Page 56 of Salvation

She lightly taps his shoulder, and he catches her hand. They suddenly remember that I’m there. His eyes widen as he drops it quickly. Maia looks up at me with trepidation. Shaking my head, I smile at them both. “You don’t have to hide your feelings from me. I think it’s great.”

Maia blushes and Davey blanches. He quickly says, “I know it’s improper. I’m working and supposed to be protecting you.

“I didn’t mean for this to happen. I’m older than she is…”

Waving off his words, I laugh. “Really?! You’re talking to me about what’s improper?! It’s fine…

“Really. You’re both adults. I’m happy for you both. You look good together.

“You don’t have to explain anything to me.” Turning on my heel, I leave them both with their mouths hanging open. When I reach my office door, I turn back and see they’re looking at each other in complete shock. I call out, “Just be good to her, Davey. As long as you’re good to her… we’re good.”

He nods but says nothing and gazes at her with his emotions clearly displayed on his face.

She smiles shyly back at him.

Good for them.

Sure, he’s older than she is. But who cares?

Who the hell cares?

He seems good to her and for her. She’s more confident and both appear happy.

Fucking good for them.

I grab the phone and return calls for the next hour while making notations on a pad and logging important info into the computer.

The door alarm goes off and I glance at the time on the computer screen. She’s right on time.

Saving the file on the screen, I stand and stretch before heading to the lobby.

Doctor Jess is out there with a big smile. She’s talking to Maia. “I have some things in the van I need to get in, but I can drive around back to unload instead of lugging it all through here.”

Davey interjects, “If you don’t mind me pulling it around, I can bring it back there. That way you don’t have to go back into the heat.”

She looks to me with a question. Laughing, I introduce them, “Jess, this is Davey. He’s… er, security… He’s good.

“Davey, this is Jess, she’s the doctor who runs our clinic. She comes to see us once a month.”

Jess chuckles and hands her keys over to him. “Nice to meet you, Davey. Sorry. I just hadn’t seen you before and wasn’t just going to give you the keys for the van.” She laughs, “The stuff in there could fetch a pretty penny.”

He chuckles and tosses the keys from hand to hand while replying, “I understand. It’s nice to meet you, too.” He nods at the door. “Lock this behind me and I’ll meet you at the back door. I’ll pull alongside it and unload before parking.”

Maia sighs and gazes after him as he walks out.

Smiling, I snap my fingers at her. “Hey, moon over him later. Right now, let’s go get these appointments rolling.” Then while still chuckling, I reach behind her desk and flip the switch to activate the intercom function for the back. That way if anyone is at the front and buzzes, I can answer it from almost any room in the back.

Jess arches her brow and grins broadly while asking cheekily, “Ah, is romance in the air?”

Maia blushes even harder and mutters, “Oh my god, shut up.” But she’s smiling and her cheeks are beaming with a healthy flush of color.

Jess and I look at each other and laugh as we follow behind a blushing Maia. Stopping at the door, she punches in her code. It opens with a click. We all head through. It closes and latches behind us.

We open the back door just as Davey pulls up. He throws it in park and hops out as we open the back doors and start to unload. He instructs us to get the smaller boxes as he grabs three of the larger ones. Nodding at the abundance of boxes in the van, he asks, “All of this?”

Jess laughs. “Yeah. Just stack them on that table and I can sort them after. Thanks!”

It takes the four of us about ten minutes to unload the van. As Davey hands me the last box, he hops back in the driver’s seat saying he’ll park out front and come back through here. Maia waits for him at the door to let him back in.

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