My heart began to pound, causing Jared to look up. I realized that I was going to spend the entire week of Spring Break on a beach with him, and the thought made my cheeks flush red.

Jared smiled, guessing what made my heart flutter. “This might be your first vacation with me, but it’s not my first vacation with you.”

“It’s the first time you’ll sit with me on the plane,” I said a bit too eager, grinning from ear to ear. Jared chuckled at my enthusiasm.

Cynthia’s reaction differed. “He’s there to work, Nina. Please keep that in mind. Jared, make sure she is here on time.”

“Yes, ma’m,” he said, his soft eyes never leaving mine.

With that, Cynthia disappeared once again.

I couldn’t help but think about lying in a hammock with Jared. It already seemed like heaven.

“I am suddenly looking forward to vacation,” I grinned.

Jared leaned over to touch my cheek. “Lying with you on a Caribbean beach at sunset? I’ll have to remind myself that it’s real.”

“What will you have ready?” I asked.

Jared’s attention turned to the paper he was holding once more, and his eyes narrowed. He didn’t make eye contact when he spoke. “Uh…all of my surveillance supplies. We typically bring about fifteen hundred pounds of tech with us, but with Claire going to Tahoe, I’ll be carrying light. I’ll set up a perimeter around the premises….”

“What is it?” I leaned over to see what he was so absorbed in and recognized it was a bank statement. I’d seen it several times before during my search, but set it aside in the scrap pile.

Jared pointed to a section of the statement and I gasped. It was a monthly charge for a safety deposit box. Box eight twenty-five.

“Jared!” I cried, grabbing his arm.

Jared looked at his watch. “The bank is closed.”

I sighed, deflated. “We’ll go first thing Monday morning.”

“I’ll go. You have class.”

I grimaced. “I’m going, Jared. We’re doing this together.”

He sighed as we gathered the piles of papers and photos and replaced them. Jared lifted the plant as if it were an empty cardboard box and returned it to its proper place.

My cell phone buzzed in my coat pocket. The display lit up with Kim’s name scrolling across the screen, and I closed my eyes. “I bet she’s calling about the pub tonight. I forgot all about it.”

“Hey Kim.”

“You’re not backing out, Nigh. Don’t even try,” she said.

“I wasn’t going to, I….”

“Sure you weren’t.”

“I’m sorry, Kim. I forgot,” I said, rubbing my forehead with my fingers, feeling a stress headache coming on. “But I’ll be there.”