Fit for the Job by Darien Cox Page A

speak with Sassy, all without Bodie asking to pat him down. Perhaps he’d forgotten.
    Perhaps later, Jay would have to remind him.
     
    ****
     
    The instructor at the rock climbing gym, a wiry young guy with an over-enthusiastic demeanor, frowned up at the wall as Evelyn scaled it like a spider, reaching the top in record time. “Well, geez,” he shouted up. “Have you done this before?”
    Evelyn smiled down at him. “Nope. But I’ll do it again. This is fun!”
    Jay expected Bodie to take his turn next, but he hung back, his eyes darting around the room at the other climbers. He seemed to be in sentry mode, probably nervous about having Sassy out in public, where she could crack at any moment and try to steal some stranger’s cell phone.
    “What do you think?” Jay asked Sassy, who grinned upward as Evelyn pushed back off the wall, swinging on the rope as she descended back to the floor.
    “That looks fun, what she’s doing right now,” Sassy said. “Can I just do that and skip the climbing part?”
    Jay grinned and shook his head. “Exercise. Remember? Come on, I’ll do it with you. We can take it step by step, I’ll stay alongside you.”
    Sassy finally agreed and the two of them got hooked up. Jay coached her along the way, making suggestions as to where to put her feet, while he tried to drown out the cheerleader-shouts of encouragement from the instructors below.
    Their ascent was slow, and Sassy’s arms trembled as they moved higher, but she didn’t quit. It took some time, but when they’d made it nearly to the top of the wall, she turned to Jay, a sheen of sweat glowing on her forehead. “ Now can I do the swingy thing?”
    Jay looked down at the instructors. “She’s ready to come down!” he shouted.
    “Okay,” the peppy young man shouted. “We’ve got you, girl!”
    Sassy squealed as she pushed off and was lowered down. Jay followed after. As his feet hit the floor, he caught sight of Bodie, watching him with a smile.
    After their rock climbing excursion, Jay instructed Bodie—who’d insisted on driving even though he didn’t know the area—to take them to Hemenway’s for seafood. The host led them to a table near the window with a view of the water, which pleased Jay.
    It made him nervous, however, when Evelyn slid into the seat beside Sassy, which meant Jay was forced to sit next to Bodie, whose close proximity was doing inappropriate things to his body. Their arms kept brushing as one of them reached for something on the table, and Bodie’s scent filled Jay’s nostrils, making him dizzy.
    They made small talk, then quieted when their meals came, all of them hungry.
    “So how did you like rock climbing?” Evelyn asked Sassy, who consumed her baked stuffed lobster with enthusiasm.
    “Good,” she said with her mouth full, eyes darting around the room. She seemed to be enjoying her food and her ‘people watching’, eyes repeatedly drawn to a group of young, college-aged men who clustered around the bar.
    Something about that made Jay sad. Sassy was clearly interested in boys, as a normal girl her age would be. He supposed what upset him was the reminder that her current situation was anything but normal. Part of him felt compelled to ask her about her relationship with her father the next time they were alone. But Bodie had asked him not to, and he’d abide by that. Besides, it was none of his business. He needed to separate his job from his personal feelings, which was already proving harder than he’d anticipated.
    One of the young men at the bar seemed to notice Sassy watching him, and offered her a smile, until he caught the death-stare Bodie was giving him, and quickly turned away.
    Jay chuckled. “So Sassy, will you play tennis with me tomorrow?”
    Sassy looked across the table at him and frowned, setting her fork down. “Why can’t we go out again?”
    “Your dad said three times a week,” Bodie offered, his tone gentle. “Don’t want to push it.”
    “That