Jan put the last bite of omelet into her mouth savoring the flavor. He had been right this was a great place to eat. She was just about to reach for the cup of coffee when her phone chimed. They both half smiled as she looked at the offending object. It wasn’t hard to guess who was calling, and if she was completely honest with herself, she had gotten away with this for longer than she had expected.
“Excuse me,” Ward slid out of the booth silently pulling out his wallet at the same time. He was giving her both time and space to take the call, and wasn’t that sweet. Something else she could like about him. Jan watched him walk to the register, and she wasn’t ashamed to admit she was enjoying the view.
“Yes,” she said with a sigh. Jan wasn’t ready to come back to the real world.
“Are you crazy?” Rob, her handler or partner, was trying hard not to let the anger seep through but she could tell he was losing by the deep rumble and controlled tones. He must have sweated through at least two shirts by now. She almost felt guilty.
“No,” but before she could continue he jumped back into the conversation. Leaning back against the booth she readied herself for the verbal tongue lashing she was about to receive, and if she thought about it, deserved.
“Then why in the world are you jeopardizing all the work you’ve put into this operation as well as your personal security? And let’s not even mention what you might be risking back at the department,” this time he wasn’t hiding the frustration, “I can’t keep you protected from everything you know.”
“I’ve got our assignment covered, and you might say that that big lug of a bodyguard Carlos sent along with me is uncovered,” she could almost hear Rob grind his teeth, “as for the department. They don’t really care who I sleep with as long as I don’t make any attachments. This may be a little out of the norm but…”
“There is still the matter of who you are spending your time with. You don’t realize how much of a player he is?” Now she could hear the worry in his voice.
“Aren’t we all players in this business?” Jan heard him suck in air on that one and wished she could take it back just as soon as it left her mouth.
“You know what I mean my girl, and let me tell you he’s been through a number of ‘friends’,” making sure that he stressed the last word, “don’t think you are any different than the rest of them, and by the way you are better than that, or that either of you could be different than who you are or,” and this was where Rob ran out of ands, ors, or buts. To his credit he didn’t stutter or growl.
“Alright Papa,” Jan couldn’t help but smile now. Rob may be her partner, and the person who kept an eye on her for the department, but in the end he acted more like her father. He had been more of a father, and better one, to her than her real father had been. But when he started into the father mode she would always smile, secretly she liked it, but she couldn’t help but tease him about it.
“Aghh,” his exasperation was evident, “I know what that means I lose. You’ve had this set up for a while haven’t you?”
“Yes and no. I needed to blow off some of the steam that’s been building up on this assignment. This sounded like fun, and it was. I’m now more than ready to go back and take him down,” it was her turn to take a breath and sell the next statement, “And as you stated we can’t make any real commitments so that works out well for the both of us. We have a little fun and then we both walk away, friends. At least this time we are with another person who already knows the rules,” she glanced up and noticed that Ward was taking his time at the register. She really hated this smiling thing that was happening to her, but she couldn’t help but smile when she looked at him. He smiled right back at her as he slipped the wallet back into his pocket and made small talk with the cashier.
“It’s my job to keep the assets as safe as I can, and,” he paused, “I just want to make sure you’re okay,” Rob seemed to have calmed a little. He had told her the words he had had to say, and he had told her he was giving her room to hang herself, “Guess that means I’ll see you at the airport.”
“Thanks, and I’ll be careful,” smiling again she continued as she looked for Ward, “of both of them.” Disconnecting Jan looked around for Ward only to find that he was standing beside her, his hand extended.
“Shall we get started?”
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