Page 83 of Once a Hero

It all came to head six months prior when she had tracked him all the way to the ocean and called for help.

Perhaps she felt lonely. Treasure hunting could be a lonely business.

Jake tried again. “What’s on your mind?”

“This postcard might have an extra layer inside,” Beatrice said. “But what if I’m wrong? We’d ruin the postcard taking it apart.”

Slowly, Jake got up from the armchair. He touched her arm and then interlocked his fingers in hers.

The office door was still open, but Beatrice didn’t care. She liked the feel of his warm hand.

“Tell me what you were thinking just now when you sighed,” Jake almost whispered.

“Nothing important.” Not to the project, anyway.

After this, Jake would probably get his badge back and return to the FBI. Beatrice would continue her work.

“I’m listening,” Jake said.

“Are you prying?”

“I wouldn’t be if I thought there was nothing between us.”

There was something. But... Where would they go from here?

“Maybe there’s nothing between us,” Beatrice finally said.

“Do you believe that?”

She couldn’t reply.

“I didn’t think so. Otherwise you wouldn’t have let me hold your hand.”

Beatrice smiled. “That means a lot to you, I suppose.”

“I don’t usually go around holding people’s hands, if you must know.” Jake stepped closer. “Nor do I go around doing this...”

He leaned toward Beatrice and his lips found hers.

They stood there for a while.

Then Beatrice backed away. “We’d better x-ray the postcard in our mobile lab.”

Jake’s eyelids opened. “Back to work, I guess.”

“Yep. Back to work. We have to learn to draw some lines or we’ll never get anything done.”

“We’d get some things done, but they may not be work related.” Jake drew a deep breath. “Although relationships do take work.”

“A lot of work. Maybe more than we have time for.”

Jake shook his head. “We’ll find time. If God wants us to proceed, He’ll give us wisdom to find time for each other.”

“Let’s get the project done, and we’ll see where we go from there.” Beatrice sat down. The screen had gone to sleep. She tapped on the trackpad. The screen displayed a password box.

She quickly typed in her password.

The key search program was still running.

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