Falling in like with someone is an odd thing. You don't expect it to happen after you reach certain age, as if you're too mature to crush on someone and can't just be happy the other person is around. It sneaks up on you, though, and it definitely did to Jo Martinez.
The first inkling that Jo had that she might be in like with Lucas Wahl was when she saw him smile at her when he met her at a case. He looked at her like she made the sun come out from behind the clouds and had put everything to rights in his world. It was such an utterly disarming smile that she looked to see if someone else was standing behind her.
"Lucas. Hi," she said, suddenly pleased to see him.
"I came with Dr. Washington," he said as they watched the senior ME investigate the scene. "I'd have to say that Henry does it with more flair, don't you think?"
Jo smiled at him in commiseration. "He's more entertaining at a crime scene, that's for sure."
"I never went to many crime scenes before you started visiting Henry. I bet you didn't even know who I was," he said.
"No, of course, I… didn't," she admitted. "I'm sorry. But I know who you are now."
"Detective!" Dr. Washington called out to her to show her a relevant fact about the victim's cause of death.
"Saved by the doctor," she said before she got the preliminary details of the death from the medical examiner.
"Thank you, doctor," Jo told him when he was done.
The older man nodded, and walked back to the car he was using. Lucas had been standing near Martinez and moved toward his ride. Jo reached out to keep him a moment longer.
"What do you think about the cause of death?"
"Dr. Washington is usually right, but he doesn't pay me to think," Lucas said wryly.
Jo gave him her serious look. "I want to know what you think. You've been working with Henry long enough that you know what to look out for."
His smile that had been so bright upon first seeing her shriveled into something tentative. "Yes, Detective."
"It's Jo. You can call me Jo, and we'll talk about the case," she said.
"Or Henry," Lucas acknowledged.
"True," she admitted. "But it doesn't always have to be that."
She softly smiled at him and wondered what she could do to bring out that huge smile again. As challenges went, it was one she was willing to take. But first, she was going to pick his brain for how he might handle the information from the case.