Page 21 of The Interns

Reed crossed the threshold and stood beside her. So close that the heat from his skin warmed hers. She rubbed the back of her neck and cast a hard glare his way. How dare he come to her house and make her feel things? He gave a slight nod acknowledging that he could and would explain himself in just a minute.

“I am,” Adam confirmed, stepping into the center of attention and reaching out to shake Evan’s hand. “Nice to meet you both,” he said as he looked back at Reed.

“I am so confused,” Evan admitted with a nervous laugh, unsure of whom he was picking up and what was going on.

“Me too,” Maya agreed, staring pointedly at Reed.

“Adam,” her cousin said, placing a hand on his chest to introduce himself. “Maya, my cousin and roommate for the summer,” he continued, gesturing to her. “Reed, her co-worker,” he said, pointing to the man at her side. “And Evan, my blind date,” he said finally for Reed’s benefit.

Evan swiped his hand over his forehead in secondhand fatigue from the marathon introduction.

“Already off to a memorable start,” Adam said to his date with a grin.

“I’ll say,” Reed seconded. “Where y’all headed this evening?”

“We’re grabbing drinks at a distillery on the Westside,” Evan volunteered readily. Maya liked that he seemed to be a friendly, easy-going guy. She supposed this date mattered to her, as well, considering they’d probably be spending a lot of time together this summer if things went well and he may even become family if things went really well.

“Yeah, I’ve heard good things about it,” Reed said. “Been meanin’ to check it out.”

Maya strained her neck in disbelief. Was Reed really more up on new restaurants in the city than she was or was he just making small talk? She supposed if she hadn’t banned it, maybe she’d actually know. She kind of did want to know now.

“We’ll let you know how it is,” Evan answered as if it was a sure thing that they would all be meeting up again someday soon.

“Definitely,” Reed said with a nod.

Maya watched the exchange with a faint grin on her face. It was all so surreal, yet somewhat endearing how seamlessly Reed rolled with the situation. When she glanced over at Adam finally, he raised an eyebrow at her and grinned, finding the circumstances just as amusing as she did.

“Well, we should probably get going now,” Adam said as he moved toward the door.

“Nice to meet you all,” Evan said with a wave toward Reed and Maya as he turned to exit. “Have a nice night!”

“You too,” Maya said as she followed behind them to close the door. “Have fun!”

Once they were out the door, Maya shut it and leaned against it, eyeing the unexpected guest standing in the foyer. His hands were still in the front pockets of his jeans, and he looked a bit unsure of himself now that it was just the two of them.

“Well, they’ll have a good story to tell if it all works out,” he said.

“Yeah, they will. So, uh, what exactly are you doing here, Stanton?”

“I found some information that I didn’t think should wait until Monday morning.”

“We have these things called phones, you know.” She pulled hers out of her back pocket and flashed it in front of him for emphasis.

“Yeah, I know,” he groaned, “but this is important.”

“How could you be so sure I didn’t have something else going on? It’s a long drive from Clayville.”

“Just a hunch you’d be spending your weekend the same way I was,” he said with a knowing grin.

She squinted her eyes and stared at him, again, wanting to be annoyed with his presumption, but she couldn’t bring herself to be. Instead, she was impressed that he was taking this case as seriously as she was, to the point that he was working on a Saturday night as opposed to the many other things a single, good-looking twenty-eight-year-old man could be doing instead.

“Come on in.” She led him to the dining table that she had transformed into her home office. Her laptop was propped open with a cup of coffee next to it and files spread out across the table. “Have a seat,” she said motioning to the chair just beside her as she sat down.

“How’s your research going?” he asked as he took in the surroundings.

“Slow. I’m having to teach myself employment law as I go, but I’m getting there. I really do think we have something here, though,” she said just as her cell phone buzzed on the table. “Sorry.” She picked it up and opened the text. “It’s Adam. I promised to be his out if he needed one.”

You def downplayed his hotness. And niceness. Evan and I think he’s a catch.

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