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Saff stared at him for a moment. His tone wasn’t exactly unfriendly, but more so challenging, as if he wanted to let her know he knew certain things about her background.
“Probably the same as venture capital is going for you,” she replied easily.
A look of surprise flickered in his eyes. Then it was quickly replaced with a smile that actually seemed genuine—impressed even.
“Yeah,” he said with a chuckle. “I would imagine so.” He leaned back in the chair, drumming his fingers against the table. “Sylvia filled me in on the morning you had.”
Saff watched him, waiting for him to continue.
“How’d it feel?” he asked.
Saff raised her eyebrow. “How did what feel?”
“Being a doctor again.”
She looked away, not entirely sure of the answer.
It didn’t feel bad, but she hadn’t had enough time to process it all. Not yet.
“Different,” she finally muttered.
He looked down at the table with a small nod. “I can imagine.”
Saff turned her head to the side, scanning the rest of the dining hall.
“My daughter seems to think very highly of you,” he continued. “What did you do to earn that?”
Saff turned her head back to look at him, then shrugged. “Nothing. If anything, I’d argue I did the opposite.”
He chuckled at that. Then he looked up at something behind her and nodded. “Looks like we got our coffee.”
Saff glanced over her shoulder and saw Maddie and Erin approaching.
Erin set two mugs down in front of them. “Food should be out in a bit too,” she said, smiling warmly.
“Thank you,” she said, taking one mug and blowing off the top layer of steam.
Erin guided Maddie into one of the seats, then sat down beside her.
“I didn’t realize you would all be here so early. If I had known, I would’ve snagged you something to snack on.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t know we’d be up this early either,” James muttered, throwing a glance at Maddie as he sipped his coffee.
Erin gave him a small, knowing smile. Then she looked up and smiled at someone behind them. “There he is.”
Saff turned around and instantly recognized Carter striding towards them with another guy at his side. They were engaged in conversation, but both their eyes were locked on her as they approached.
“You guys are up early,” James said.
Carter grunted as he walked up. “Patrol thing after breakfast.” He pulled out a chair beside James and plopped down. “Hey, Maddie,” he said with a smile, then he cleared his throat. “Uh, it's Carter.”
Maddie smiled lightly. “Hey.”
The other guy pulled out the chair beside Maddie and sat down before looking back at Saff.
“Josh,” Erin started, “this is Saff.”
He watched her for another moment, then leaned forward with his hand outstretched. “Nice to meet you.”