I heard my name called and I stepped forward to rap the door lightly with my knuckles. The door abruptly jerked open and Maria stood there looking embarrassed. In fact I had never seen her so embarrassed before.
"I'm sorry! I didn't realize that I'd locked you out in the hall. I……"
I held up a hand and she stopped and I waited for her eyes to raise up to mine. "Your world has been turned upside down. A man as close to you as a father has departed from your life leaving a big hole behind. You almost died and now you're alone with a stranger in a partnership that you don't want or understand and you're not sure what's going to hit you next. Am I right?"
I saw her lean into the door slightly, as the emotion of everything that she was dealing with seemed to catch up with her.
"You're tired Maria. It's all right if your actions don't seem to make much sense right now and that you're not your usual controlled self. You are after all only human. So this is going to be the way of it. We're going to see what is of use in that pack that you were given and while you get a hot shower and relax a little I'll make reservations for us to have dinner. We'll go out and eat and then come back. You'll camp out on your bed and I'll camp out on mine and we'll amicably fight over what we want to watch on TV, not that there's anything worth fighting over."
Her tired eyes watched me curiously, as she leaned against the door, "You're being nice to me, why?"
"Males by nature are fix-it people and right now you're broken."
"So once I'm not emotionally stressed and overwhelmed you'll go back to being mean?"
"Probably." I dryly responded.
She rolled her eyes and opened the door wider. I stepped in and set the heavy pack down on a nearby table.
"I'll take the bed by the door and you can have the one by the window."
"Why?" Maria asked defensively.
"Because if someone breaks in I want to be the first one to deal with them."
"I can protect myself!" Maria hotly responded.
I turned to her and stated in a firm manner, "Maria this is a case in point of where you're just going to have to accept what I say as the final word on the matter and yes I am well aware that you are capable of protecting yourself."
To her credit Maria kept her mouth closed and I turned away and refocused on opening the pack. It zipped open to reveal two sides jam-packed with stuff.