It was one thing to say I needed to keep it together when it came to Julia when she wasn’t there and an entirely different thing when we were in the same room. I’d only just arrived at the after-school program site and my blood was already buzzing. I told myself to calm down as I made my way to her in the reception area of the foundation. She was in more casual clothes today. Jeans with a top and cardigan combo. Of course, it was Julia so there was still a lot of color. She had her hair pulled back into a puffy ponytail with gold hoops dangling from her ears. I couldn’t help the grin on my face by the time I reached her.
“Hey,” I said as I almost leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. It was a reflex from seeing her looking so familiar, like the embodiment of New York City. But this was not a kiss-hello situation, this was work, so at the last second I stopped, leaving us both in an awkward midair lean. I pulled back and offered my hand instead like a complete tool, but she rolled with it. “Thank you for arranging this so fast. I’m sorry I’m late.”
She gave my hand a long look, like she wasn’t totally sure I wouldn’t pull it back and leave her hanging again. “No problem.” She looked at her iWatch, then shook her head, a tiny smile on her lips. “Besides, you’re only like ten minutes late.”
“Where’s the suit jacket?” she asked, her eyes fixed on my bare forearms. I could feel the heat on my face and knew I was turning red.
“I thought I’d look more approachable to the kids if I wasn’t in it,” I explained, and felt extremely dumb as soon as the words came out of my mouth.
I pointed at the parking lot in the direction of my rental. “I can go get it.” Julia made a face at that, but I wasn’t sure what it meant. It was like she wanted to smile but was forcing herself to be serious. When she spoke, she couldn’t keep the amusement out of her voice.
“You sort of overthink things, don’t you?” It was more of a statement than a question, but I still didn’t know if she thought it was a good or a bad thing.
She wasn’t wrong. I could overthink things sometimes. My therapist said it was from growing up in a home when a wrong answer could get me yelled at or worse, and a father who was never happy with anything. This felt different though—I found that I liked Julia’s focus on me, especially if it involved one of those smiles that got me right in the gut. I turned to look at her and saw that she was still waiting for an answer.
“I can. But I also don’t want to disappoint the kids if you promised they’d get to see a real-life finance superhero.” I said it deadpan, so it took her a second before she cracked a smile. Those cheekbones popped and it was hard not to lean in and brush a kiss across one of them.
“You’re not funny.”
It would’ve been easier to believe if she wasn’t showing me all of her teeth at the moment. “I’m a little funny.” What the hell was this? Was I flirting?
Julia took another long look at my forearms and hiked a thumb over her shoulder. “We can head inside. The students start arriving at about four, so we’re in full swing already.”
I nodded as I followed her through a long hallway lined with doors. She pointed at a few of them that were closed.
“Those are the therapy rooms. We have about six therapists on-site and they see clients all week. We also have a couple of support groups. Those are weekly and usually it’s some kind of therapeutic model. We also have some for parents in the evenings.”
I nodded as I looked around. The walls were full of art and inspirational quotes and the far one had a mural with lots of flowers and birds. “That’s pretty.” She stopped right in front so we could take a look at it and pointed at some of the more colorful spots.
“Two local artists did this for us. The Sturm Foundation has great programs supporting the arts and two of their alumni offered to come and do it. They’re all flowers and birds indigenous to Latin America.” She beamed with pride