Page 77 of Rescuing Mary

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“Truck?”

He blinked and the vision was gone. It had been so real, he knew it had to be a memory.

Keeping it to himself, Truck said, “Sorry. Did you say something?”

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah. Just haven’t had enough coffee this morning.”

She smiled at that. “You do love your coffee,” she said under her breath. Then louder, “I have to get to work, but I didn’t want to leave things between us the way they were, and I didn’t want to text you or talk over the phone.”

Truck was surprised. He didn’t know why, but this didn’t seem like the Mary he knew. She was more likely to hold a grudge forever, and he’d have to make the first move. “I always have time for you, Mary,” he said gently.

She looked at the floor. “I’m sorry about yesterday. I know I said it before, but I need to say it again. I’m not only sorry for blabbing about your headaches, but I know it’s not fair of me to tell you some things then clam up about others. I…I want to talk to you, but I’m scared.”

Truck took a step toward her and put his hand on the side of her neck. “Do not be afraid of me,” he ordered a bit gruffly, put off by the mere thought that she might be scared of him.

“I’m not scared of you, per se,” she said immediately, without pulling away from him. “I know you won’t hurt me…physically.”

“You think I’d hurt you emotionally?” he asked.

Mary nodded. “Every man I’ve ever gotten close to has.”

“I’m not them,” Truck said, willing her to believe him.

“I know. Which is why I’m here,” she admitted.

Not able to stop himself, Truck leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. It was a chaste kiss, but it felt more intimate than almost anything they’d done. It was a promise of sorts. “Whenever you need me, I’m there.”

She gave him a shaky smile. “Okay. As I said, I have to get to work. We have a meeting this morning with our boss. I think she’s going to announce layoffs, which sucks.”

“Fuck. Are you going to lose your job?” Truck asked with concern.

Mary shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably. But I think I’m okay with it if I do. I…missed a lot of work last year, and it just hasn’t been the same since I’ve been back. I was surprised my boss let me leave early yesterday, but I think it’s because she’s just collecting reasons to can me. I think she’s bitter that she couldn’t fire me, and I’ve found that I just don’t have the same kind of drive to work there as I used to. Not to mention the assholes we’ve had to deal with recently are making things really tense.”

“What kind of assholes?” Truck asked, his hand tightening on her neck.

Mary shrugged. “That’s just it, I’m not sure. I mean, I’m sure they’re assholes, but they haven’t really done anything to make my boss do anything about them.”

“Mary. Spit it out,” Truck said.

“Sorry. It’s just that there have been lots of young men coming in and asking questions about renting safety-deposit boxes. Which, on the surface, is fine, but they’re sketchy. They seem too young to really care about renting one—statistics show that most renters are older—and I just get a bad vibe from them. And I’ve told Jennifer, but she says that I’m just being paranoid.”

“This doesn’t sound like something to fuck around with. What if they’re casing the place?” Truck asked. “They could be coming in to get information, to see the layout of the bank, to see how many employees are working, stuff like that. The last thing you need is someone holding up the place.”

Mary’s eyes fell from his, and he wondered what that was about, but she simply nodded and said, “I know. But for some reason, as I said, my boss doesn’t seem to think it’s an issue. Anyway, so all of that stuff combined makes me not so upset at the idea of being laid off.”

“What would you do instead?”

“I’m not sure. But there are a ton of organizations around here that I could probably volunteer for until I figure it out.”

Truck had a feeling she knew exactly what she wanted to do, but wasn’t comfortable enough telling him yet. Again, he let it go. “You want to come back over after work?”

“Yeah, if that’s okay.”

“Of course. My home is your home,” Truck said, and he got the impression that he’d said that to Mary before.