Our James.

Episode 38: What a day!

"Welcome back!" Angie said with a strained smile. "That was one hell of a goodbye kiss! I take it the prison visit went well?"

Zoe struggled to find the words to respond to the false cheer but she lost for words. Then words popped into her head.

"We got snowed in and had to stay at a local inn. Luis Ramos showed up." Zoe stated.

Angie cried out in shock when Zoe mentioned Luis. She'd heard the horror stories and saw the pictures of the injuries Zoe had suffered at his hands. Zoe's current look was the result of multiple painful cosmetic and reconstructive surgeries from those days.

"He was surprised to see us there but he enjoyed telling us that he was going to kill us." Zoe was shaking with reaction as she relived the moments. Angie moved forward to comfort her but Zoe held up her hand and she stopped.

"James saved my life last night."

Angie looked, confused. "James? What could such a sweet man have done against such a psychopath-

"James pulled his arms off." Zoe answered Angie's unasked question.

Angie cried out in surprise and put her hands over her mouth. Her eyes were wide open and in shocked "James did what?"

She wanted Angie to think about what James had done for her and the potential cost. "James has been summoned to appear before a judge to see if criminal charges should be brought against him." She didn't bother to mention the cop's opinion that it was a formality. She'd let Angie sweat.

With that she spun and ran up the stairs to get cleaned up. She ignored Angie's shrieks to come back and give her more detail. Hurt James would she? Let her sweat.

James got to work late and pushed through the door into the lobby still wearing the clothes from the previous night. He had a scowl on his face from worry. He was so late!

Lydia, Mr. Draco's' daughter and the office's dispatch/receptionist/human resources officer looked up with a smile. The smile froze on her face when she saw the tall mountain of masculinity marching up to her desk.

"Good day Lydia." James rumbled in his fatigue. It had been a tiring morning.

"James?" she mumbled, her mouth hanging open.

"Yeah, sorry I didn't have time to change into my coverall. I just got back from visiting the penitentiary. We got snowed last night and had to stay overnight. We ran into some trouble in the bar and I hurt a bad man, I think he's going to lose his arms. I had to shovel the cars out this morning. Sorry. I guess I'm babbling still tired." James refocused on Lydia and she was staring at him with her mouth open. He reached over and lifted her jaw and she snapped out of her shock.

Lydia was seriously impressed with James's new look! His story of getting into a fight in a bar was cute as was the exaggeration of the man losing his arms. That was a dead giveaway that he really didn't know how to tell a tall tale. She gave herself a shake and smiled at him.

"Nice coat!" she said.

He smiled and modeled it for her and her grin got wider. This was the sweet James she knew. He flipped open the lapels and an envelope fell out of his inner pocket onto the floor. He picked it up and frowned. He opened it up and flattened out the papers on her counter.

"Oh yeah, I'm going to need to book a day off in January to go to the courthouse to speak to the judge about the man I hurt. The police officer thinks it will be ok even though I hurt the man so bad. Can we book the date now?" James asked.

Lydia picked up the papers and saw it was a court summon. A real court summon. She read the date and penciled it onto her notepad to enter it later into the office calendar. Her grin was gone as her shock returned. It was real!