Page 45 of The Interns

He watched her intently, trying to read her, and she wondered if he could tell her heart had stopped beating in her chest. He had taken on all of this extra work and responsibility for them. For her, really, since she couldn’t be there to finish the work they’d started. He felt it, too. It was still Hendricks and Stanton. Us.

“Anyway, I can’t lose track of why I started all this to begin with,” he said quietly after the heavy pause. “I’ve got a life to get back to.”

“You have a wife and kids I don’t know about?” she teased, though he didn’t look too amused.

“No, but I’ve got a home, and my family and friends, and some things I need to take care of. You know that.”

“Why would you go back to all of that corruption, though? You’ve got an out here.”

“For that exact reason. The old guys? They won’t be around forever. People like Dev, and his wife Willa, my friends Sara and Dustin…we’re all working our way up, and hopefully we’ll be able to make a difference soon.”

She had no retort. It was so earnest. So right. So him.

“Well, they have no idea how lucky they are to have you.”

“Thank you,” he mumbled, uncomfortable with the praise. “When Lauren announced her resignation, though, I thought of you.”

Her brow arched as she took a sip of her drink. “Hmm?”

“This is your dream job.”

“I mean, it’s a great job, but moving back home isn’t in the plans for me.”

“It just seems like a waste for the position to go to someone else who’s probably going to put in a few years and move on instead of someone who’s so passionate about the work.”

“You know Al’s firm isn’t the only one doing this kind of work, right?” she asked with a grin.

“Yes,” he allowed. “But I also know that if you go to a big firm, you won’t actually get your hands on a good case for a few years. With Al, you’d hit the ground running. Hell, you’d already have a case waiting for you.”

“Like I said, there’s no shortage of cases or clients out there,” she repeated, firm in her decision. “I’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, but I know you, Maya.”

Now he was turning the tables on her, and she never took kindly to people telling her what to do, even if it was Reed. She slid her hand out from under his. “Maybe you don’t.” She punctuated it with an admittedly passive aggressive shrug.

“Yeah, I do. I know how much you love the work, and that’s not gonna cut it for you.”

She sighed wearily, wondering how they’d ended up here. Their perfect afternoon and evening had devolved into tension over dates and jobs and future plans that were decided long before they knew each other.

“Look, this is all hypothetical right now, and I didn’t come here to have it out with you in a bar, so let’s just move on…how about those Braves?” she asked, desperately trying to get back to a good place.

“There’s no baseball in December,” he answered glumly.

“Of course there’s not.”

She tipped her glass at him then took a long sip, and eyed the still nearly full drink she held in her hand. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

After fumbling with her keys and trying two wrong ones before she finally unlocked the door, Maya stumbled into Adam’s house with Reed following behind her. They were both a little buzzed, and unfortunately not the giddy kind of buzzed they had started off as. Now they were irritated and feeling awkward, each wishing they were sober enough to go their separate ways and call it a night.

She locked up and tossed her keys onto the small table in the entryway. “You want the guest bed or the couch?”

“I’ll take the couch,” he said, nodding toward the living room.

“Pillows and blankets are in the closet at the end of the hall right by the bathroom. If you need anything else, just let me know.”

“Thanks.”

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