"The Lions of Al-Rassan."
"It'll destroy you," I repeat. "But in a good way."
"Is there a good way to be destroyed?"
"By a book? Always."
He folds the note carefully. Not crumpling it, not shoving it in his pocket. Folding it and placing it inside his book next to my first note. Two notes now. Two smiley faces. A collection.
"See you tomorrow?" he says.
"I don't work Tuesdays."
"I know. But you'll be at the library."
He knows my schedule. He knows I come to the library on my days off because I have nowhere else to go, and he's not saying it like it's sad. He's saying it like it's a place he'll be too.
"Yeah," I say. "I'll be here."
"Then I'll see you tomorrow."
He leaves at 3:30. Earlier than usual. Maybe he has somewhere to be, or maybe the morning buns gave him an excuse to leave on a high note. I don't know. I just know that when the door closes behind him, the café feels quieter. Emptier.
* * *
That night, Tyler is sprawled on his bed, scrolling through his phone, still in his warehouse uniform because he's too tired to change.
"You're humming," he says.
"I'm not humming."
"You were definitely humming. Something without a tune, which is somehow worse." He rolls over, studies me. "What happened?"
"Nothing happened."
"Dev, I've lived with you for eight months. You don't hum. You don't smile at your phone. You don't come home from work looking like — what is that? Is that happiness? On your face?"
"Shut up."
"It IS. Oh my god, who is it?"
"Nobody. It's nothing."
"Is it the book guy? The one you mentioned like twice and then clamped up about? The quiet one?"
I didn't think I'd mentioned Silas at all. Apparently "not talking about it" still involves talking about it.
"He left me a book this morning," I say, because Tyler won't stop until I give him something. "At the library. With a note."
Tyler sits up. "He left you a book. With a note."
"A recommendation. It's a thing we do."
"A thing you do. You and the hot quiet book guy have a thing."
"It's not — we just recommend books to each other."
"With handwritten notes."