The Only Solution (Crowley County Series Book 3)

by T. E. Killian

  * * *

  When Daisy picked Lucy up from pre-school, the little girl began chattering about Mike and their date with him tonight.

  Daisy struggled not to laugh at the serious tone of Lucy’s voice. It was as if she were much older and actually preparing to go out on a date of her own.

  That made Daisy stop and think. Her little girl was growing up right before her very eyes. Sure, she was only four now but sometimes she could act so grownup it amazed Daisy.

  That made her think of her little Richie. He would have been six now. A pain hit her so hard that it almost knocked her off her feet. She was surprised at its intensity. She hadn’t had thoughts or pains like that in months. She had to shake it off though. She’d learned the hard way that it did no good to dwell on the past or on what could have been. She had to go on from here and just be thankful that she still had Lucy.

  It had been difficult to keep Lucy occupied for the remainder of the day. She kept wanting to know if it was time to get dressed yet. She had not only picked out her own dress but had picked out a matching one for her mother too. It gave Daisy a warm feeling to know that her little girl wanted to look like her.

  Finally, she was able to tell Lucy that it was time to get dressed. When she did, she looked up to see all four of her female residents filing into her apartment through the open door.

  Somehow, the residents had all learned about her having a date with Mike for tonight. And she was sure she could blame a certain brown haired little girl for that.

  The boys seemed only to be curious but the girls were all excited and wanted to help her and Lucy get ready for the date. All they succeeded in doing was to get in her way and wind Lucy up even more in the process, if that was possible. She tried to be patient with them though. She knew it was only because they loved her and Lucy.

  When they were both finally ready, Daisy said goodbye to all the residents who had gathered by the back door like parents seeing their daughter off on her first date.

  She was thankful that she and Lucy had finally escaped all the good intentions as they went through that door into the small parking lot in the rear.

  After she secured Lucy in her child seat in the back, Daisy slid behind the wheel and just sat for a moment breathing deeply to calm herself down. It had been impossible for her not to pick up some of the enthusiasm that Lucy and the others had shown.

  But if she didn’t relax just a little, she might wind up sending Mike the wrong message. She just wanted this date to be a time for them to get to know each other better. That was all.

  When she pulled into Mike's driveway, Lucy gave a shout and said, “I want to go in with you Mommy, please.”

  So Daisy released her from her seat and they went to the door together.

  Mike must have been watching for them for the door opened before she had a chance to ring the doorbell and he was sitting in his wheelchair just beyond the open door smiling at them. That was when Daisy realized one of the things that drew her to Mike . . . his smile. She decided that she hadn’t seen enough of it yet but she planned to.

  Daisy didn't realize that Sarah was standing right behind Mike until she spoke up.

  “My don't you look pretty tonight, Lucy.”

  Lucy preened and said, “I look just like my Mommy. See.”

  She stepped next to Daisy and pulled the hem of her dress over onto Daisy’s dress to show that they were both the same shade of pink.

  Mike grinned and said, “Yes you do and you’re both beautiful tonight.”

  Daisy almost grabbed the door facing to keep from falling over. Mike had never spoken like that before. This could prove to be a very interesting evening.

  She had to say something so she said, “Are you ready?”

  Mike was wearing black jeans and a white polo shirt, which made him look almost formally dressed at first glance. She also thought he looked pretty good too, but she wasn’t about to say it though.

  He looked up at Daisy as he said, “Sure. Let’s go.”

  He started wheeling himself but she grabbed the handles and pushed him out to her car. She was surprised when he didn't protest. He did pull himself into the front passenger seat without her help though. She had to smile to herself about that.

  Once they were situated at their table at the steak house and had ordered, Daisy turned to Mike when Lucy paused in her accounts of her day at pre-school.

  “How was your first day back teaching?”

  He frowned and she wasn’t sure he was even going to answer for a moment but then he tried to smile and said, “It went fairly well. It certainly didn’t go the way Ron and I planned it though.”

  “Oh? Why is that?”

  He looked down at his hands on the table then back up at her. “Well, first of all, we had planned for me to work with my substitute for the rest of this week then go it alone starting Monday.”

  She was getting used to the way he talked. He would make a statement then pause but would continue after a moment. She should know that pattern well enough. After all that's the way her dad talked. It must be a cop thing.

  “My first class had barely started when he came into the room and took the sub away to cover for someone who got sick at the last minute. Then I told him I’d be okay by myself after all.”

  She waited but he didn’t go on this time. So she let the conversation drop while their meals came and Lucy picked up her chatter again.

  When Mike finished his steak, he leaned back in his chair and sighed. Then he looked intently at her. “Daisy?”

  When she met his eyes, he said, “Can I ask you something . . . about women in general?”

  She had no idea where he was going with a question like that but she nodded her head anyway. She wasn’t sure what to say so she hoped that sufficed.

  “Well, the question is this. How do I get the message across to a woman that I’m not interested in her without hurting her feelings or making her mad?”

  Daisy was stumped. It didn’t take much to figure out that he was talking about something that had happened at school today. But what could she say?

  When she didn’t answer right away, he said, “I mean . . .” He blew out his breath rather exasperatedly. “What I’m trying to say is that there are three women who were hitting on me today . . . big time and I don’t want it to continue. So what do I do?”

  Finally, Daisy gathered her thoughts enough to say, “Well, I would say that it would be difficult for me or anyone else to advise you very well without knowing something about the women involved and your prior relationships with them.”

  She hoped that would satisfy him but it didn’t.

  “Okay, the first one is easy to describe. She’s a new teacher and seems nice and even a bit shy.”

  “Okay, that one should be fairly easy. Just try to keep your relationship with her on a professional basis and she’ll probably take the hint and be fine with that.”

  “That makes sense. The second one is fairly nice too. I went out with her a couple of times last year, but I was just trying to get known at the time. You might remember that I even went out with Sue Ann once.”

  She shook her head, surprised, and said, “No, I wasn’t aware of that.”

  He laughed loudly. “Well it only took one date with her to know that she was in love with someone else and as you know that turned out to be Floyd. I found out real quick that I didn’t want to get between those two.”

  Daisy laughed at his description of Sue Ann and Floyd and could visualize it all very well knowing both of them as she did.

  “Okay, with this one, I have to ask you how you were able to end things last year first.”

  “Actually, she saw me with Sue Ann and I didn’t have to do anything. She seemed to avoid me after that.”

  Daisy laughed again and said, “That’s probably because she wasn’t really after you as you called it before so you probably won’t have to do anything there either.”

  “Okay. That sounds simple enough.”
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  She smiled and said, “Now what about the last one? I have a feeling you saved that one for last for a reason.”

  “I sure did. She was after me big time last school year and I finally relented and went out with her, but only once.”

  He shook his head and rubbed his chin vigorously. “And believe me, that was one miserable night. The woman was all over me all evening. I found out right away that I didn’t even like her so I never asked her out again. But today, she was all over me again in the teacher’s lounge.”

  Daisy thought for a moment then said, “I would think that with her you would need to be firm and tell her that you tried but you just don’t see a future for the two of you.”

  He frowned and said, “That was pretty much what I was thinking but I just know Suzette’s going to get mad at me no matter what I do.”

  * * *

  Mike leaned back in his chair and looked closely at Daisy. He really liked what he saw too. As Lucy had pointed out before, they were both wearing pastel pink dresses that were similar and it brought out the highlights in their shinny brown hair. He was surprised when he started talking that he was actually thinking out loud.

  “Wow! You two are so much alike.”

  Daisy laughed and Lucy giggled. Apparently, that was one way to gain Lucy’s affection. She now looked up at him with a strange look that he hoped meant she liked him.

  He cleared his throat and tried to change the subject. “So, except for the aggressive one you’re suggesting that I don’t really do anything as long as I don’t encourage them.”

  “Yes, I think that most women will take the hint and back off. But the way you described the other one though, I’d say you’re probably in for some rough times with her.”

  “Thanks. That’s exactly what I was thinking too.”

  They were both drinking their after dinner coffee and were quiet for a short time. Even Lucy seemed to have run out of things to say. He smiled to himself as he looked down at her. Then he noticed that Daisy had caught him looking at her daughter that way and was beaming at him now.

  He looked up then to see the preacher and his wife heading their way. She had their new baby in her arms all covered up with a blue blanket.

  Out of habit, Mike had the sudden urge to stand when the others stopped at their table. Gil Turner reached out his hand to Mike and said, “It sure is good to see you out and about Mike. From what I hear and see right now, it looks like our prayers are being answered.”

  They only stayed for a moment as Daisy and the preacher’s wife Jo talked about the baby for a minute then they moved on to their table.

  He looked at Daisy who was still watching the other woman and her baby and he spoke before he thought about the implications of what he was asking, “You’d like one of those wouldn’t you.”

  Daisy turned a bright red and busied herself with folding her cloth napkin and placing it on the table next to her plate. At first, he didn’t think she was going to answer him or even look up at him. And he decided that it was probably better that way.

  That was when a question came back to Mike that he had wanted an answer to. After an awkward silence that seemed to last forever, he decided to ask his question.

  “Daisy?” When she still didn’t look up, he asked anyway. “When I was in the surgery waiting room before they took me in for my surgery a couple of weeks ago, Gil came in and prayed with me.”

  She smiled seeming to be relieved that he hadn’t pursued his previous line of thought. “That was nice of him.”

  “Yes, I guess, but there was something he kept saying in that prayer that has me puzzled as to why he said it.”

  “What was it?”

  “Well, he kept saying ‘if it be your will Lord.’ What did he mean by that and why did he keep saying it.”

  She smiled at him and looked down at her daughter before answering. Lucy was busy carefully coloring in a small coloring book the hostess had given her.

  The look Daisy gave him when she looked back up at him made him wonder. He’d seen that look thousands of times on the faces of cops who were about to ask important questions. Oh boy!

  “Mike, can I ask you a personal question first?” She didn’t wait for an answer but went on. “Did you grow up in church?”

  That was an easy enough question to answer.

  “No, I didn’t.” Then he realized that Daisy must be thinking about the fact that his mom went to Daisy’s church. “My parents didn’t start going to church until after I left home.”

  He could see recognition of some sort on her face now. He’d have to find out what that meant later.

  “Okay, now to answer your question. The Bible tells us that whenever we ask God for something in prayer that we should ask Him to do it only if it is in His will to do so.”

  When he didn’t answer but kept staring at her waiting for more, she said, “I’m sure Gil also ended his prayer by saying that he asked all those things in Jesus’ name.”

  “Yes, it does seem like he said that at the end there.”

  “Okay. All of that together means that we are supposed to live our lives according to God’s will for our lives. And the only way we can even come close to doing that is to always be asking Him to show us His will. So when we ask if it be His will and it happens then we know it was His will to do that.”

  Whoa, his mind was spinning now and he needed to do some thinking about all she had just said.

  She must have sensed that for she smiled, touched his hand, and said, “That’s okay Mike, I've thrown a lot of things at you all at once. All I ask is that you would think about them and if you have any more questions ask me . . . or your mom. For that matter, you could even ask Gil and I know he’d be happy to answer you. Besides, he’d probably do a better job of explaining it than I would anyway.”

  After saying all that, she leaned back in her chair and took in a deep breath.

  He didn’t know what to say next and was glad when Daisy looked down at Lucy and said, “I think it’s about time Lucy and I got home. She’s getting tired.”

  As if on cue, Lucy began rubbing her eyes.

  When Mike was getting out of her car in his driveway, he looked up into her eyes, which were framed by that glorious hair that was shining in the nearby streetlight.

  “I enjoyed being out with both of you tonight Daisy.”

  She smiled down at him and said, “We both did as well.”

  “Can we do it again . . . soon?”

  When she nodded, he said, “Since I’ll be teaching all this week, it would be better for me if we waited until Friday. I’ll need to change all the lesson plans to the way I would teach them. Will that work for you?”

  “Of course, it will and next time I’ll get a sitter for Lucy.”

  “Okay. Hey, why don’t I ask my mom? I’m sure she would love to. I think she really likes Lucy.”

  “Okay, let me know as soon as you ask her though, so I can still line someone else up if she doesn’t want to.”

  With that, he wheeled up to the door and let himself in thus putting an end to their evening out. But the questions only just started as he entered the living room to find his mom sitting there with a big smile on her face waiting to hear how it had gone.

  Chapter Eleven

  Wednesday morning Mike woke up with several thoughts about the day and evening before going around in his mind all at once. He tried to grab hold of just one so he could think it through.

  The first thing he was able to concentrate on was certainly not in the order that they had occurred. Daisy! More specifically, his evening out with her and Lucy. Wow! He hadn’t enjoyed himself that much in years.

  He’d talked or rather listened to Lucy a great deal last night and had truly enjoyed being with her too. He had to be honest with himself that really surprised him. But when he thought about it though, he had always enjoyed being around Leslie’s kids. They were about the same age as Lucy. In fact, Susie was a year older and Danny was a year younger. S
he’d fit right in with the two of them.

  Now where did that thought come from? They’d probably never be together. Would they?

  Then he had a sudden funny thought. He wondered if Daisy had looked just like Lucy when she was little. He decided he’d call her sometime before Friday and ask her if she would bring some photos of her when she was a little girl.

  Mike shook his head to clear it. He was having some strange thoughts about Daisy. Should he be concerned? No. He felt good about the direction things seemed to be going with her. Then of course, being a cop or a former cop, he had to add a little disclaimer. As long as he continued to improve and did actually walk again soon. Otherwise, he wouldn’t want her to have to put up with someone restricted to a wheelchair indefinitely.

  His next thoughts went to Suzette and how he was going to deal with her. Daisy had tried, but she hadn’t really been that helpful. To be fair though, there wasn’t much anyone could do about Suzette.

  Firm? Daisy had said to be firm with Suzette. How could you be firm with someone who would simply ignore anything she didn’t want to hear?

  Finally, his thoughts turned to the question he had asked Daisy or rather her answer. She kept talking about God’s will for everyone’s lives. Did God have a will for his life?

  That was a scary thought to him. Was he living the way God wanted him to? He had always lived his life without regard to what others thought or wanted especially when he thought he knew better. He had always tried to do the right thing though. So, he didn’t think he was a bad person.

  Suddenly he knew what he had to do now. He had to ask Daisy how you found out what God’s will was for your life. Yes, he’d wait until they were alone Friday night though.

  Jason called and said he was tied up with an accident so Mike’s mom took him to work. Work? He’d never thought about teaching as work before, probably because it hadn’t been his real job. DEA had been his real job.

  But now? As he thought about it though teaching was his only job now so yes it was his real job now. That was going to take some getting used to.