Slow No Wake - By Dakota Madison Page 0,12

lab in high school. I decided to store it in my bank of images I could use to defend myself against Eddie’s charms.

“Mr. LaRoche is the science teacher,” Serenity said.

“He’s also one of the Ropes Challenge Course facilitators, which is where he is today,” Trinity added.

“Are you talking about those big obstacle courses used for team building and personal development training?” I asked.

The twins both nodded. Then Serenity added, “But, back to Mr. LaRoche…”

“Stay away from him,” Trinity warned.

“Why?” I asked.

The twins looked at each other then they each took an elbow and dragged me out of the school building.

When we were in a more secluded area away from the main buildings, Serenity said, “Mr. LaRoche is kind of a jerk.”

“He’s an asshole,” Trinity interjected.

Serenity frowned at her sister and continued. “The kids call him Mr. Roach because they can’t stand him. They say he’s really hard on them…”

“Which isn’t a bad thing,” Trinity added.

Serenity continued, “He seems to lack some compassion. But that’s not the reason you should stay away from him.”

“It’s because he’s a dog,” Trinity said.

Serenity leaned closer to me and said quietly, “He’s dated half the women who work here, and I used the term dated loosely, if you know what I mean.”

“She means he’s a screw-and-bolt kind of guy,” Trinity clarified. “He actually had the nerve to ask us if we would both date him because he’d never been with twins before.”

“He’s a walking STD,” Serenity said. “Just steer clear of him.”

“Thanks for the warning,” I said. I was definitely going to stay as far away from Mr. LaRoche as possible. I didn’t need that kind of tidal wave going through my no wake zone.

By the time we got through the inpatient building and back to our offices, it was nearly time for lunch.

“We live right down the street,” Serenity said. “So we always go home for lunch.”

“Our grandmother left us her house when she died,” Trinity explained.

“You can join us, if you’d like,” Serenity suggested.

“Thanks for the offer,” I said. “But I was planning on going to the cafeteria.” I didn’t want to add that I was hoping to see Daniel again and I needed a break from the twin-bantering.

“When we get back, we’ll be happy to show you all you need to know about the electronic file system,” Serenity said.

“That sound great,” I said. “And thank you both so much for everything.”

“No problem,” the twins said simultaneously as they turned and hurried down the hallway.

I breathed a small sigh of relief. They would certainly take some getting used to.

When I looked at my watched, I noticed it was a few minutes before noon. I hoped I could go to lunch with Daniel again and I hoped I hadn’t missed him.

He wasn’t the type I normally went for either in looks or personality. He was more reserved and less self-assured than I was used to. He was almost the complete opposite of my ex-fiancé, which was certainly appealing, but there was more to it than that. I felt an inexplicable connection to him even though we barely knew each other. I was sure that I wanted to get to know him better.

When he popped into my office a few minutes later, my heart leaped. I was beginning to think he had gone to lunch without me.

“I was just finishing up with an intake,” he said. “You haven’t had lunch yet, have you?”

“No, I haven’t eaten,” I said. I didn’t want to admit that I was waiting for him.

“Great,” he said then seemed unsure of himself again. “I mean, it’s great if you want to have lunch with me again.”

I smiled and grabbed my purse. “Of course.”

His glowing smile lit up the room. “Let go.”

Daniel suggested we both get boxed lunches so we could take them outside and sit by the pond. I loved the idea.

We grabbed a bench close to a small waterfall and watched two ducks playing in the water. It had been a while since I actually got to listen to the blissful sound of water falling. “This is lovely,” I told him.

“I feel very fortunate to work here. It wasn’t easy trying to find a job when I graduated. Not a lot of organizations were hiring graduates with a degree in anthropology. Plus, the economy had gone from bad to totally sucky. Jobs were scare. My college roommate got a position here and he saw they had openings for Bachelor’s level clinicians. Luckily, I did a minor in psychology, so they