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he was moving here for me, but wouldn’t it put him in more danger if we were seen together, and everyone knew we were friends?  I would have to ask him about that.  I still wasn’t sure if Chuck was watching him or not.
    “Well, I don’t think you have to worry about your job.  If you remember, it was overhearing you telling me about putting in your two weeks’ notice that got Garret in such a bad mood yesterday.  If he didn’t want you to quit, why in the world would he fire you?”
    “I don’t know, but he was so angry with me.”  I really didn’t like when people got angry at me.  It made me nervous.  I didn’t think he would hurt me, but I really didn’t know him very well, either.  My mind kept going in circles about what I thought about him.  I guess it stemmed from not having confidence in my judgment of people.  The thing that made it worse is that I really liked Garret.  I don’t know when I realized it, but I knew I was falling for him.  The only other time I’d felt like this was with Chuck, at least in the beginning.
    Just then Garret and Stefan came strolling up.  They were whispering the whole way to my desk, and when they got there, Stefan asked Claire for assistance on something and they walked off, leaving me with Garret.
    I looked up at him, nervously.  “Um, Mr. Starr, I just got here, I was running a little late, so I’ll bring up my computer and get the messages together and bring them to your office.  Do you need your coffee?”  I knew I was babbling, but I like I said, I was nervous.
    “I’ll get my coffee, Dina.  You go ahead and get the messages together quickly, and meet me in my office as soon as you can.  I have several things to discuss with you.”  He said evenly, not revealing what he was thinking.  I had always been able to read him before, but he was wearing a blank look on his face and I couldn’t figure it out.
    “Yes, sir.”  I responded as I turned back to my desk.  I knew he was going to fire me now.  He’d never spoken with me like that before, he was being so formal, and I knew he didn’t like doing that.
    A few minutes later, I walked into his office, put the messages on his desk, and sat in the chair in front of his desk, notepad in hand, hoping that all he wanted to do was dictate a letter to me.  I knew better, but it helped my nerves settle a little bit.
    Garret had just watched me the whole time with an expressionless face.  Finally he spoke.
    “Before you try to put your notice in, I have a few confessions to make.”
    “Sir, I’m not…”  I tried to tell him I wasn’t quitting, but he cut me off.
    “No, let me say what I have to say first.”  He let out a deep breath and looked out the window.  “Margie is my mother, whether she gave birth to me or not.  She has been there for me in one way or another for my whole life, and didn’t think twice about raising me when my mother left.  She has always had a big heart, and can spot a hard luck case from a mile away.”  I stiffened when he said this.  I didn’t know that was all he thought of me, and wondered if it was still that way.
    “When she got off of the bus with you tagging along behind her, I was wary of your intentions, especially when she told me you’d be living with her.”  He finally looked back over to me.  “As you know, one of the things we do here, is run background checks for companies looking to hire someone, so before you even came here for a job, I’d tried to run one on you.  I wanted to make sure you weren’t scamming Margie, or using her.”
    “Mr. Garret, I have tried to pay my own way since I got here, but as you know, she will not take anything from me, no matter how much I argue or how hard I try.  I clean and do any household chore I can think of to make her life easier, I would never take advantage of her kindness and hospitality.” I couldn’t believe he thought that of me.  I guess I kind of understood him being