeding demonstration well under control, and their boss didn’t need two junior supervisors, so he set the portable litter box in the corner farthest from the fridge and sink and removed the travel cover.

Connor hadn’t scooped the used litter before packing it. That wasn’t like him.

Jonathan didn’t want to text while Connor was going home. He’d wait twenty minutes and then send a picture of Kitten and say something nice. That was the right way to handle this, because Connor was a grown man who regularly cared for mewling students, so he’d be able to take care of himself.

Lily glanced over at what he was doing with the litter box. He gave a hopefully insouciant wave. “Don’t worry, you can handle this part.”

“Or, you know, you can. It’s your cat.”

“But you want the full auntie experience, don’t you?”

“Oh, you middle monster you, you cutie bug.”

Was that their boss, the self-professed dog person? She bent closer to Kitten and continued to babble as if he and Lily weren’t even in the break room.

“You drank all your milkie, didn’t you, little sweetie. You gonna be a big, big kitty weal soon.”

Lily looked at him, mouth open in a circle and eyes exaggeratedly huge in her face.

The words coming out of Becca’s mouth, the tone, the grammar—or more accurately, the lack of grammar—what was happening? His face must reflect Lily’s expression, because this was clearly the weirdest day ever in the Central Library’s history.

Becca looked up from Kitten’s tummy and caught them staring. The silence stretched uncomfortably, then threateningly. Neither he nor Lily moved.

“Never speak of this. If I ever hear those words repeated from your mouths, you both will become cashiers at the transfer station, understand?”

He’d heard plenty of idle threats from skating parents and drunk club boys. This wasn’t one. “Yes, ma’am.”

Becca stared at Lily and then swept her out of the room. “Jonathan can handle whatever he must. You should go to circulation.”

He checked his phone. Nothing from Connor. It had been long enough that Connor should have reached home.