Return to Corbin's Bend

by Corinne Alexander

  Julie narrowed her eyes at her, her mouth curving into a frown, seemingly unconvinced. “Really?” she asked flatly.

  Laney felt her resolve crumbling, but she fought the urge to beg for the nitty-gritty details. “So, what’s the special tonight, I’m starving!” she exclaimed nonchalantly, opening her menu, even though there was no need to do so. They got the same thing every time. The antipasto platter and the battered artichoke hearts. Laney had dreams about those artichoke hearts. She was convinced they were a little slice of heaven here on earth.

  “I already ordered.”

  Laney pursed her lips. So much for that line of distraction. She racked her brain for something to say to change the topic but came up blank.

  “Laney! You really don’t want to hear about the new guy? Not at all?”

  Laney shook her head vigorously. Nope. She most certainly did not want to hear about the hot new cop in town. Never mind that a gruff serious dominating type in a uniform was exactly the sort of man that filled up her dreams and fantasies on a daily basis. She wasn’t going there. She shook her head again.

  “So, I really spent a good hour grilling this guy over dinner last night for nothing?” Julie persisted, looking disappointed.

  That got Laney’s attention. She and Julie spent hours talking every week and Julie knew exactly what she was looking for. Heck, she probably had a better idea of what kind of guy Laney wanted than Laney herself. Grumbling to herself, she dropped the uninterested act, and picked up her martini, downing it in one long gulp. Slamming the glass down on the table, she caved. “Fine, I give! Tell me everything you know, and make it good!”

  Josiah peered out at the lightening and rain through the window of his cop car. It was his first night on the job, and he was loving it so far. He had been worried when he took the job with the Boulder Department about working for a big city, versus the work he had done in Green Valley— but the Corbin’s Bend beat was perfect for him, and the shifts were shorter, allowing him more time for a personal life eventually.

  He liked Corbin’s Bend a lot. He liked the people he had met so far, and this storm was reminding him of the summer storms they had at home. He turned the corner from Spanking Loop onto Main Street where a large majority of the businesses seemed to be located. He was still getting the lay of the land here, but one side of Spanking Loop was all mountain, and the other side seemed to be where all the action happened. He passed the minimart, and La Comida, and smiled when he came to The Ginger Paddle. So this is where it was. He slowed the car to stare at it for a minute. Last night at dinner with Matt and Julie, Julie had spoken very highly of the sushi artist there, a woman she called Laney. Nearly every chance she had gotten it had been “Laney this” and “Laney that.” She had been horribly obvious, to the point where at one time, Matt had given her a stern warning because of what he called “badgering the guest.” Josiah hadn’t minded. While it had been uncomfortable at first, she had eventually worn him down, and now, he was actually quite intrigued and even a little eager to meet the elusive Laney. He would definitely be trying some sushi on his first day off. His stomach growled at the thought.

  He felt the car shake and watched the trees bend as a huge gust of wind came from nowhere, and watched in confusion as the door to The Ginger Paddle swung wide open. He waited to see if someone would come out, but the place was dark. Had the storm done that? He pulled the car into park on the side of the road and went to investigate. The doors were newer, all of Corbin’s Bend was of course, so that didn’t seem to be the issue. Inspecting the jam, he shook his head. The door didn’t appear to have been locked. Somebody had closed up without remembering to lock the door. Unfortunate indeed, with the storm the way it was, but an easy fix. Lucky for the owner he had been in the right place at the right time. Now, he just had to call Brent and figure out who owned the joint.

  “We’re closing up now.” The middle aged bartender who had been kind and full of smiles all evening now glared at them impatiently.

  “But…but… it’s only ten!” Julie exclaimed, drunkenly, bursting into a fit of giggles while Laney looked on, laughing helplessly.

  “It’s eleven, and it’s a Monday night. You two ladies have been our only customers for hours now, and you’ve had more than enough to drink. I’m calling you a cab, Mrs. Renton.”

  “Fine, Fine,” Julie grumbled, fumbling for her purse. “But you better call one for her too!” she scolded the woman with a loosely pointed finger in Laney’s direction.

  Laney looked on somberly as Julie closed out their meager tab. Julie wasn’t really as drunk as she seemed, Laney knew. Just really, really buzzed. She just got a bit silly and loud when she drank, which wasn’t that often. Laney was the opposite and when she was drinking seemed to be the only time she got serious and introspective.

  “Hey, girl! Lighten up!” Julie yelled, smacking her on the shoulder a bit too enthusiastically. Laney winced and frowned at her.

  “You’re not going to be in trouble with Matt are you?” she asked, concerned.

  “Nah!” Her friend made a waving motion with her hand, as if to brush the thought aside. Then she stopped abruptly midway out the door. “Maybe,” she said, seeming a little more worried now.

  Laney just shook her head wistfully as they got into the waiting cab. This was going to cost a fortune, she realized. There was no cab service in Corbin’s Bend but there was one out of Boulder that was willing to work within Corbin’s Bend for a fee. She wasn’t quite as buzzed as her friend, but even if she had been, there was no one to do anything about it. She lived her life carelessly, she realized, because no one cared. She could do whatever she wanted and get away with it. It was a silly thing to be upset about, but she was upset about it nonetheless. A tear coursed down her cheek, and she cursed under her breath as she wiped it away. She knew it was just an effect of the alcohol, but she couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. She really wanted someone to care enough to turn her over their knee when it was warranted. As Brent and Ginger’s husband Beau liked to tell her, it often was. They were forever threatening her in a teasing manner. She just smiled and laughed her way through it, never letting onto how lonely their words made her.

  She told the cab driver to go to Julie’s first, as Matt was probably waiting for her. Lannea had no one to wait up for her or care what she was doing.

  Josiah pulled up to a house on the edge of First Street, that matched the address Brent had given him for Ginger Davies, the owner of The Ginger Paddle. He had tried calling first, as it was late, but no one had answered. He knocked and a serious looking man with wavy brown hair and dark eyes answered, wearing a dark colored suit. Josiah didn’t know what kind of person would still be wearing a suit at this time of night. He couldn’t imagine that it would be anyone he would ever get along with. Josiah was a jeans and T-shirt type guy when he was off duty, if he wore clothes at all. He had been known to spend many a day off lounging around his apartment in only his boxers. To each their own he told himself, going into cop mode.

  “Good Evening, sir,” Josiah said stiffly. “I’m Officer Jefferson of the Boulder Police Department, Corbin’s Bend Division. I’m looking to speak to a Mrs. Ginger Davies. Is she available?”

  The man furrowed his brow in concern and glanced over his shoulder. Josiah followed his gaze, instantly regretting doing so. Behind the man, standing nose to wall in a corner of the living room, was a tall slender redhead in full view of the door, with her very red bottom on display and her jeans around her ankles.

  Josiah flushed and looked down at his shoes, shocked and embarrassed. The man didn’t seem fazed at all, nor, he noticed, did the woman whose bare backside was on display for a total stranger. Good Lord, he thought, what kind of crazy place have I moved to? Are these people for real? So far, he hadn’t encountered anything quite like this. He found himself wondering if these types of things would soon be common occurrences to him as well. He hoped not.

  “Is this an emergency, Officer? Ginger is a lit
tle indisposed at the moment.”

  Josiah shuffled his feet, uncomfortably. Was this guy for real? Generally a police officer doesn’t come to your door at eleven o’clock at night unless it’s relatively important. “I need to speak to Mrs. Davies regarding a situation at her restaurant. I wouldn’t be here this late if it wasn’t time sensitive.”

  The man nodded tersely. “Very well. Give us just a moment please.” And then, he shut the door in Josiah’s face. Really? Now? Josiah shook his head. He had already seen everything there was to see, after all. These people were unbelievable. Maybe he wouldn’t be frequenting the sushi bar after all.

  Josiah stood there, growing more and more annoyed for a few minutes. When the door opened, the man was gone, and the woman from the corner was there. From the front, Josiah could tell she was pregnant, but not far, maybe three or four months along by his best guess. Josiah was relieved to see her face flushed with embarrassment. She hadn’t been as oblivious as she had seemed after all.

  “I’m Ginger Davies, Officer. How can I help you?” She met his eyes, and he saw a hint of defiance there. She was daring him to treat her any differently because of what he had seen. He smiled at the fire in her green eyes. Perhaps all was not as it seemed.

  “Mrs. Davies, I apologize for interrupting your evening, but there is a small situation at your place of business. It seems the door was left unlocked, and the storm has blown it open. I secured it as best I could to keep any storm debris from getting in and making a mess of the place, but you really should go down there and lock up.”

  Ginger regarded him with pursed lips and narrowed eyes. “I’m gonna kill Laney,” he heard her mutter under her breath.

  “I’m sorry?” That wasn’t the response he had been expecting.

  “My cousin,” she explained, brushing her hair out of her face in a gesture of annoyance. “She was supposed to lock up tonight, but God, I can’t count on her for anything! Beau! I need a ride to the shop!”

  Beau, the man in the suit, materialized beside her seemingly out of nowhere. “Honey, calm down. I’m sure there’s a good explanation. Maybe she got distracted in the storm. Or, maybe she thought she locked up, but it just didn’t click correctly, or something. It’s not worth getting worked up about. The officer caught it and let us know right away, so we just go down and lock up. Easy solution— problem solved.”

  To Josiah’s surprise and horror, the woman stomped her foot and yelled. “It’s not just about the door! She’s so irresponsible. I can’t count on her for anything! And then she’s always bugging me about when I’m going to make her partner! As if that’s going to happen anytime soon! She can’t even get her act together long enough to lock the damn door correctly!” She was cut off from her rant with a sharp slap to her backside.

  “That’s enough,” Beau said firmly. “You told her if she moved here with us, you would make her partner. And now you keep tacking on these ridiculous addendums to your agreement with her. I understand waiting until she comes up with the money, but once she has it— you sign the papers. End of story. If I hear anything that indicates otherwise…” he trailed off in warning. “Now, thank the nice officer, say good night, and get in the car. I’ll drive you to the shop. After we get home, we’ll be continuing our earlier discussion. Apparently it didn’t have enough of an impact.”

  His speech, and promise of further discipline apparently had the desired calming effect. She somberly thanked Josiah, bid him goodnight, and got in the car without another word. Josiah was once again reminded of the reason he had moved to Corbin’s Bend. The exchange he had witnessed was a good example of the reasons he believed in a domestic discipline marriage, and he had seen many like it within his own family.

  Beau lingered on the doorstep. “I’m sorry about that— all of it. Laney can be a bit of a hot button for Ginger sometimes. They love each other, but they drive each other crazy, and they are nothing alike. Ginger, she can be a bit tight, and Laney is a bit loose. If either of them could mellow to a happy medium, it would make all our lives a lot easier.” Beau shook his head grimacing. “Living with both of them, it’s interesting. Sometimes I feel like I have two wives, but I can only spank one of them. I do my best to keep Ginger under control, but I’m waiting anxiously for the day when Laney finds a good man to take her in hand. God knows she’s needed a good spanking for a long time, and there are times I’ve been tempted to say screw propriety and bend her over my own knee, but I’m a one woman guy, and I’m not too stupid to know that that would make things even more complicated than they already are.”

  Josiah had to hold his laughter in at the two wives comment. If this guy only knew. Still, he was willing to concede that he may have misjudged Beau. He had obviously caught the guy at an awkward moment, and he was the new cop in town. People weren’t really used to strangers in Corbin’s Bend. It was too small a place for anyone to stay strangers for long. As Josiah’s dad had always said, “Strangers are just friends that you haven’t met yet.” It wasn’t Josiah’s favorite saying. As a cop, he saw the danger in thinking that way, but in small towns like Corbin’s Bend and Green Valley, he could see where it was appropriate.

  “I feel for ya, man,” he said, losing his cop persona for the moment. “You have a good night, and I’ll see you around.”

  Beau nodded, clapped him on the shoulder and got into the car where Josiah could see a still very pissed off Ginger waiting for him. Women.

  Just as Ginger and Beau drove away up First Street, a cab pulled up to the curb from the opposite direction. This struck Josiah as odd, as he knew there was no cab services in Corbin’s Bend. Deciding to stick around, he got in his car and waited, watching to make sure that everything was okay.

  He watched as a slightly tipsy redhead got out of the cab, bending down to pay the driver, before she made her way up the sidewalk towards him. She did a double take when she saw him, and he could have sworn he heard her whisper his name. Followed by a clearer, “You have got to be freaking kidding me! I do not need this right now!” As she stomped passed him, ignoring his polite greeting, he could see that she was a knock-out. Short red hair, high cheekbones, smoldering green eyes. He could also see that those eyes were clearly wet and laden with unshed tears. She turned and headed up the steps to the home he had just left, and his heart jumped in his chest. This was Laney? The one Julie couldn’t stop talking about, and who Beau thought needed a good spanking more than anything? She was gorgeous, and for a moment he entertained very un-gentlemanlike thoughts about his being the one to give her the spanking, that to hear tell, she so desperately seemed to need. Her ass, like the rest of her was perfect, and he had a clear view of its round firmness through her very tight jeans as she ran up the steps. He was tempted to stay where he was and enjoy the view for a few minutes before getting on his way and back to work. But she was clearly upset, and what kind of man or cop would he be if he didn’t make sure a pretty lady was safe and sound? She paused at the door, and stooped down to dig in her oversize shoulder bag. “Crap! Crap! Crap!” he heard her exclaim as she continued pawing through the bag, growing more frantic.

  “Excuse me, ma’am, Miss?” Josiah saw his opening and took it. “Is everything okay? I couldn’t help but notice that you seem rather upset.” He crossed to the bottom of the steps in two long strides and peered up at her.

  “I’m fine!” she cried, refusing to look at him.

  He raised his eyebrows, contemplating his next step. These rumors he had always heard about redheads having the worst tempers were undoubtedly true if he counted tonight’s events as evidence. She was the second redhead tonight to yell at him in the span of twenty minutes, regardless of the fact that he was a perfect stranger and a cop to boot! And all he had done was offer his assistance! He chuckled to himself. Truth be told, he wasn’t turned off by her apparent attitude. To the contrary. This woman needed a spanking in the worst way, and somehow, someday, he vowed that he would be the one to give it to her.

  “Okay, then
if you’re fine, I’ll be on my way,” he said cheerfully, spinning on his heel and turning in the direction of his cop car.

  “No, wait!” He could hear her sigh in frustration over having to ask him for help.

  “Yes?” he questioned, with a smirk over his shoulder at her, still heading towards his car.

  “Hey! You asked if you could help! I said yes! Why are you getting in your car?” She ran down the steps to catch up with him just as he opened the driver’s side door and got in. “You’re really something— you know that? You ask if I need help, and then you get in your car and leave! Fine! Whatever! I don’t need your help anyway! Just go, you…you big jerk!”

  She attempted to slam his door shut, but Josiah grabbed her wrist, amused at her little rant. She was seriously close to seeing the error of her ways.

  “One, I asked if you needed help, and you declined my help. In fact, not only did you refuse me, but you yelled at me, which might I add, is incredibly rude to do to anyone who offers you help, but especially to someone you just met.”

  “Let go of me!” Laney yelled, attempting to break away from his grasp. “It’s also incredibly rude to grab onto people you just met! Let go now you big oaf! Or…or…I’ll call the cops!”

  Josiah quirked his brow at her. “I am the cops,” he told her evenly. “Did you not notice my spiffy blue uniform or this fancy white car with lights on top?” He couldn’t hide the amusement in his voice as Laney stood there sputtering. She had no response for that one, so he continued. “Number two, I’m not stupid. It’s obvious, even to a big jerk like me, that you left your keys somewhere. I’m guessing in your car, which judging by the fact that you came home in a cab, and you’re a little bit tipsy, is at a bar somewhere. Now, my shift is rather quiet tonight, so I’m offering you a ride to get your keys. Now, get in the car. Unless of course, you want to wait for your cousin to get home from her restaurant which someone apparently forgot to lock up properly tonight, causing the doors to blow open in the storm, causing a cop to come knocking on their door at eleven o’clock at night, just in time to see your cousin in the corner with a very red bottom. In case you can’t guess, she’s more than a little mad at you, and she should be pulling in any moment. So, unless you’d really like to be here for that shit-storm, I suggest you get in the car.”