Chapter 24

A warm hand caught Maya by the forearm and yanked her upright. The next second, she stumbled into a solid chest. The man's muscles were all hard lines, and the impact stung the bridge of her nose until her eyes watered. "Are you okay?" The voice was familiar. Maya's head snapped up to look into a pair of smiling eyes. "Jasper? You're back too!" Relief loosened her shoulders, and a bright smile broke through. They had crossed paths often in Aygate over the past year, and the hospital halls had made them easy friends. "Yeah," Jasper said with amusement in his voice. "The peacekeeping rotation was a year. It's over, and I'm posted in Jormoose City now. What about you?" As he spoke, he was already crouching, gathering her spilled groceries. "I'll go back to working at the hospital." She bent to help, but he lifted the bags before she could reach them. "I've got these. You just lead the way," he said. Maya didn't argue. She walked him to her car. After they loaded everything in