“That’s right,” Sun said.
“Did anyone follow up on what the dog alerted to? I mean, were they counterfeit?” Rylee pushed despite Neesa’s scowl. “I’m serious. What if our people just had bacon grease on their hands, and that’s what Fido was sniffing? This could be a nothing burger.”
“It’s a something burger,” Sun said.
Rylee lifted her eyebrows. “Because?”
Sun shifted off the door and grabbed the knob. “Because the Secret Service said it’s a deluxe burger with all the fixings.” And he walked out.
Chapter Eight
Rylee
Monday
Neesa knocked on Rylee’s open office door. “Hey, quitting time.”
Rylee rested her fingers on the keyboard and swiveled her focus away from the screen.
“I’m taking the Metro up to McPherson Square to meet some friends for dinner,” Neesa dropped her purse to the ground and shoved her hand into her coat sleeve. “You should come.”
“I don’t think so, Neesy. It’s been a long day.” Rylee reached out and closed her laptop. “I think I’m just going to head home.”
“No, you’re not.” Neesa shrugged her coat into place. “You’ll just relive today, get angry, and not be able to sleep.” Threading the zipper together, she yanked it up. “Then you’ll try to jump out of the helicopter tomorrow and break your leg because you’re tired. I’m not having it.” She bent to scoop up her purse strap.
“Fast rope, not jump.”
“Come out.” Neesa reached for Rylee’s coat and held it out to her. “Put good conversations into your brain, laugh a little.”
“Do I know anyone?”
“Other than me? No.” Neesa said. “But they’re welcoming people. This isn’t a clique I’m throwing you into.”
Rylee was vacillating. She’d envisioned a hot bath, a glass of wine, and some ridiculous romcom that could never happen in real life. But Neesa was wise. And maybe it was better that she was distracted from today’s disappointment. “What kind of restaurant?”
“Soul food. Mom and pop place. You can suffocate your angst in a bowl of mac and cheese and a side of collard greens.”
Since it was her belief that humanity should support each other through the tough times and rejoice together at the good, this might be the perfect antidote to her present funk.
Rylee turned her attention to the vase filled with bright flowers and recalled the befuddled smile on the stranger’s face. He wasn’t angry with her at all; he just handed her the flowers, and off she drove.
Strangers could be generous and kind.
Rylee hoped that guy knew that he made an indelible memory for her.
Clutching those flowers while she waited for Rose’s nurse-friend to make eye-to-eye contact with her was like holding a psychological buoy to Rylee.
And here was Neesa, offering another help line.
Why wouldn’t she allow that?
“Yeah,” Rylee stood and stretched her hand out for her coat. “Why not?”
The two women took the elevator down to the ground floor and out into the night air. The sidewalks bustled with people leaving, their minds elsewhere—what to cook for dinner, how to get the kids through their homework and into bed, would the boss be mad that they left without finishing the report?
They walked the short distance to the Metro station in companionable silence.
As they started down the stairs, Neesa said, “So here’s what I learned today—"
