Hooked

by Jaime Maddox

  Jess stood behind her oversized driver and pretended to study Mac. “You look like a ringer to me, Mac. And if you take advantage of me, who could I report you to? You’re the law.”

  “I think your father could put me in my place.”

  Jess thought about it for a second. “You’re right. Are you thinking you against me, or my team versus your team?”

  “As much as I’d like to challenge you, it might be impolite to exclude Wendy and Gayle.”

  “Another time then. For the one-on-one.”

  “It’s a date.”

  Jess nearly gasped, and as their eyes met, she saw a blush creeping up Mac’s face, a shade that surely matched her own. She smiled and turned away, but not before the heat warmed her all the way through.

  “Wendy. Are you up for a wager? A buck a hole?”

  “Ah, Mac!” Gayle said as she waved her hand, threatening Mac with the lit cigarette that protruded through her fingers like a weapon. “You just jinxed us!”

  In the end, Jess and Wendy were no match for Gayle and Mac. They managed to win three holes, one because Gayle and Mac screwed up, and two because they actually played well. In the noisy clubhouse after the golf, they mingled for a few minutes before taking their places at tables decorated with golf trinkets and balloons. Many of the women held wine and beer, but she noticed Mac stuck to water. She didn’t even try to hide it; she just sipped it straight from the bottle.

  “I’m having a few friends over to the house. Why don’t you join us?” Gayle asked after the awards were presented.

  Jess looked from Gayle to Mac, who suddenly became interested in her salad. No encouragement there. She was about to decline the offer when Wendy responded for them, without bothering to even look Jess’s way. “We’d love to.”

  It was only three o’clock, she had nowhere to be until the following morning, and it was another chance to mingle, to fulfill the promise she’d made to herself to have fun. To talk to Mac.

  “Left out of the parking lot, first right, third house on the left.”

  “Left, right, left. Got it.”

  “You’ll see cars,” Mac said as she sipped her water.

  Jess nodded as she bit into her salad. “What’s gotten into you?” she discreetly asked Wendy when she saw Mac and Gayle engaged.

  “Chrissy. I talked to her at the bar and she mentioned Gayle’s after-party. I was kind of hoping for an invite. You don’t mind, do you?”

  Jess didn’t face Wendy, but instead looked up and noticed Mac watching her. “No, I don’t mind at all.”

  *

  “It’s a little cold for the pool, but it is heated, so if you’d like, hop in. And the hot tub’s open, too,” Gayle said as she led them from her kitchen to her deck. “Clothing is optional.”

  An outdoor kitchen awaited them, as did twenty women, most of whom Jess recognized from the golf tournament. Without being obvious, she looked around, hoping to spot Mac, but saw no sign of her.

  Being more social in light of her recent infamy was difficult, but for the most part, people were respectful and didn’t ask questions about Hawk. The more tasteful ones mentioned it, just to get it out in the open, and quickly moved on. That was the case with the first woman who Jess spoke with, someone she’d played softball against in high school twenty years earlier. They’d seen each other occasionally over the years, and Jess had always liked her. “Hi, Karen,” she said.

  “I’d ask how you are, but I can only imagine. I’m glad that fucker’s in jail, and I hope they fry his ass. The course was in great shape today, wasn’t it? Heather came within two inches of a hole in one on number ten. Her ball mark was right next to the cup.”

  “Did she at least make birdie?”

  “Nope!”

  They talked about the tournament, which was a fund-raiser for a local charity, and about their hostess, who seemed to be more popular than the alcohol that flowed freely from a tap and several bottles along the bar. Karen’s partner, Heather, was perched on a stool and pouring generously. Since Wendy was enjoying herself so much, Jess stuck to water.

  “How long have you guys been together?”

  “Twenty years, I think. A long time.”

  “Thinking of marriage?”

  “She’s planning it. We have a good friend, an accountant, who tells us to do it right before we die, to save on inheritance taxes. Otherwise it costs us money.”

  Since marriage had never been an option for her, Jess had never spent much time fantasizing about it. She and Ward had exchanged rings on a tropical island once, but it wasn’t legal, and she hadn’t given it much thought. Their commitment wasn’t about a ring. Now that the Supreme Court had whipped everyone into shape, Jess had started thinking about it more. How wonderful to enjoy the same basic human rights as everyone else. Karen was right, though. If one partner got bumped into a higher tax bracket because of the marriage, it could be costly.

  Another acquaintance joined the conversation, and before long everyone was talking about marriage. Four couples were recently engaged, two had already gotten married, and others were contemplating the commitment. Jess wondered if anyone at the party was single.

  Gayle brought bowls of snacks around, and Jess used the break in the conversation to sneak away.

  “I thought I’d never get you alone,” Mac said from behind her as she exited the bathroom.

  “If I’d known you were trying, I’d have escaped sooner.”

  Mac took her hand and pulled her in the opposite direction of the noise, onto a round alcove on the corner of the porch complete with two rocking chairs. “Can I get you a drink?”

  “No, thanks. I’ve been nursing a bottle of water.”

  “Designated driver?”

  “I guess Wendy deserves to have a little fun.”

  “Don’t you?”

  “Who says I’m not?”

  “So you can have fun without drinking? That’s a rare and unusual talent among the women I know.”

  “So you don’t drink?”

  Mac laughed. “Hell, yes. But if I drink when I’m golfing, I play like crap. And if I drink now, I’ll be stuck here all night. So I have to pick my moments.”

  “Sounds pretty smart.”

  Pushing gently with her toes, Jess sent her rocker into motion and settled into it, enjoying the moment. The noise from the party on the other side of the house seemed to fade as she studied the trees surrounding Gayle’s house. She could see every color of the autumn rainbow in the foliage, but now their arms were giving up the leaves they’d carried all spring and summer, resulting in piles of color on the ground.

  Mac seemed to notice her observation. “It’s pretty, isn’t it?”

  Jess nodded. Since her abduction, she’d been trying to take more time for the little things that made life so good. Talking to people. Cooking. Exercising. And enjoying nature.

  She’d spent most of her childhood outdoors, riding and playing in the streets of Garden, then at the hunting club, where she and her friends swam in the lake and boated and hiked. She’d left that life when she went to the big city to study medicine, and she hadn’t realized how much she missed it until she came back. Periodic, three-day visits weren’t enough to reimmerse herself in mountain life, and her longer trips, vacations, were always to Europe or the islands of the Caribbean. It had been a year since she’d returned to Garden, and it was finally starting to feel like home again, in a way Philadelphia never could.

  Jess swiveled in her rocker and smiled at Mac. “I never realized how much I love it here, until I came home again. Something was missing, but I never could figure out what it was. Now I know. I need to be outside, getting my daily vitamin D.”

  “Makes sense to me,” Mac said as she replaced the cap on her water and set her own chair rocking. “How long were you gone?”

  Jess told her the story of her journey to Philly for med school and residency, how she’d fallen in love with Ward and decided to stay in Philly. “It seemed like coming home was
n’t an option back then.”

  “You’re right. The culture has certainly changed in the past few years. I bet you wouldn’t hesitate to move home now.”

  Jess nodded. “You’re right. Sometimes I feel like kicking myself, because I missed so much time with my parents, hiding in Philly where I could be out. Now my mom is dead, and I think my dad is starting to get a little dementia, so I don’t have much time left with him either.”

  Mac smiled understandingly. “You can’t dwell, Jess. Your parents raised you to go out into the world and be independent. I don’t know them, but I don’t think they would have wanted you to stay in Garden and work as a waitress at George’s Pub. They wanted you to go out and explore the world and find your place in it. For a while, that place was Philly. I’m sure the things you learned in Philly made you a great doctor, and now you’ve brought those skills back here to help your friends and neighbors. Now this is the next phase of your journey.”

  Mac’s words brought tears to her eyes, and she turned away before Mac spotted them, studying the foliage again, thinking back, remembering her mom. Packing food for Jess to take back to Philly. Washing and folding her laundry at the kitchen table when Jess came for her monthly visits during med school and residency. She could hear her mother’s voice, asking when she was coming home, and her own voice, making excuses because her addiction sucked up all her energy and she didn’t have any left for the trip. Finally, as her mother was dying, the wonderful talks they had. Her mother told her to have a child, because she needed to get grounded. A child would fulfill her, she said. And then, those words every child wanted their parents to say. I’m proud of you.

  At least I had a few months with her, Jess thought. I smartened up in time to help my mother through the last part of her life, and I’ll help my dad through this. And I let Ward go, so she could find happiness. Maybe I can find some, too. Seeming to sense Jess’s thoughts, Mac interrupted them.

  “I didn’t mean to make you sad. Should I tell you a joke?”

  “Hmm. I guess it’s worth a try.”

  “Knock knock.”

  Jess laughed. “Really, Mac? A knock-knock joke?”

  “See, it worked. You’re laughing already.”

  “Tell me the punch line, Mac.”

  “I don’t need to. You’re already laughing. My work here is done.”

  “That’s mean.”

  “Okay. Knock knock.”

  Jess looked at her skeptically. “Who’s there?”

  “Boo.”

  “Boo who?”

  “Please don’t cry.”

  Jess laughed again. “Okay, I promise. No more crying.”

  “So, do you really want to have dinner with me? Because I’m free tomorrow night, and I’d love to spend more time with you.”

  Turning, Jess met Mac’s gaze. The bright eyes held her, warmed her. Comforted her. “I’d like that, too.”

  “What time? Where?”

  *

  Even though Jess had been expecting Mac, the ringing doorbell nearly caused her to jump out of her chair. As she rose, she smoothed the wrinkles from her pants and checked herself in the ornate carved mirror in the grand hall. Hair down and in place. Lipstick still intact. Silk shirt draping elegantly, long chain accenting everything perfectly.

  Mac’s warm smile of greeting was replaced by an appreciative one as she checked Jess out. “You look great.”

  Dressed in a form-fitting Brooks Brothers suit, as always, Mac looked stunning as well. Tonight, though, instead of the white or light-blue shirt beneath, Mac had worn teal. It turned her eyes, and Jess immediately thought of the Caribbean. She couldn’t stop herself from touching the color. “You, too,” she said softly. Their eyes met for a moment before Jess forced herself to look away.

  They headed to Lake Wallenpaupack, a short drive from Garden, to a new restaurant Mac had heard about. Jess hadn’t spent much time out in the year she’d been home, so she was happy to eat anywhere other than her own kitchen. It was an easy drive on the back roads, and not surprisingly, Mac had insisted on taking the wheel of her state-issued Crown Victoria.

  “So you keep your police car with you all the time?”

  “I never know when I’ll get called.”

  “Sounds like a tough job, Mac. How do you do it?”

  Mac was quiet for a moment as she seemed to contemplate the answer. “It’s just what I do. It’s what I’ve always done, so it seems normal to me. Isn’t that kind of what it’s like for you as a doctor, never knowing when you’ll get a call from a patient?”

  “For some doctors, yes. As an ER doctor, I’m not technically on call. I get assigned shifts to work for the month and that’s my responsibility. If I have a conflict, I have to work it out, because I own those days. As the ER director, though, it’s a whole different story. I’m on call twenty-four seven. If a doc has an emergency and can’t find a replacement, I’m it. If there’s a bus crash, I’m the one they call. If a doctor hurts a nurse’s feelings and we need an intervention, I’m there.”

  “Do you get called often?”

  “Often enough that it’s stressful. But I’d rather be in charge of the problems than not, you know?”

  “Yes, I know exactly what you mean. I can make things happen the right way, and that’s important. When I’m leading an investigation, I know it’s being done properly and that the evidence will be processed and protected, because I’m in charge of the locker, and I know what I need to do to make the prosecutor’s job easier.”

  If the number of cars in the parking lot was an indicator, dinner was going to be good. Mac finally found a spot as someone else left, and she pulled in and jumped out to help Jess with the door. As they walked, Jess felt a gentle hand on her back, guiding her toward the podium where a hostess smiled warmly in greeting.

  “Your table will be ready in a few minutes. Would you like to wait here or have a seat at the bar?”

  “Would you like a drink?” Jess asked. “Maybe a nice glass of red wine to chase the chill? I mean, I know you don’t drink a lot, so don’t feel obligated.” Jess shut her mouth and shook her head, grateful when Mac rescued her. “It has gotten cold. A cab would be nice.”

  The day before, Mac had worn shorts for the golf tournament, and this evening, she’d pulled out her heavy jacket. September was still laying claim to the calendar, yet it felt like winter.

  “Do you spend much time at the lake?” Jess asked as she looked around the bar.

  Mac hadn’t been to this particular restaurant before, but she liked the look. The bar appeared new, and bright. This was a place to laugh and have fun, not to drown your sorrows and fade into oblivion. She did socialize at the lake, though. “Only if I’m invited out, I guess. I have my own lake and, truthfully, not a lot of time. I prefer a quieter setting to wind down.”

  “Do you boat on your lake?”

  “Non-motorized boats only.”

  “Kayaks?”

  “Oh, yes. Lots of kayaks and canoes, fishing boats, floats. There’s a dock to jump from, with a slide, and another floating dock about a hundred yards from shore. All the big kids swim out there to get away from their siblings.”

  “Do you join in the fun, or just watch?”

  “Sometimes I go out early, before they’re all awake. But sometimes I join the fun. They play baseball off the dock. The pitcher and the batter are on the dock, and the batter hits the ball and then has to swim to first base. It’s a lot of fun on a hot day.”

  “You pitch, right?”

  Mac looked guilty. “What makes you say that?”

  “You like to be in control, Mac.”

  “Don’t you?”

  “Well, like I said about my job, it’s better to make the decisions than bitch about them. But I’ve learned in the last few months that you can’t always be in control of everything. I’m working hard to relax.”

  Just then, they were called to their table, and Mac couldn’t help admiring Jess as she walked before her. Her hair was
down, and the waves fell softly to her shoulders. A shirt a few shades darker than her hair draped to her waist, and navy-blue linen pants hugged her hips and ass perfectly. The pants were tucked into blue leather boots adorned with a dozen buckles and snaps and zippers.

  They sat opposite each other, on the deck. It had been enclosed in a plastic tent, and a heater nearby ensured their warmth. The panel facing the lake remained open, and Mac had a view of the boats stealing the last hours of autumn.

  “How are you doing with relaxing?” Mac asked.

  Jess had spent the past twenty-four hours thinking about nothing but Mac. There was an attraction between them, and Jess wasn’t sure where it was going, but she had to talk to Mac about some things before they could be involved. Her PTSD and her trip to Hartley, for one. Her addiction was the biggie. She suspected Mac knew about the first issue, and she decided to start there.

  “I’m sure you suspected I had a little…crisis…after Hawk. I went to a psychiatric clinic for four weeks to get some therapy. I read that an experience like the one I had could cause serious long-term problems, and I didn’t want that, you know? I was too afraid to leave my house after the attack, couldn’t even get out of bed. So I decided to get away and talk to people who could help me deal with what happened and put it behind me, sort of. Get through it, anyway.”

  Jess looked to Mac for encouragement, some sign that she was interested and that Jess should continue.

  “I kind of figured as much when you weren’t around for the preliminary hearing.”

  “Sorry about that. I was in no condition to face Hawk.”

  “And now? Could you face him?”

  “Now, I’m looking forward to it. I want to make sure he’s in jail forever. And with the murder cases, I hope he’s executed.” Jess dipped a wedge of bread into oil and bit into it, savoring the taste of herbs and garlic and the thought of Hawk dying. It would make her feel better, not to see him dead, but to know he’d never escape from prison, or accidentally get parole and hurt someone again. Hurt her again.