Page 96 of What Started In Deception

He huffed out a laugh. “Yeah. You’re made aware of the physical requirements long before you even start the interview process. You know that when you get to Quantico, your physical fitness will make or break you. If you fail the initial fitness assessments, you lose your off-campus privileges, but you can retest at seven weeks. If you fail again, you’ve got one more shot at fourteen weeks, but if you still can’t hack it, you’re done.”

She winced. “Yikes.”

He nodded. “I ended up helping a couple of the agents in training after they finished with their classes each day. I put them through the paces and trained them up to where they needed to be for the seven-week mark. Hearing that they passed the second time around—and with flying colors—was awesome.”

“Aw.” She grinned. “That’s great, Ty.”

He nodded again, loving the memory. “I currently work with one of the guys on the bank robbery squad. He’s a great agent.”

“Aw,” she said again, wrapping her arms around his waist.

He hugged her back, never hating it when she was extra affectionate. “So, I should let you know that I’m going to have to start slipping away a couple of times a week to work with some of my co-workers virtually in the gym. I need to keep up appearances and look like I’m actually seeing clients.”

She nodded. “Okay. Do you know what days you’re meeting with your co-workers next week?”

He shook his head. “Not yet. We’re still trying to coordinate schedules.”

She nodded again. “Okay.”

“Why?”

She shrugged. “I was thinking about heading up to Monroe House on Friday. It’s usually pretty busy right before the Fourth, and we’re always short a few volunteers.”

“I want to help.”

“If it works for your schedule, you’re welcome to come.”

“I’ll make sure it works.”

“Then how about we go on Friday afternoon? We could head up after lunch. The shifts are three hours long. Maybe we could grab an ice cream cone after we finish up.”

“Yeah, that sounds great.”

She smiled at him. “Okay.”

They continued farther down the beach as the waves inched closer to their toes in the rising tide.

“So, what’s up with Asher?” he finally asked.

She frowned as she looked at him. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know,” he said as he shrugged. “I feel like there’s a story there.”

She shrugged this time. “Will and Asher have always been best friends. Will and Burke were really close, too. They were born just a couple of weeks apart. When we would come up here for our vacations, Will, Burke, and Asher spent most of their time together, so I guess you could say that Burke and Asher were close, too.”

He nodded, but that wasn’t the information he was looking for. “It feels like there’s more.”

She shrugged again. “Asher was my first kiss.”

He paused with his next step, then remembered to keep going. “Oh yeah?”

She rolled her eyes before she grinned and nodded. “When I was sixteen, which feels like forever ago. I was here for my summer visit, and we’d spent a lot of time together. I had a little crush, and I guess he did, too. A couple of days before I left, he kissed me.”

“What happened after that? Did you guys pick things up again the next summer?”

She shook her head. “I think we were mostly just curious. We’ve always been good friends.”

“Huh,” he said. Because that was not the vibe he’d picked up. Clearly, Lydia thought of Asher as a friend, but it didn’t appear that Asher felt the same way.