You & Me (You & Me Series Book 1)

by Lisa Shelby

  “Uh, yeah I do. She’s with Martinez?”

  “Yeah, she is with Martinez,” I hear Emmett say quietly under his voice as he slaps me on the back.

  Fuck me!

  I fight the urge to turn and take a swing at my friend. Instead I decide to be mature about the whole thing and turn to give him some stink eye. And that’s when I see Emily coming up behind us.

  Surprised and looking nervous she says, “Hey Jonathan, I didn’t think you worked on Saturdays?”

  Sorry to ruin your plans with Martinez, sweetheart.

  “I don’t but they needed somebody to pull an OT shift so . . . here I am. I didn’t know you were interested in a ride-a-long?”

  “Always have been, but Mickey refused to take me. Emmett here over-heard us talking about it and offered. I can’t wait!”

  “Well, have fun. I’m sure I’ll see you out there.”

  I know I should turn around and load my gear into my car, but she and I just stand there and stare a little too long before she quietly says, “See you out there.”

  Arranging my trunk and making sure I have everything I need for the following shift, I’m trying not to stare at Emily at the car beside me, looking so cute in her ‘bulletproof vest’ that I know, isn’t really bulletproof. It’s not like you put these things on and you’re suddenly superman with super powers that prevent you from getting hurt. As cute as she looks, all I can really think about is how I wish she wasn’t out here. Not only because she’s with a very single and very flirty Martinez, but also because it’s not safe. I should be the one keeping her safe. Why the hell is she here?

  Just as I’m closing the trunk to my car, I hear Martinez answer his phone. I can tell it’s not a good conversation; something is wrong. As much as I don’t want him around Emily, he’s still my friend and I’m worried something bad has happened. I can’t tell what though. He’s answering in short clipped responses and not saying much.

  “Yeah mom, I’m on my way,” he says as he ends the call.

  “Emmett, brother, what’s wrong?” I ask.

  “Jonathan, my dad . . . he’s . . . he had a heart attack and they’re taking him to the hospital. Right now. I gotta go.” He turns to look at Emily and says, “Sorry Emily, but maybe another time?”

  “Of course, go and don’t worry about me. I hope your dad will be okay.”

  “Emmett, whatever you need just let me know. Go on and go. I’ll call and check on things in a few hours if I don’t hear from you.”

  I bring him in for a hug and say, “It’s gonna be okay, Emmett. Be strong for your mom and for your dad. You go take care of yours and we’ll take care of you. Now go.”

  “Thanks, man.”

  I watch as he runs back into the building and hope that his dad truly will be okay, and if not, I just hope he makes it there in time to say goodbye. Not getting to say goodbye to mom, I know how important that is. Shit, I don’t know if I’ll ever get over not being with her at the end. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about it.

  “Well, I guess I better go turn this vest back in. I’ll see you later.”

  Her voice brings me back to the present, and the fact that the woman that has been on my mind every second of every day, is standing here with me. I guess there’s no time like the present to man up and start the process of getting my girl back. I hate that Emmett’s dad is sick, but they do say that things happen for a reason.

  “No need for that, you can jump in with me.”

  She looks at me with apprehension on her face and starts to play with her necklace. “You sure?”

  “Yep, I’ll let the sergeant know when we get logged on and we’ll be set. Let me just make room in the front seat for you and we can hit the road . . . unless you’d rather just ride in the back?”

  “Ha, very funny, Georgia. I can wait for you to move things.”

  I fucking love it when she calls me that. It means she’s comfortable and reminds me of Cali. Baby steps are what I need to take and I’ll start with that.

  “Here, let me just put this in the back and you can go ahead and get in. Just don’t touch anything,” I say only half joking.

  “What could I possibly break?” she says as she gets in the car. “Okay, you were right. There are lots of buttons and do-hickies in here that look they do something that I shouldn’t make them do, so I will not touch a thing.” She yells at me from her still open car door.

  I join her in the car, start the engine and turn on my MDC. I explain to her that the MDC is the Mobile Data Computer and show her that this is where we see our lists of pending and active calls. It’s also the system we use to run license plates. There’s also an IM system on it so that officers can send messages to each other or the dispatchers. I let her know that she can run some plates for me later and her face lights up like Christmas morning.

  I check my lights, sirens and set my radio volume and get ready to head out. I can’t believe she’s sitting in my patrol car with me. She’s been all I have thought about for a week and somehow, on my day off, I happen to come to work and here she is. I know she once told me she wasn’t sure if she believed in fate, but I sure as hell do.

  We’ve been at it for a while and there have just been a couple of little stops here and there, but nothing too exciting. She asks lots of questions and I let her run plates on the MDC, but for the most part things stay business like and we don’t discuss anything personal. For me it’s all personal. Sharing such a big part of my life with her is a big deal. Her interest in wanting to know about this world, my world, is a big deal to me. Having her so close to me brings me a calmness I haven’t felt since I was with her in Mick’s kitchen, before she friend-zoned me that is. Oh God and her smell. To have her smell all around me in my car is something that I wish I could bottle or put into one of those car fresheners that look like a tree. She smells better than any perfume out there. I will not stay her friend. Fuck the friend-zone! I need so much more than just being her friend.

  We stop at Subway to get a quick bite to eat and I squeeze into one of the tiny little booths they have there. With all my gear on it’s not the most comfortable, but you get used to it and make it work.

  “So, how’s Ireland? Is she adjusting well to leaving California?”

  “She’s seems to be doing great so far. She loves her new pre-school but luckily she’s only going for a few hours a day, since I only have part time hours at the high school. She loves being close to my mom and Mickey, so she’s a happy little girl. I’m pretty lucky, she’s always been easy. I had an easy pregnancy and a fairly easy delivery. She was four weeks early and really tiny but she was a great baby. Now that she’s a great big four your old, she’s still pretty great.”

  “Well, look at her mom . . . she was born with pretty great genes.”

  “Shut up,” she says as she throws a Cheeto at me.

  “It’s true, Em, she’s pretty damn lucky to have you for a mom.”

  “Well, thanks but it hasn’t been easy. I’ve had lots of help. That old saying ‘it takes a village’ is pretty true.”

  “Why didn’t you move home to be with family when you had her?”

  “Well, I really didn’t want to quit school. I had just started my new job working as an administrative assistant at an Occupational Therapist’s office and the people there were great. It was like an instant family and just what I needed. Not only was I twenty-one, in college and pregnant but I started that job the day after leaving San Clemente and I wasn’t exactly in the best head space.”

  If it was even half as hard on you Gracie, as it was on me, then I know exactly what kind of head space you were in.

  “When they found out I was pregnant I thought for sure they would get rid of me, but they gave me enough hours to get health benefits and still go to school. Technically, it was illegal for the drug testing company to tell them I was pregnant but they couldn’t have been better about it. It took me a little longer to finish school and I didn’t graduate i
n the spring like everybody else, but I did finish by the next fall.”

  “Hit me,” I say as I lift my hand.

  She slaps my hand and says, “Thanks. I do deserve that one, don’t I?”

  A giggle bubbles out of her and I can’t help but smile as she continues to talk. The high five was all I was willing to do or say because the last thing I want is for her to stop opening up to me.

  “I have to confess walking around campus all big and fat was not fun. You don’t see too many knocked up seniors walking from class to class. Let’s just say my senior year wasn’t everything I hoped and dreamed it would be. I got through it though.”

  “What did you do with Ireland while you were at school?”

  I’m so impressed that she finished school with everything that she was dealing with at the time. What a bad ass!

  “Well, that was the other reason I decided to stay in California. My position at the clinic was actually available because the woman that had previously had that position was retiring. She taught me her job and then a few months later she retired. She decided that she was bored and called me up at work one day and said that once the baby was here, and I was ready to go back to work and school, that she would love to babysit for me and free of charge.”

  “Whoa.”

  “I know. She was a life saver. Her name is Charlotte and Ireland absolutely adored her. The feeling was mutual. She refused to let me pay her, so I would have to get creative and find ways to pay her back in little ways here and there. I would save up what money I could to be sure that I could slip her a gift card or some sort of money on Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, President’s Day—you name it. I did whatever I could to repay her because without her I really don’t know what Ireland and I would have done.”

  “Sounds like all that good you’ve always done for everybody else came back around to you, just like you deserve.”

  With her sandwich suspended in mid-air she asks, “What in the world are you talking about?”

  “Emily, you have no idea the joy you bring to people. In just the nine days I spent with you in California I watched you bring smile after to smile to people’s faces. There is a light in you that just reaches into people and lights them right up along with you. I’ve seen it happen to young and old. There was the older gentleman on the pier who you helped with his jacket. There was little Jacob and Buzzy Bear at Icon’s, and there was the crying kid on our hike at the top of Patriots Hill. You calm people and you bring them joy, Em, that’s just what you do. You don’t even realize it, but you do.”

  “How do you remember all of that from so long ago? Until you just reminded me, I didn’t remember any of those things. Well, that’s a lie, little Jacob was pretty hard to forget. Still, your mind is like a steel trap!”

  “I’ve said it before; I remember everything about you Emily. I know you only want to be friends, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve forgotten a damn thing.”

  “Jonathan . . .”

  She starts to speak but I get a call on my radio about a drunk driver not too far from where we are.

  “Sorry, Em, we gotta wrap this up and go. Got a call.”

  “No problem, I’m done. Is everything okay?”

  “Sounds like a drunk driver not far from here.”

  We toss what was left of our meal in the bin next to the exit, jump in the car, and head out towards the last location the car was spotted.

  “21-0-1 en route. What was the make of the car again?” I ask into the radio.

  Dispatch replies that we are looking for a late model, blue, Toyota Camry. As we turn the corner onto Division Street Emily points it out and I pull up behind the car to run the plate. At the moment the car doesn’t seem to be doing anything wrong, but that soon changes when the car runs a red light right in front of us.

  “Shit!” I say as I turn on my lights and sirens. It takes some time for the car to finally pull over. When it does, I radio my location to dispatch.

  “Em, I’m gonna need you to get out of the car and stand on the sidewalk at the rear of my car. That’s the safest place for you to be. Just stay there okay?”

  “No problem, Georgia.”

  God, if this woman only knew what she does to me!

  “Thanks and please stay there.”

  I approach the car and see that it’s a female driver in her late thirties and she has a young, teenage boy in the car with her. As I approach the car she still hasn’t rolled down her window and her son has to get her attention and tell her to roll the window down.

  “Ma’am can you please hand me your license and registration?”

  Again, her son has to get her attention and he actually ends up getting the registration out of the glove box and takes her license out of the wallet in her purse. Poor kid, this doesn’t seem to be a first for him.

  He hands the items to his mom who passes them to me. When she finally looks up at me, she isn’t shy when she gives me a once over and then a big smile comes over her face as she hands the registration and ID over to me.

  “Here you go, officer.”

  “Thank you, ma’am. Do you know why I pulled you over this evening?”

  “Sorry to say I don’t, sir,” she slurs her reply.

  “Well, ma’am you ran a red light back there. If you can just stay here I’ll be right back.”

  I head back to the car and stand towards the back with Emily. She’s quiet and just watches everything happen. I radio dispatch with the VIN number of the car and her ID number. They let me know that she has a suspended license from a previous DUII. As I finish with dispatch, Benson drives up to serve as my back-up.

  Just great, poor kid is gonna have to watch his mom get arrested tonight. I hate this part of my job.

  I walk back to the driver’s side window and ask that they both get out of the car. I ask her son to stand on the sidewalk on the side of the car. His mom gets out and as soon as she’s standing in front of me I can smell the alcohol. She is beyond drunk. She’s blasted out of her mind.

  “Ma’am if you could come stand over here.”

  She meets me at the back of her car where my car lights are illuminating the situation now that the sun has almost completely set.

  “Ma’am how much have you had to drink tonight?”

  She tries to step closer to me, and just as she’s about to reach a hand out to touch me, I ask her to step back towards the car.

  “Ma’am, please stay where you are and I’m going to ask you again . . . how much have you had to drink tonight?”

  Slurring and wreaking of booze she answers. “Oh, just two glasses of wine. I’m fine.”

  I see her son sit down on the curb with his head hanging between his shoulders. He’s placed himself between the back of his mom’s car and the front of my patrol car. I’m sure he’s been through this before and he looks tired, sad and alone.

  I put his mom through a barrage of tests, and I look over to see that Emily has joined her son on the curb and is shaking his hand. She starts to talk to him and I can see his body language ease just a bit as some of his stress ebbs from his shoulders. I don’t need a breathalyzer to know she’s drunk, but we’ll deal with that at the station.

  I can see that Emily is rubbing her son’s back and trying to comfort him. God she is an amazing person. I should consider myself lucky to count her as a friend, but of course I’m greedy and want more. Moments like this make my feelings for her even stronger than before. It’s in this moment that I know without a doubt I am still in love with her. She is and always has been the one for me. This is really not the time for this revelation to occur as I have a job to do. Besides, realizing I am still in love with her shouldn’t be any kind of surprise to me. There hasn’t been anybody that has even come close since her.

  Come on, Kelly, focus for Christ’s sake!

  I have what I need, and it’s time to head off to jail. Before we can head out we’ll need to pat her down to make sure she doesn’t have any weapons or drugs on her. Beca
use she’s a woman, Benson does the frisking, I hand-cuff her and go to put her in the back of my car.

  As I put my hand on the top of her head to make sure she doesn’t hit her head, she slurs, “Officer, you sure do smell nice. What kind of cologne is that?”

  “Soap ma’am, just soap.”

  “Well, it smells awfully nice.”

  I really hope Emily didn’t hear that. Worse than that though is now telling this kid that his mom won’t be going home with him.

  “Hey Bud, Officer Benson can give you a lift if you like. Do you have grandparents or any family that we can call that you can stay with for the night?”

  “I can call my grandma. I’m sure she can come get me.”

  “Why don’t you give her a call and Officer Benson can take you to her? Do you have a phone or do you need to borrow mine?”

  “Thank you, sir but I have my phone here. I’ll call her now.”

  Emily stands to give him some privacy and walks over to Benson and I.

  “His name is Jason and he’s thirteen. He said he knew she shouldn’t have driven, but she picked him up like this in front of his friends and he didn’t know what to do. He was so embarrassed that he just wanted to get out of view of his friends. He’s a really sweet kid.”

  “Thanks for keeping him distracted, Em, that was really nice of you. Although, I did tell you to stand on the sidewalk at the back of my squad car, not to sit on the curb up here, but still . . . thank you.”

  “No problem, he looked so alone and I just couldn’t take it, so I came and sat with him. Sorry for breaking the rules.” Oh how I would love to punish her for breaking those rules later, but we’re just friends. So that won’t be happening unless I pull up my big boy pants and prove to her that we can be more than friends.

  Jason walks over and explains that his grandmother is expecting him and that if Benson can give him a lift to North Portland where she lives he would really appreciate it.

  Emily walks over to him and gives him a hug. Of course, that is what she does.