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Chapter 23
Clara found a placeto park in the parking area of the assisted living center. It had been an interesting drive, and she was a little bit sad that it was over. Although things between them didn’t really get settled, they did seem to move forward slowly.
Alex got out, and she thought that maybe he was coming around to open her door, but she wasn’t going to just sit there waiting, so she took her belt off and got out and met him at the front corner of the car.
“I know we’re here for my grandma, and I feel like I need to focus on that, but... I can’t stop thinking about you. I, well, you’ve worked with me long enough to know that when I have something I’m thinking about, I don’t usually stop until I figure out a solution. I guess I’m just not sure where we stand. And...that’s my fault.” His tone had gotten a little uncertain, but by the time he said the last phrase, his confidence was back. “I like you. I like you a lot. And over the last few months, but especially over the last week or so. I think it’s been percolating for years. I don’t want anyone else to be working with me. I just want you. And I realize that... I want more. I want us to be more. I like you for more than just a secretary to see at work and then go home and not think about until the next day. I... I wondered if you might feel the same about me?”
His words made her heart flip, and even though his last question sounded a little insecure, surely he could look at her face and tell that it didn’t have to be.
“I do. I definitely do.” She kind of thought that that was what they had been talking about the last couple times they talked, but she hadn’t come right out and said it. “I admire you, and I definitely have feelings that go beyond friendship. But you’re my boss. So I have to be careful.”
“You’re my employee, so I have to be careful. But we can do this, right?”
She nodded. “I want to. And I have confidence that you can, because I’ve seen you make so many things that I thought were impossible happen, and I know that this will be a piece of cake for you.”
“I’m not exactly skilled in the area of relationships. In fact, it’s probably my weakest area.”
“We’ll do it together. We’re a great team, remember?”
“That means more than what you say. I... I think that all successful people have people who believe in them standing behind them, being air for them, so to speak.”
“I’m happy to be air. Especially for someone who deserves so much to have wind.”
“So... If I walk in there and I’m holding your hand, you know my grandmother is going to ask us about things.”
“Is that okay with you?” she asked, but she didn’t look at him; instead, her eyes had dropped to his hands. She wasn’t afraid. And she didn’t think he was either. In fact, she thought the look in his eye was more eager than anything.
But she didn’t dwell on that; instead, she moved her hand forward and touched it to his.
That was all it took before he turned and their fingers slid together, like they’d been doing it for years.
But they hadn’t, and she closed her eyes for just a moment, getting used to the odd sensation of holding her boss’s hand. Holding Alex’s hand.
“Is that okay?” he asked. He hadn’t moved. He’d given her the time she needed. Maybe it was from all the years of working together that he knew that she just needed a moment to process.
“I love it,” she said, her head still down, her eyes closed.
But she opened her eyes and lifted her head, looking into his face and smiling. “It feels exactly right.”
