Officer on Duty (Lock and Key Book 4)

by Ranae Rose

  A little of the tension seemed to go out of his muscles, his shoulders shifting into a more relaxed angle beneath his t-shirt.

  She wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t been watching him so intently – if she’d been able to look away.

  But she couldn’t. She’d already taken her hands off him to repair his shirt; she didn’t want to take her eyes off him.

  “Here you go,” she said, snipping a dark thread and setting his uniform shirt down on the table. “Good as new.”

  “Until next time, anyway.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. “Any idea when that might be?”

  “Soon. I want it to be soon. But I won’t lie or sneak around. I need to figure out how I’m gonna tell Paige we’re dating.”

  “Do you think she’ll be upset?”

  “No. She adores you. But I’ve never dated anyone seriously since her mother. I don’t want her to get too excited.”

  In case they didn’t work out. “I understand.”

  He nodded. “I’ll have to tell her, though.” He grimaced. “And my mother, I suppose.”

  “You don’t think she’ll be upset, do you?”

  “Upset?” A bark-like laugh escaped him. “I’ll probably have to talk her down from throwing a party. She’s had a bee in her bonnet about me dating for a decade, at least. Never did like Paige’s mother and wanted me to find someone else after that was over.”

  A prickle of curiosity ran through Lucia, laced with caution. She didn’t want to dredge up painful memories, but… “Is Paige’s mother involved in her life?”

  “No. She left when Paige was just two months old, and that was the last time she saw her.”

  Lucia’s mouth went dry. “That’s awful. I’m sorry.”

  How could any parent abandon their newborn like that, especially a mother?

  “In retrospect, I had my head up my ass when I decided to so much as go to a movie with that woman. But I was young and dumb.” He shrugged. “It is what it is now. She moved halfway across the country and died in a car wreck eighteen months later. Sheer shitty luck.”

  A wrenching feeling gripped Lucia’s heart, wringing it out like a dish rag. To be abandoned like that, and then to know there was no hope of it ever being made right… Her head spun as she tried to imagine.

  “It was rough for a while, but I’d be lying if I said I miss her now. But I do miss who she could’ve been – who she should’ve been – for Paige.”

  Lucia frowned as her heart softened into a puddle of pitiful mush. She found herself nodding, because she didn’t know what to say.

  “I was twenty-one, just finishing up the police academy when she left. I was only able to pull it off thanks to my mom. She stepped in and saved my ass, took care of Paige when I wasn’t home. She’s been doing it ever since.”

  No wonder Meredith was so eager for her son to find someone. She’d had a front row seat to his grief for over a decade. A newfound admiration for Meredith welled up inside Lucia.

  “So if she acts a little goofy next time you see her,” he said, “try to let it slide.”

  “Of course. She wants you to be happy, and I understand.”

  Her thoughts ebbed back to everything he’d just told her, and she pictured him at twenty-one, rocking a newborn while still in uniform, pulling late nights with a baby after days at the police academy, and then his first years on the job.

  Never dating. Never letting anyone else in to share the life he’d been thrust into so unexpectedly.

  It made her heart hurt, and the gravity of the fact that she was the first woman he’d chosen to date since that betrayal fell down on her all at once. Why now, after all this time?

  There had to have been other women interested in him over the years. Probably quite a few – men like Jeremy attracted female attention.

  She wondered, but she certainly wasn’t sorry.

  The closer she got to him, the more she admired him. She was lucky to have met him, lucky he’d decided to finally take a chance and let someone in.

  * * * * *

  Beverly closed the baby album. It was worn, its cardboard cover swollen and frayed at the corners. Her hands were much steadier than her breath as she put it down on the kitchen table, picked up the phone and dialed with purpose.

  It rang.

  And rang.

  And rang.

  “Hello?”

  She sucked in a sharp breath and nearly dropped the phone.

  “Sarah?”

  “Huh?”

  “Sarah!”

  “This is Emily. Who’s this?”

  “I need to speak to Sarah. Give her the phone.” Her knuckles ached as she squeezed the receiver.

  “I think you have the wrong number.”

  No. Her breath hitched in her throat, and she splayed her free hand against the table top. “I need to speak to Sarah.”

  “Sorry. Bye.”

  She called back twice before Emily, whoever she was, answered again.

  Wrong number, she said, over and over like a broken record. It was a new number she’d just gotten the day before. She didn’t know anyone named Sarah. No, no, no.

  Beverly’s head spun, and she slammed the receiver against the table.

  Its plastic shell cracked, but the stranger named Emily had already hung up.

  What if she’d been lying? What if she was a friend of Sarah’s, covering for her in order to throw Beverly off her trail?

  Her heart pounded, pumping adrenaline through her chest. It hurt, but then, how could it not?

  Sarah had wounded her deeply. Her own mother. She didn’t care, just like she hadn’t cared about her own child.

  She cared about no one, besides herself. There was a word for that, wasn’t there? Sociopath?

  Beverly choked out a long, hitching sob.

  What had she done to deserve this, for her only baby to grow into such a monster? As if she hadn’t been raised up right, as if Beverly hadn’t taught her what was wicked and what was good.

  It was clear. So clear. And Sarah didn’t care. She damned herself with every selfish action, and Beverly was left to pick up the pieces. To make things right.

  Sarah was beyond her reach, but there were still girls like her around every corner. Girls who would launch themselves headlong down the same evil path unless someone cared enough to stop them.

  * * * * *

  For the first time in his life, Jeremy walked into a tense situation with a twelve year old as backup.

  At least, it was tense for him. Paige seemed okay, and for a few precious last moments, his mother was oblivious.

  He knocked on his mother’s door Wednesday morning, already in uniform. With Paige there, she wouldn’t say anything too inappropriate.

  He hoped.

  He’d bitten the bullet the night before and told Paige that he and Lucia were dating. He’d told her he didn’t know how long it would last. And he’d promised her that she’d come first, always.

  She hadn’t said much, really. But it’d been a peaceful near-silence.

  He took that as a good sign.

  “Don’t take it to heart when Grandma makes a big deal out of it,” he said. “I promise you Lucia and I aren’t going to run off and elope, no matter how bad your grandmother wishes for it.”

  Paige giggled.

  His mother peeked from behind the lacy curtain, and he waited, tense, until he heard the clack of the deadbolt sliding undone.

  He always worried that she’d forget to lock it. Lately, the smallest of mistakes had been getting people in Riley County killed.

  “Good morning.” She flung the door wide open. “The coffee just finished brewing.”

  “Made my own, but thanks.” He stepped inside anyway. “What’s the plan for today?”

  She shrugged. “Nothing, unless Paige has any ideas. It’d be a beautiful day to hit the beach, but so would any day this week.”

  He nodded. “Be careful if you go.”

  She waved a hand. “As i
f I’d dream of being anything less with my only granddaughter.”

  He decided not to dwell on whether or not that line had been intended as some sort of hint.

  “You have plans on Friday night?”

  “No, why?” She froze and turned, meeting his eyes.

  “I’d like to take Lucia out, if you wouldn’t mind having Paige here.”

  Her jaw dropped, and she stood up straighter. “Of course I won’t mind. You go ahead and make plans with Lucia – Paige and I will come up with something to do.”

  “I appreciate it.” He edged toward the door, his gaze shifting to the kitchen window and the driveway beyond. His own garage and the freedom of his cruiser were only a twenty second walk away.

  “Absolutely no problem.” His mother’s stunned expression dissolved into a grin. “She seems so nice Jeremy. You make as many plans with her as you’d like.”

  He nodded, first at his mother and then at Paige. “See you tonight.”

  Outside, he drew a deep breath of morning air. His announcement hadn’t gone badly at all. It was painfully clear, though, that if he let Lucia down, he’d be letting other people he cared about down too.

  CHAPTER 14

  Jeremy waited with one hand on the wheel while Richardson walked into the convenience store on a corner near the edge of town, where the neat little streets of Cypress bled out into the rural, pine-lined roads of Riley County.

  No trouble here, just Richardson’s need to take a piss, and, if Jeremy had to guess, buy a soda while he was at it.

  The thought sparked a memory of Lucia breaking the tab on a soda at the beach. Raising a dewy can to her lips and tipping back her head, letting the golden highlights in her dark hair catch the sun.

  He picked up his phone and scrolled through his recent call log, finding her near the top. She was at work, but he took a chance and hit call.

  “Hey.” She answered on the third ring, her voice slightly breathy.

  Had she been swimming – had she just gotten out of the pool, maybe?

  It was way too easy to picture her in wet Lycra.

  “Hey. You got plans for Friday night?”

  “No, why – are you free?”

  “I thought I’d take you on a real date.” Their first.

  “Where do you want to go?”

  “How’s dinner sound? Just me and you.”

  “That sounds great. What about Paige?”

  “She’ll be with my mom.”

  “Okay then. It’s a date.”

  He could picture her smile – could almost hear it.

  “I’ll pick you up at seven.”

  The MDT chimed, and Richardson strode out of the convenience store, carrying a Dr. Pepper.

  “I’ve gotta go.”

  “All right. Be safe. Don’t be too hard on your leg.”

  He agreed, although he knew he wouldn’t do anything differently than usual. He wasn’t about to let the powers that were at the sheriff’s department stick him behind a desk again.

  “Just in time.” He read the MDT screen as Richardson climbed in. “We’ve got a noise complaint.”

  “It’s two in the afternoon.” Richardson cracked the top on his soda bottle, releasing a hiss.

  Jeremy was fully aware of what time it was, and that the call would likely be a pain in the ass, and a waste of time. But it was better than sitting in one place for too long. He didn’t like to do that – didn’t like to park out in the open, where the cruiser drew gazes that would settle and linger.

  He pulled out and steered the cruiser down Old Oak Road, toward the address on the screen.

  “Hey.” Richardson motioned at the screen. “You read all this? The complaint is about a barking dog.”

  He nodded, thinking of the big mutt sitting in quarantine down at the animal shelter. His leg itched where it’d bitten him, a sign of healing.

  “Maybe it’s a Chihuahua,” Richardson said.

  “Don’t underestimate the mouthy little dogs. They’ll bite a hole in your pant leg as soon as look at you, and their teeth hurt too.”

  “You’ve been bit more than once on the job?”

  “A little Yorkie with a bow on its head tore up a pair of my pants my first month on the job. Pissed on my boots, too. I took shit over that for ages. Don’t remind anyone – they’ve finally forgotten.”

  Richardson smirked. “Dogs like me. We always had one or two, growing up.”

  “Sure wish you’d used your dog-whisperer powers last week instead of letting me get chewed up.”

  “Hey, I saved the day, remember? If I hadn’t been there, you’d be missing a leg right now.”

  If Richardson hadn’t been there, Jeremy likely would’ve had to shoot the damned thing.

  “They really should think of a way to keep stupid people from owning anything that breathes,” he said.

  “Maybe, but that’d cut our work in half, and I probably never would’ve been hired on. Need the money and the benefits – my girlfriend’s pregnant.”

  Jeremy looked away from the road just long enough to shoot Richardson a glance. “You just find out?”

  He nodded, then tapped the shot gun positioned upright between their seats. “You want an invite to the shotgun wedding?”

  He joked, but he had the biggest, dopiest grin Jeremy had ever seen on his face, and that was saying something.

  A pang of something cold and dull sank through him as he remembered being in the same situation at about the same age. Fuck knew Jeremy hoped things worked out better for Richardson.

  “They say weddings are great places to meet women,” Richardson added.

  “Already met someone.”

  “Bring her along, then. Just make sure you check the plus one box on the RSVP card.”

  “You’re really getting married?”

  “Before summer’s over.”

  He thought of his own wedding, thirteen years ago. It seemed like a memory from someone else’s life, deficient in detail and emotion. He couldn’t remember what his bride’s touch had felt like, or even really what her voice had sounded like.

  Not that he wanted to. He was content to let the past lie, buried by the years gone by.

  Maybe there was a reason why the little bit of family he had left was so eager to see him with someone. Maybe he hadn’t truly left the past where it belonged; maybe he’d let the shadow of his past mistakes linger in his life for too long.

  Maybe everyone was right and it really was about damn time he took a chance on something again.

  * * * * *

  They had a reservation at a waterfront seafood place at Sea Glass Beach. The window nearest their table showcased the ocean and the evening sky, just beginning to go dusky at a quarter after seven.

  “Great view,” Lucia said, nodding toward the window. “I’ve always loved eating by the water.”

  In a dark red dress with straps that made an X between her shoulders, she looked better than the beach could ever hope to.

  “It’s nice.” He wore khaki pants and a blue shirt, which he figured was okay for the occasion. Not that he had a chance in hell of outshining her in any case.

  It’d been a lifetime since he’d been on a date, since he’d given any thought to what to wear for a woman. Before Lucia there’d been half-hearted flings – usually halfway in uniform – and that was it.

  But she looked at him like she liked what she saw, and he couldn’t deny that felt good.

  “You look so good in blue.” She nodded at his chest. “It’s a shame the sheriff’s department chose black uniforms.”

  He wrapped a hand around his water glass. “You didn’t seem to think too badly of the black the other day.”

  She grinned. “Of course not. I’m just saying, it’s practically criminal to deny a man with eyes like yours a blue uniform.”

  “I’ll make sure to relay that up the chain of command.”

  When the server came, Lucia took him up on his wine recommendation.

  “No,” J
eremy said when the guy tried to get him to do the same, “I’m driving.”

  He never drank when he went out. Didn’t like the way alcohol slipped into his mind and softened his walls, dulling his senses. Drinking was something you did to relax, and relaxing wasn’t something you did in public.

  But he was happy to watch Lucia with her wine glass, its crystal rim parting her lips so liquid could lap at their edges.

  “What’s good here?” she asked, tapping her menu with one pink-lacquered fingernail. “I’ve only been once, and I don’t remember what I got.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t go out for dinner often myself.”

  When he did, it was usually because Liam had invited him. Those meals were typically at someone’s house, or the restaurant on the Wisteria Plantation House’s grounds.

  “We’ll be adventurous together, then.”

  They settled on a shared plate of seared yellowfin tuna for an appetizer, and Lucia sipped her wine while they waited.

  “I thought on what you said about that birthday party,” he told her. “Think I’m gonna let Paige go to Wisteria with her friends.”

  Lucia smiled. “Have you told her yet?”

  He shook his head. “My shift changes next week, and I’ll be working that evening. It’s my mother’s day to volunteer at the hospital, so I can’t ask her to drop Paige off at Wisteria. I have to see whether I can get permission to come into work late, so I can drop her off myself.”

  “I’d be happy to do it.”

  “You don’t have to do that.” His response was automatic, something that rolled off his tongue before the surprise had truly set in.

  “It’s no big deal. There’s no reason for you to take time off work when I’ll be free – as long as it’s not on a Tuesday or Thursday, I’ll be home late afternoon.”

  “It’s a Friday.”

  “Perfect. Why don’t you let me help out?”

  He couldn’t argue. He couldn’t quite convey his surprise, or his appreciation, either.

  “Thank you.” He couldn’t help but feel his words fell flat, but the appetizer arrived before he could come up with anything else to say.