Love Me Dear (Love Me Book 3)

Chapter 4

There was a knock on Trinity's front door just as expected. However, when she answered it, it was Josiah and not Levi. Levi has said he would be at her place at half-past eight to pick her up on his drive to the airport.

"Josiah," she greeted with a smile as she opened her door wider. "I was expecting your father. Have your plans changed? Am I no longer needed on this trip?" She did her best to keep the hope out of her voice. She hadn't seen Levi since the self-defense class a few days earlier and she was dreading it.

"No, I'm unable to make it. Levi asked me to pick you up and take you to the airport. He got held up on ranch business." Josiah noticed her bag by the door and motioned towards it. "Is this all?"

"Yes," she confirmed, following him out the door and locking it behind her. "I could have driven myself."

Josiah threw her bag into the back seat of the truck and then opened her door for her, pausing to look down at her. "I'm sorry, is opening the door for you a sexist thing to do? Perhaps I should have let you carry your own bag?" he asked with a bit of a bite to his voice.

"What are you talking about, Josiah?" Trinity asked turning to look at him.

"I didn't know you felt so strongly that we at Shaw Holdings were not treating men and women equally. I don't want to be politically incorrect, or make you believe that this is in some way demeaning," he said with a forced smile.

"Out with it, this has never been a problem before, why is it now?" She should have guessed that putting Levi on the spot as she had would come back to bite her in the ass.

"That's just is, I didn't know it was a problem either. That whole mandatory crap you pulled. You made Levi look like a sexist a-hole, something we both know he is not." His eyes narrowed in accusation as he looked at her.

Trinity closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I had my reasons, and I'm sorry. For the record, I don't think a man holding open a door for a woman or carrying her bag is sexist. I think it a very respectful thing to do and shows good manners." She watched him as he absorbed her words.

"What reason could you possibly have to put him on the spot like that. He has been nothing but good to you since you started working for the company!"

"I will apologize to your father when I see him," she said, ignoring the question.

"You know he set up that class for you, right?" Josiah watched her as she digested the news, his mark hitting home and making her feel guilty. "Levi was worried about you working at the office after hours on your own, and he wanted to make sure you were safe."

"I'm sorry," Trinity said again, her face flushing.

They looked at each other for a few moments before he opened the door a little wider for her to get into the truck, and they didn't say another word until the truck pulled out onto the highway.

"So who taught you to be so polite?" Trinity asked in an attempt to break the tension. "Was it your mother?"

"No, it was Levi," he said, his response short.

"I have great respect for your father. You know that right?" Trinity softly asked.

"It didn't show the other day."

There was nothing she could say to that.

"Thank you, though," Josiah said after a moment.

"For what?"

"For always referring to him as my father and not my step-father like most people."

"I only think of him as your father. Perhaps it's the age difference that causes people to remember that he's not your biological father. He's what, fourteen years older than you?" she asked.