Roselle's POV
We eventually reached the kitchen. "Wait. What did you even need from here?" Tanner asks me with a grin. "It's stupid," I say sheepishly, knowing that drinking warm milk is usually a kid thing. "Nothing is stupid," he replies. "If you must know, my mother used to give me a glass of warm milk and a book to help me to go back to sleep after having a nightmare. There. Are you happy now?" I scoffed. "Wait, you had a nightmare? That's really strange. I had one too." I raise an eyebrow. Maybe the dreams were connected somehow.
"You mentioned your mother. I'm sorry we had to take you away from your parents," he said. "Oh, don't be sorry. I'm actually very grateful." I respond.
"Why?"
"My dad died before I was born. My mom was always a single mother. I loved her so much. She died when I was 5. I was taken to an orphanage, where they found me the "perfect" step-parents. They treated me like garbage. So, I'm thankful to you for taking me away from that madness. I could barely stand another day there, and then with all the added stress from my toxic relationship with Hunter... It was just too much for me all at once," I explained, shuddering from reliving those awful memories.
At this, Tanner grimaced. He proceeded to give me a sympathetic smile. "Well, I can find you some warm milk. I don't know what kind of book you're looking for, but perhaps you'd like to come with me to the library?" he prompts.
"There's a library here?" I question.
"Yes, there is. I was actually going to head over there later this afternoon to do some research," he explains.
"On what?" I ask curiously. Why would he need to do research? And about what?
"Nothing much," he shrugs.
I guess that I'm not going to receive the answers I desire. Speaking of answers, I should ask him about what happened to that notepad with all of my questions. "Well, that would be lovely of you to show me the library. I do have a question though," I say.
"And that would be?" he prompts raising one of his eyebrows slightly.
"Whatever happened to the notepad with my questions?" I ask.
"Oh. I came back to your room to take the notepad. You were asleep, but I took it away with me to my room. Caleb came by my room and I gave the notepad to him. He said he would review your questions in the morning. He probably hasn't looked at it then unless he's up now," he answered.
I nod my head processing the information. I can only hope Caleb answering my questions will provide me with more information about everything that I need.
Tanner grabs a glass from one of the numerous cabinets. He walks over to the refrigerator, glass in hand. He pulls the door open gently and locates the milk. He fills the cup 3/4 of the way full. The milk sloshes around and froths slightly as he swiftly yet carefully pours the liquid into the glass. As he walks over to the microwave to heat it up, he gives me a slight smile. I return it.
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We enter the dark and mysterious yet somehow comforting room around 15 minutes later. It turned out that Tanner wanted a drink as well, so he made himself a coffee. I breathed in the smell of paper and knowledge. "What do you smell?" Tanner asked me quizzically. "Paper and knowledge that needs to be discovered. Amazing things waiting to happen with the power of words," I reply dreamily.
