Help Me Heal

Chapter 17

Three days later was a day off work for the Intelligence team. The timing was ideal as it was also the day that Kalinda could get the keys for her new apartment. Hank had offered to help her move her belongings into the place, an offer that she had gratefully accepted.

Her possessions were in a storage locker in Milwaukee. To make transporting them easier, she had managed to borrow a van from someone she knew who lived there. His van was available, but he wasn't available himself to drive it for her. That was where Hank was going to come in.

"So, what's the plan today?" Erin asked him. They were both sitting in the living room after breakfast, Erin busy on her tablet while they talked. Meanwhile, Hank was relaxing and enjoying his second coffee of the day, getting ready for what lay ahead.

"Kalinda is driving over here to pick me up once she's got the keys for her new apartment. She's driving us up to Milwaukee where we're picking up a van that a friend of hers is loaning her for the day. I'll drive the van and follow her to the storage locker where her things are, I'll load them in the van, then I'll follow her back to her apartment. We'll move her stuff into the place, then I'll follow her back to her friend's place with the van. We'll return the van, then Kalinda will drive us both back here."

"So musical chairs with cars," Erin commented with some humour.

Hank grunted a laugh. "You could say that. What matters is it'll get her things into her new place so she can start to settle in on her first night there."

"I hope you'll be joining her?" Erin enquired, looking at him over the top of her tablet.

Discussing sex, even in the vaguest of terms, with his foster daughter felt odd to say the least. "You think she'll be expecting that?"

"I would. She might want you to make the move though, so be advised."

"Thanks," Hank said vaguely. He did appreciate the advise, but mainly he wanted off the subject.

"You're welcome. Since you don't use social media, or know what it is, I decided to do you a favour. Here, for your viewing pleasure." She offered him her tablet.

"I know what social media is," he said with some amusement. Erin's light teasing was one of the many things he had missed while she hadn't been in his life.

"Just not how to use it. Well, I found Kalinda's Instagram account. Enjoy. I'm going up to take my shower."

Looking at the tablet as Erin left the room, Hank didn't care how or why she had done it, he was just intrigued to see the photos on offer from the account 'KRai212', with the screen name Kalinda Sushil Rai followed by a police badge emoji. Kalinda's profile picture alone was enough to start something stirring inside him. It was taken somewhere on vacation, somewhere hot. She had sunglasses perched above her forehead and a breath-taking smile on her face. For Hank, she was beauty personified. His connection with her was already feeling a lot deeper than physical, although he was intensely physically attracted to her.

Scrolling down the page, Hank began to look over the pictures that had been posted. The most recent, he saw, was nearly two weeks old, before Kalinda had moved to Chicago. It was a selfie of her in what he guessed was her old apartment, with a thoughtful expression on her face. 'Thinking about the future.' was the caption.

Me too, Hank thought. Maybe it was ridiculous. Or maybe he was becoming more of a dreamer in his old age. Either way, he looked at the picture and asked himself if he was looking at the woman who was his future. If things worked out, might they spend the rest of their lives together? Hank felt he would like that, but he didn't know how she felt about the whole thing. It was probably too early in their relationship to ask her. He assumed it was unlikely that her feelings had developed as quickly as his own.