Joe was determined to hide this whole… affair from Love. It wasn’t an affair yet, just a brewing plan and an obsession that you were so blissfully unaware of.

After the whole thing with Natalie Engler, he could risk Love finding and possible ending you like she did Natalie. You were too good to lose.

So, he hid the box of mementos from your apartment in a vent rather than a crooked tile above the toilet where Love could easily find it. He even went out of his way to bring Henry along to make her less suspicious.

You, on the other hand, just knew him as Joe, the dad who liked to read to his son. You thought it was very sweet and as a librarian yourself, you thought it was good that Joe was already integrating literature into baby Henry’s life.

One day he approached your desk with two books, a classic for himself and a children’s story for Henry.

“Checking out,” Joe said with a charming soft smile.