Chapter Five

Five

The gravel ground under Renee's sneakers as she got out of Jackson's Jeep. Hesitating, she took in the low-slung, windowless tavern with what had to be three air conditioners on the roof. "It's a bar. I thought you were kidding."

Jackson's Jeep door slammed. "Best breakfast in the valley," he said confidently. "And it's not busy."

Squinting, Renee glanced over the empty field of grit that was the parking lot. Busy? It looks closed. Her gaze dropped to her jeans and wrinkled shirt, and she shut her door. "It's your town," she said, then started forward.

There was a crunch of gravel as Jackson quickened his pace to catch up. "So…will you be mad if I get the door for you, or mad if I don't?"

"Funny," she said, arms swinging. The shrubs between the lot and the building were stunted and scarred. It had been a long time since anyone had cared.

"I'm serious." Jackson hunched his shoulders. "My mama would tan my hide if I didn't open the door for you because you're a lady and a professional, but you're also a self-made woman who doesn't kill her own snakes but milks them."

Her lips quirked in a smile. "Well, it's not a date. I don't know business-meeting protocol."

The door was steps away, and Jackson lurched forward as she reached for it. "I'm getting the door for you," he said as he pulled it open. "Not because you can't get it for yourself, but because I've been here before and you haven't." Exhaling in relief, he gestured for her to go first.

"Nice rationalization. Your mama would be proud," she said, grinning as she went in and slowed, waiting for her eyes to adjust. The ceiling was low, the floor and walls were dark, and it was cool after the morning sun. August would like it here, she thought, her gaze drawn to the pool table with a long, cracked Tiffany lamp glowing over it.

The theme seemed to be jets. Models of them hung from the lights in a haphazard pattern she couldn't fathom. Pictures of them in the air and on the ground—mostly cut from the newspaper—adorned the walls. There was even a string of lighted jets over the door to the restrooms. A stage and dance floor filled one corner. The bar was long, and it was as empty as the parking lot. Sexiest woman here? Try the only.

"Sit where you like," came a masculine voice from the back. "But you'll be served faster at the bar."

"Hey, Ed!" Jackson called. "It's me. Two breakfasts with coffee."

Renee smiled as an old, sunbaked man came from the back, his hands cramped from arthritis as he wiped them on a towel. "Jackson!" He grinned to show he was missing a tooth, but honestly, it only made him look more authentic. "Ma'am," he added as he nodded to Renee, his eyes quickly taking in her fatigue. "How would you like your eggs?"

"Whatever is easiest," she said as she slid up onto a stool, shoulders slumping as Ed set two worn coffee mugs on the bar. "Scrambled?" she added, and Ed nodded.

"Scrambled it is." Silent, he poured the coffee and went back through the open archway to the kitchen.

Jackson sighed as he sat beside her, then leaned over the bar to take two sugars.

Renee almost moaned at her first sip, her eyebrows rising in approval at the rich, nutty taste. Nodding in agreement, Jackson settled himself, oddly silent as he dumped sugar into his coffee, his brown fingers encircling his mug looking strange to Renee after two weeks with August's long, thin, red ones.

The faint hiss of the steak going on the grill rose, and the cracking of four eggs whetted her appetite. "What's the name of this place?" she asked, not having seen any sign out front.

"I have no idea." Jackson seemed to start. "Hey, I got you something," he said as he reached to a back pocket and brought out a slim volume. "I picked it up after Hancock okayed their access to the nature books, and then I forgot to give it to you."

"Ooooh, thanks," Renee said as she took it. It was a book on local flora, the illustrations hand drawn, many of which were accompanied by footprints of native animals. "Jackson, this is signed," she said as she turned to the front pages, and he smiled, seemingly embarrassed.

"Is it?" he questioned, but she was sure he had known. "I just thought you might like it."

"I do. Thank you." She flipped through a few more pages. It was really more an expression of art than a resource, and it was ticking all her boxes. "It's beautiful."

Jackson stared at the bottles behind the bar, both hands around his mug. "I knew you had to leave your library. And you seem like a book person rather than going online to look something up. I thought you might like the pictures even if it's not useful."

"Oh, this is useful," she said as she closed it to enjoy later. "Online gives you so much that you can't find what you're looking for." Her fingers reluctantly left the cover. "Thanks. I love it."

Okay. He gave me a book, she thought, not sure why he had, seeing as he seemed embarrassed about it now.

Eyebrows high, she took a sip of coffee and listened to the jets take off. "Mmmm. Good stuff. So. Meeting?"

"Wow. Okay." Jackson stirred his coffee as he thought. "I wanted to talk to you about your time in quarantine, and I didn't want to do it on-site. I want the real squirt, Renee," he said as he shifted to face her. "Not what you think I want to hear, or what you think will get you what you want."

"Like a raise?" she said, and he almost choked on his coffee.

"Right to the hilt," he said when he could talk again. "Nice."

"Don't ‘nice' me." She breathed deep, relishing the scent of her coming breakfast. "I have been working twenty-four seven for two weeks for a forty-hour-a-week wage."

"No, you locked yourself in quarantine and made my life hell," he shot back, grinning. "Tell me what you think of the Neighbors."

She slumped, resisting the urge to shift her chair back and forth. Never hurts to ask. "I think we are lucky that they haven't demanded their three dead people back," she said wryly.

Jackson sighed. "I honestly don't know where they are. I don't think Hancock does, either." He hesitated. "Monroe might. He's been in DC a lot lately."

"Tayler does." She shifted her mug so the chip was on the other side.

He bowed his head, the flats of his arms on the smooth bar. "I'm working on it. And will you please not go off half-cocked, and give me the space to gracefully settle this?" His head lifted, and he took a sip of cooling coffee. "I'm still trying to patch the dam you shot holes in by locking yourself and Will in quarantine."

"It worked, didn't it?" she asked, and he chuckled.

"Yes, but the damage you caused was considerable." His expression fell as he sobered. "Seriously. I had to pull too many strings to keep you out of detention for locking Ryerson in that room."

Guilt flickered, then fear at the remembered sounds of gunfire, muffled but deadly nevertheless. "Then maybe he needed more training before being put in that position," she said. "You should be thanking me."

"Funny. That's what I told Hancock," Jackson said. "But then you took refuge in quarantine to avoid the repercussions? Using my passcode?" His eyes went to the bar again. "I didn't sleep for three days. You have no idea. Looking at you through four inches of glass, unable to do a damn thing if you suddenly bloated up, blistered, or died. Or worse, if they decided to string you and Will up and see how you tick. We would have had to go in with lethal force to get you out, and then there'd be men in quarantine and nineteen Neighbors on cold marble slabs."

She hunched over her coffee, unrepentant. "That wasn't going to happen."

"Yeah? Don't ever do anything like that again, or I'll help Hancock put you in the lowest cell and forget about you."

"Relax, Jackson," she said nervously, her eyes going to the book he'd given her. "I wouldn't have had to do it if Hancock had trusted my work. Besides, it's not as if there's anywhere else I can go that is remotely dangerous or life-threatening."

But even as she said it, her thoughts went to the labyrinth. Noel had walked the pattern and vanished. It might be just that easy.

"Renee…" Jackson growled in warning, and she beamed at him innocently. "If you so much as hint that you are thinking of going Nextdoor, I will chain you to your autoclave."

Head shaking, she chuckled. "Yeah, I got it," she said with a cheerful acceptance. "But it does bring things into sharp perspective, doesn't it?"

Jackson's attention flicked from the sound of their steaks sizzling to her. "What?"

She lifted a shoulder and let it fall. "With their portal functional, they can pop from place to place like snapping their fingers. We can't contain them. We are no longer in control. They are their own identity. Like France. Or Sweden."

Jackson slumped, fingers pressing into his forehead. "Yeah…"

"E-e-e-exactly," Renee said. "Has it occurred to you that they are staying in the barracks and courtyard because they don't want to scare us into doing something stupid? They can leave anytime they want, and not simply back to their world, but onto the installation, and from there, wherever. We'd have to kill them to stop them."

Jackson nodded. "Which is why Hancock thinks they haven't," he said with a sigh. "But yes. I have thought about it." His gaze unfocused onto the future. "Maybe I'm in over my head."

She pulled her coffee close, sipping the cooled brew. "You? God no. I'm glad you're in charge. Can you imagine how hard my life would be right now if Hancock was running full throttle without you to even him out?" She shifted nervously. "I'd probably still be sleeping on the couch, and Tayler would be working on her second pair of dissections."

He chuckled, eyes flicking to hers. "My life would be easier, though."

Renee took a gulp of her coffee, trying to drain it so her refill would be hot. She could smell their breakfast. Warm potatoes, steak: God, it smelled good. "Tayler is a trip. Why did you even hire her?"

"I didn't." Jackson looked into the depths of his coffee. "Monroe did. Before I knew Neighbors existed. She's been attached to them longer than I have, but that doesn't mean as much anymore."

Renee's stomach rumbled as the grill went quiet. "Well, if you didn't hire her, can you at least fire her?"

He sighed as he took two napkins from the dispenser and slid her one. "No." His gaze went to the kitchen. "Hancock says she'd go to the press. I agree."

"Huh," she said, then added, "Hey, now that I'm not in quarantine, how about a raise?"

"Damn, woman!" Jackson said, meeting her grin. "Are you blackmailing me?"

But her smart-assed answer died when Ed came out, two plates of food in his hands.

"Oh, God. Is that ours?" she said, though it was obvious. "Ed, this looks magnificent," she said as he set the eggs, potatoes, and the ten-ounce tenderloin before her. "Heaven," she added, mouth watering.

"Magnificent?" Ed said with a laugh. "Jackson, she's too good for you," he added as he retrieved the nearby coffee carafe.

"This here…" Jackson drawled, "is a business meeting, Ed. If it was a date, there'd be alcohol. And who said I'm looking?"

The old man winked at Renee as he refilled her mug. "That you've never brought anyone here before says." Chuckling, he turned and sauntered into the kitchen.

"Mmmm, this looks great," Renee said, ignoring Jackson's fluster as she went for the potatoes. They were seasoned perfectly, and the eggs were fluffy, not overcooked. "Man, this is really good," she said as she started eating in earnest. "Thank you, and not just for breakfast. I was about to go stir-crazy." She poked at the eggs. "That's why I took August up on the roof this morning," she said around her full mouth, wincing when Jackson smiled at her. "Uh, he had to be going nuts," she said after she swallowed. "I wanted to show him there was beauty here." Her head went down. "After what Tayler did to his people," she finished softly, hesitating when she noticed Jackson was cutting his steak into small, identical cubes. Just like his lasagna.

"I thought he was going to up and fly away," he said, his demeanor distant. "Don't do that again. Please?" He set his knife down and took a bite of steak. "Would you go if you had the chance?"

"Where?" she said, then her eyes widened. "Nextdoor? You just said…"

He shrugged, an elbow going onto the bar. "Will has asked to go. He wants to head a small linguistics team. Immerse himself in their culture."

Her fork dangled from her lax fingers. "We don't even know if we can use their portal, and even if we could, do you think Hancock would allow it?"

"I told him we need a spy over there," he said as he reached for his coffee. "Will is our best bet, seeing as he can understand their language better than anyone."

"Dirty pool," she muttered, but it was exactly what might convince Hancock to let Will go.

"I'm tempted to ask Noel." Jackson's fork slowed. "Trouble is, I don't know what I'd be sending him into. It won't be anything like what he's been doing. We're in control here."

"We used to be," she pointed out, and he nodded ruefully.

"Granted. We were in control. Now we aren't, and they seem to be reacting better than we would in the same circumstances." He hesitated. "I want your honest-to-God opinion, Renee. If I send Will, do you think I will have made a mistake?"

He wants my opinion? she thought, suddenly worried. Her next words might result in someone she cared about being hurt. "You—you're asking me if I think they will kill him," she said, and Jackson's eyes pinched.

"Or make him a hostage, or put him in the zoo, or subject him to unending tests," he said.

"As Tayler did."

Jackson used his fork to push his eggs around. "Yeah."

"Or," she suggested, "if they will be more human than human and treat him with respect and dignity instead of a science project."

"Yeah," he said again, softer this time.

Renee wiped her lips and reached for her coffee, mulling her answer. "I think it would be a mistake not to," she finally said, and Jackson's head shifted, his expression unreadable. "Will was right there. He knows what Tayler did and what the Neighbors might do in retaliation. But he also believes that communication is the basis for all understanding." She took a bite of fluffy egg. "If it were me, I'd send some cadavers first and a good anatomy text so they have something besides Will to satisfy their curiosity with."

"Cadavers again," he complained. "What about you? Do you want to go?" he asked, and Renee's pulse quickened. "Seriously. Not as a stunt to prove your theories, but go as a representative? You'd have the chance to study their critters in their native habitat, and our animals in theirs."

"No," she said, her thoughts going to August. If she left, he wouldn't be able to stay, and she saw his desperation to remain, his need to learn what he could here. "I can screen species for testing easier from here. Besides," she said, embarrassed at Jackson's obvious relief. "It's too risky to take our animals Nextdoor. Any studies should be done here."

"So you wouldn't go if given the chance? Good," he said, then went back to eating with a methodical precision.

"Well, I didn't say that exactly," she said. "And what do you mean by ‘good'?"

"It means good." He turned to the door as it opened and a long rectangle of light spilled in. "I like you here. I missed you complaining over lunch about whatever wrong of the day you wanted righted."

Wrong of the day? she thought, wondering what that meant when she turned as well, her eyebrows rising when she recognized Vaughn's silhouette before he shut the door and it was lost.

"Hi, guys!" the tall dark-haired man said cheerfully as he strode across the old floor. "I hear they serve breakfast. What's on the menu?"

A muffled groan slipped from Jackson. "Vaughn," he said pleasantly, but it wasn't enthusiastic, and Renee found herself grinning.

"Hey, Vaughn," Renee said cheerfully. "Whatever Ed puts on a plate, I imagine."

"Wow, that smells great," the man said as he closed the gap, and Renee pulled her book closer. "Mind if I join you? Oh, you're almost done," he added as he saw their plates.

"Yep." Jackson sat back on his stool. "Sorry."

But he didn't sound sorry, and Renee patted the stool beside her. Vaughn was dressed casually in jeans and a regulation tee, his hand looking empty without his usual leaf-motif ring.

"I don't mind if you leave when you're done," he said as he settled himself, taking a moment to move his phone from his pocket to the bar. "I can finish up alone."

"Great," Jackson said, but his smile looked forced, and he was fidgeting uncomfortably.

"Hello, sir. Yes, sir. Coffee please," Vaughn enthused as Ed came out from the back. "Black, no sugar," he said when Ed gave him a high eyebrow and refilled Renee's and Jackson's mugs. "And two eggs over easy?" Vaughn added. "Toast?"

"Yes, sir," Ed said as he filled Vaughn's cup and moved the cream closer.

"Mmmm, smells good," Vaughn said, filling the silence as Ed replaced the carafe and headed into the kitchen. "I've never seen it so empty."

"Oh, you've been here before?" Renee asked, and Vaughn bobbed his head.

"Karaoke Thursdays." Vaughn's neck reddened as he glanced past Renee to Jackson. "But you didn't hear that from me."

Renee eyed him in amusement, but it vanished when Jackson slid from his stool, his phone in hand. "Could you excuse me for a moment?" he said, phone held high in explanation.

"Sure." Vaughn sat with his elbows on the bar, looking gangly and awkward. "I'm here to talk to Renee, anyway."

Oh, really…

Jackson took a step back, his expression apologetic as he took his plate and slid almost to the other end of the bar.

Renee stabbed at the last of her potatoes, suddenly uncomfortable. "Are you here doing your counselor thing?"

"Guilty as charged." Vaughn fiddled with the coasters, turning them all the same way and right side up before tapping them even and setting them back on the bar. "I haven't had you in my office in a few weeks. How are you feeling?"

Renee's glance at Jackson was envious. "I'm fine," she said. "Tired, but fine." Her attention returned to Vaughn. "I know I've just spent two weeks with an alien culture and you are eager to do your job, but can we do this maybe tomorrow after I've had some sleep?"

"Uh-huh." Vaughn sipped the coffee, grimacing as he reached for more cream. "Sure. Can I ask you something as a friend, then?"

That sounded even more dangerous, and Renee focused on her eggs. "Sure. What?"

Vaughn faced her, his eyes flicking over her shoulder to Jackson and back. "Is there a history of being batshit crazy in your family, or was it because your brain was fried by the sun at your last job?"

Renee's lips parted. "Excuse me?"

Smirking, Vaughn raised his hand, ticking off his fingers. "You busted an at-risk mental patient out of a military hospital."

"Will isn't a mental patient. He was there to keep him quiet," Renee protested.

"Then stole your superior's access code to break into quarantine, locking both of you into a potentially hazardous, possibly deadly situation to prove a point."

Renee hunched her shoulders and sipped her coffee. "A point I had scientific backing to support."

"When you had no idea what might happen or what their motives were," Vaughn finished. "We still don't."

Annoyed, Renee turned to the tall man. "I think their motives are trying to save their world."

"Perhaps," he admitted. "We only have their word on that. And what will be the cost? With their technology, we could wake up one morning to find they have a portal embassy in every major nation. And the morning after that, they are messing with our economy as they buy up our resources. There's an entire world on the other side of that portal, and we know nothing about it."

"Then I guess maybe we should all learn how to whistle, huh?" Renee said, immediately regretting her sarcasm when Vaughn frowned. "Look. August isn't lying. His reactions to our ecology weren't faked. Their world is dying."

"And ours is not," Vaughn said, the excited edge to his voice finally dulling. "I say that makes them dangerous, not lost kittens. As I told Tayler, we don't know their motives."

A soft ache had started behind her eyes, and Renee sat back on her stool, wondering if this was where Tayler's fear came from. Good thing we're talking like friends, huh, she thought. Not doctor to patient. "They came with water purifiers, not guns."

Vaughn's eyes widened. "Okay, I'm going with brain fried by the sun."

Eye twitching, Renee felt her mood shift into defense mode. "You think I was crazy for proving they are not a biological risk?"

"Maybe." Vaughn glanced past her to where Jackson was still on his phone. "I'm not saying stop what you're doing and run for your fallout shelter, but Tayler is right. They are incredibly strong. They can see in the dark far better, and they have a language, both written and oral, that we can't duplicate. They are dangerous."

"So are people," Renee muttered, head throbbing as she sipped her coffee. Her stomach had begun to hurt, and her breakfast had lost its appeal. Why does this guy always give me a headache?

"Ah…" Vaughn drawled knowingly, his gaze rising to Jackson at the end of the bar, his back hunched as he listened to his phone.

"Ah, what?" Renee asked as Vaughn nodded in satisfaction.

"Perhaps your motive was not a misguided philanthropy," the tall man said with an air of self-importance. "Perhaps it's your fallback. Making decisions to put yourself in a safe place where no one can reach you."

Misguided philanthropy? "You just said they were dangerous," Renee protested, and Vaughn nodded.

"I meant an emotionally safe place where you can avoid making long-lasting bonds," he said.

Lips parting, Renee turned to follow Vaughn's attention to Jackson. "Excuse me?"

Vaughn made a little smile. "You like him," he said, and Renee rolled her eyes even as her pulse quickened. "I get it. What's not to like? Especially when it's so obvious that he likes you. Go on a date," he challenged Renee. "Prove me wrong. Prove that it's philanthropy, not fear, that motivates you."

Appalled, Renee just stared. One moment he's telling me to be scared of Neighbors, and now I need to date more? "I thought we were going to do this tomorrow," Renee said as she rubbed her temple. "And I do not drive people away because I'm afraid of commitment." Damn it, she thought as she pushed her plate away. Now I'm not hungry.

"Interesting." Vaughn blinked knowingly. "I never said anything about driving people away. Renee, I've read your file."

Renee froze, stifling a stab of fear. "All eight weeks of it? Good for you."

"No, all twenty-plus years of it," Vaughn said. "Jackson couldn't bring you in on this without a full history."

Scared, she turned to him. "Full? How full?"

"All the way to the top full."

Renee shifted, ready to slide off the stool and walk out the door. "Great. See you around."

"Renee…" Vaughn wheedled.

She looked at Jackson, suddenly not trusting his turned back. He knew what I did? God help me. "As I said before, I'm not talking it over with you," she said coldly. "I have dealt with it and put it in the past. And even if I haven't, I'm quite sure I don't want to open up to you that far." Her pulse hammered. "Counselor."

"Fair enough," Vaughn said, the man's feckless act completely gone. "But I'd like to propose that you haven't put it in your past or you wouldn't be getting yourself in these situations. I need to know that you aren't going to put yourself or anyone else in needless danger again, requiring foolish monetary or personnel expenditures to get you safe while you avoid something people do every day."

Renee squinted at Vaughn. God, how could he just spring it on me like that? I'm going to have nightmares for a week. But that had probably been the point. "Which is?" she asked, afraid of what he might say.

Vaughn's attention flicked to Jackson and back, his brown eyes intent. "Make lasting emotional bonds," he said, and when Renee frowned, he added, "Fall in love. Go on a date once in a while for God's sake."

Breathe in, one-two-three. Breathe out . "You are barking up the wrong tree, Vaughn," Renee said, then eased her grip on her mug. "I'm not avoiding people because I'm afraid of being hurt." I'm avoiding them because most of them suck dishwater.

Vaughn's eyebrows rose high. "Working in the desert milking snakes?"

"It's a lucrative position," Renee said, done with this conversation. "I'm my own boss, and the employees don't give me any problems apart from escaping every now and then."

"Okay." Vaughn sighed, his attention going to Ed as he brought out a plate of food. "Can I have that in a box?" he asked, and Ed stopped short, grumbling under his breath as he went back into the kitchen.

"Oh. Good. You're leaving," Renee said tartly as Vaughn slid from the stool. Chicken, Renee thought as she looked down the bar at Jackson, his wide shoulders hunched as he ignored them.

"My deed is done here," Vaughn said brightly as he glanced at the receipt stapled to the bag that Ed had set on the bar. "If you don't call me by tomorrow to make a real appointment, I will intrude on your life," he said as he put a twenty on the bar and his phone back in his pocket. "And I promise you it will be in the most awkward, embarrassing moment I can find. Got it?"

And this wasn't? "Got it," Renee echoed sarcastically. There was no way in hell. She would go hide out Nextdoor first.

Shit, she thought, suddenly cold. Maybe he's right?

"Thanks, Ed," Vaughn said, then louder, "Bye, Jackson. See you Wednesday!"

Boots thumping, Vaughn stomped to the door, mood bright and apparently happy at the chaos he was leaving behind.

"No you won't," Jackson muttered as he inched back down the bar toward Renee, bringing his empty plate. "Renee, I'm really sorry. I didn't know he was going to do that. I was simply trying to avoid him."

"Do what?" Renee said, exhaling as her headache eased. "We were just talking."

"Right, and that's why your knuckles are white," he said, and Renee let go of her mug to hide her hand under the bar. "He was in my office yesterday trying to convince me that I had issues with my mama and that he needed some reassurance that it wasn't going to impact my decisions."

"You were avoiding him," Renee accused, and he shrugged, embarrassed. Damn it all to hell, he knows what I did. "There was no one on your phone, was there."

"I was checking the weather." Jackson glanced at the door and sighed as he resettled himself on his stool. "It's going to be nice this weekend. Want to go for a hike? I know a great spot."

"Whoa. Slow down. A date?" she questioned, and Jackson smiled.

"We can call it a business meeting if you want," he said, and then he sobered. "Renee, I like you. I like your odd but workable jumps of thought, your internal strength, and your courage to stand up for August and his people."

Brow furrowed, she looked away. "You don't know me at all. Apparently I'm doing all that because I'm avoiding people."

"You're right. I don't know you. But I want to." He hesitated, voice soft as he added, "I'm patient. I will go as slow as you want, and if you'd rather, I'll walk away and pretend this conversation never happened. I can do that. I have done that. But tell me right now if I'm wasting my time and you won't give me a chance."

Her pulse quickened, and she forced her hands to unclench. "You saw my file."

He exhaled, long and slow. "Before I met you, yes. If you ask me, you handled an extremely difficult situation the best you could. One that I hope I will never be in, yes. You are courageous, Renee, in a way that not many will ever have to be. I respect that. I want to get to know that."

She grimaced, stifling a surge of anger. Maybe fear.

"That, and it doesn't look good when I date people who are a lower rank than me," Jackson said lightly.

She let her shoulders ease, appreciating the levity. "Ah, now we get to it." She concentrated on her hands as she reached for her coffee. They didn't shake at all. It felt like a win.

"There's too much baggage if I try to date off-site," Jackson was saying, leaning against the bar as if he was on a photo shoot for the military's-best calendar. "They're all looking for something I'm not," he finished, shuddering.

But if they were laughing, or pretending to laugh, she didn't have to cry. "I'm sorry, Jackson," she said, voice light again. "But I can't date you. I want a pay increase, and if I get it after you asked me out, that's going to look really bad."

He dramatically blinked, but she could see his real relief that her earlier mood was returning. "I'm not giving you a pay increase, so the point is moot."

"Why not?" She turned to face him directly. "I deserve it. Look at what I've accomplished."

"Broke quarantine security," Jackson said. "Endangered yourself and another employee. Snuck into medical. Gave me an ulcer."

The corner of her mouth curved up. "Got your linguist back where he needed to be. Facilitated a communication breakthrough. Created a feeling of motivation and a viable framework to work with Neighbors on a joint project." She hesitated. "Prevented a cross-worlds incident."

"Okay, okay." He held up a hand as if in defeat. "So my choice is asking you out on a date and not giving you a pay increase that you deserve, or giving you the pay increase you deserve and not asking you out?"

She nodded, eyes held wide as she waited.

"You're right," he said, and her pulse quickened. "You deserve a pay increase. Ten percent—"

"Ten!" she blurted, and a smile threatened.

"Okay, twelve."

"And dental," she added, slipping from the stool as he reached for his wallet and put two twenties on the counter.

"Why?" He stared at her. "Your teeth are beautiful."

"Because I go to the dentist." She beamed at him as she took her new book in hand, eager to show it to August. "I want dental."

"Oh, God. Fine," he grumped, then turned to the kitchen. "Thanks, Ed!" he shouted, adding, softer, "You can have dental. But don't tell anyone."

"Great. Thank you." She fell into step beside him, the book he'd given her held in her left hand. Her right hand swung, barely missing his as they headed for the door. "So, I hear there's a great network of hiking trails nearby. We should go this weekend."

Jackson pulled the door open, his surprise clear in the bright light that spilled in.

"But we'll have to take your Jeep," she added, laughing. "You didn't ask me out. I asked you. See the difference?"

"Not really," he said, and she walked out into the sun beside him as if coming out of a storm. He knows. And he is still here.

"Why the change of heart?" he asked, and Renee scuffed to a halt, her eyes going to the nearby traffic.

"It will get Vaughn off my back," she admitted. "And I like your taste in books."

A wide smile came over his face, and he bobbed his head, a hand coming up to touch just under his nose. "You got yourself a date."