Page 78 of Revenge Puck

She moves from the circulation desk and pulls her phone out of her back pocket, snapping several pictures.

Then, as if things couldn’t get any worse, fucking Garrett Storm strolls into the room and saunters over to her. I do my best to ignore them both when a girl raises her hand.

“Yes?”

“Are you married?”

The room goes quiet.

Juliette’s head snaps up.

“Nope,” I answer evenly.

“Do you have kids?”

“Nope.”

The little girl scrunches up her nose. “Why not?”

I blink at her. “Because I like sleep. And relaxing vacations that don’t require me playing lifeguard.”

A few of them giggle. One kid leans both elbows against my knees, getting comfortable in my personal space.

I open the book again before this turns into a full-blown interrogation.

“Alright guys, focus. This story is about a bear who refuses to hibernate.”

Another scrawny arm shoots into the air.

I sigh. “Yes?”

“Do you have a girlfriend?”

I feel Storm’s gaze on my face and watch his brows lift.

“That is not relevant to this event,” I say calmly. “Or the story.”

The kid with the noodle arms frowns, raising her arm but not waiting to be called on. “My mom says you can’t trust a man who’s never been married by the time he’s forty.”

The librarian coughs to hide a laugh.

“I am not forty, and your mom has no idea what she’s talking about.”

I flip the page of the book and keep reading about Cricket Newton and her misadventures, all of which these children continue giving zero fucks about.

A small voice cuts in again. “How oldareyou?”

“Older than you.”

“Are youthirty?” One of them gasps like thirty is ancient.

“Maybe.”

“Do you live with your mom?”

“No.”

“Why not?”