Page 59 of Kaine

“Where’s your office?”

“I’m inside now, I’m fine,” I argue out on habit.

“Where’s your office, Jade?”

“Ugh! You’re so annoying.”

“And I’m going to be annoying all the way to your office.”

My eyes narrow and I huff as I lead him through the labyrinth of shelves and aisles until we’re outside my joint office with Harriet.

“Okay, you can go now,” I tell him, hoping he’ll leave. Immediately. Before...

“Hello, who’s this?” Harriet’s voice pipes up behind me.

Before that. Her. Ms. Nosy.

“Hello,” Kaine says to her, eyes still on me.

“This is... Mr. Ashley, he was just leaving,” I introduce her, glaring at him for putting me in this position.

“Oh, Mystery man!” Harriet exclaims, and now it’s her I’m glaring at.

“What?” Kaine asks, his eyes widening.

“Nothing. You can go now,” I lift my hand up to shoo him away, and only then realize he’s still holding it. I pretend to adjust my dress as an excuse to extract my hand from his. There’s a soft giggle next to me, and I know this is probably the best morning Harriet has had in a long time.

“What time do you finish work?” he asks, showing no sign of leaving yet.

“Why?”

“To pick you up.”

I begin to shake my head, before I feel a gentle kick, and Harriet barges in.

“She’ll be done by 6 p.m.,” she informs him before I can tell him not to come.

“Ok. I’ll be here at 5:58.”

I frown at him, confused about why he’s going out of his way... again.

“Don’t leave until I get here,” he warns me, already showing how well he knows me.

“She won’t!” Harriet promises on my behalf.

I stomp into my office, annoyed about the plans made without my input, ignoring him when I see him try to catch my eye before he exits.

“Why did you do that?” I yell at Harriet when she follows me into the office.

“Do what?”

“Be nice to him!”

“To the man who saved you?”

“...and Gabriel,”

“What now?”

“It was Gabriel who called me yesterday. He wanted me to come get him. I guess Kaine followed me, which is totally creepy and I haven’t called him on that yet, but anyway, he followed me to the West Bronx. When he realized why I was there, he brought Gabriel home to his apartment and had a doctor and nurse come take care of him. He’s still there now.”

“Ohmygod. You’re going to marry mystery man.”

“What? Shut up. He’s just... doing a good deed so he can get a Boy Scouts medal or whatever.”

“Yeah. You’re pretty stupid for someone so smart.”

I stop her before she takes the conversation down a direction I’m not prepared to go, and take a page out of Kaine’s book.

“SHUSH!!!”