To Protect and Serve

by Pat Adeff

  He swiped his hand over his face, inhaled deeply, and exhaled in a whoosh. His smile was shaky, but the color was coming back.

  “Sorry about that. I forgot for a minute it was pretend. You hit really close to something for me. Give me a minute.” Doug’s voice was getting back to normal.

  Nancy instinctively reached out and took his hand back, but this time she held it between both of hers giving comfort.

  “I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to cause that reaction for you. Do you want some water?” Nancy reached under the table and grabbed one of the bottles of water she kept there during the carnival.

  “Yeah. I’d like that.” He accepted the bottle, unscrewed the cap, put the bottle to his lips and drained it, similar to what he did with the coffee at her house.

  Now seeming to be fully in control and back to normal, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, put the cap back on the bottle and looked around for a trash can.

  Nancy reached out her hand for the bottle. “I don’t keep a trash can in here. I’ll just put it with the rest of the bottles under my table. Recycling.”

  Doug handed the bottle to Nancy, but held onto it when she tried to take it from him.

  “Dinner.” He looked straight into her eyes.

  “What?” Nancy was so startled, she dropped the accent.

  “Dinner.” He still held onto the bottle.

  “Okay.” What was she thinking?

  Now it was his turn to pause. “Okay?”

  “Yeah. Okay.” Nancy gave a small smile. “When?”

  “Tonight?” He was starting to smile, too.

  “No. Not looking like this.” Nancy waved her free hand towards her wig and outfit.

  “Just change out of your costume, or whatever you call it. We can go after I get off my shift.”

  “No. You don’t understand. When this wig comes off, my hair is plastered to my head, this awful lipstick has stained my mouth, and I’ve been sweating in this ‘gypsy tent’ for five hours. You would NOT want to be around me then.” Nancy was nothing if not honest.

  Doug found her honesty charming. She sure wasn’t trying to impress him. He found that intriguing and so unlike any of the other women he’d dated.

  “When, then?” Releasing the bottle, he stood up and gathered his cap under his arm. The arm that was right next to his Kevlar-vested chest. Nancy shot her eyes up to his and blushed again when she realized Doug had caught her ogling.

  “Uh. Tomorrow?” Her voice sounded somewhat breathless.

  “Sorry, no.” He just looked at her. Nancy bet those eyes could make any criminal confess on the spot.

  Then Nancy’s insecurity kicked in. Maybe he really didn’t want to go to dinner with her and this was her chance to back out gracefully. “Oh. Okay. I’m not sure then. But, thank you anyway for the offer.” Nancy put on her best pretend smile; the one she’d perfected getting through the divorce.

  “Tonight. 9:00. That should give you plenty of time to go home and do whatever it is you do to get ready.” He didn’t sound high-handed, just sure.

  “Oh! 9:00. Oh, well, I suppose that could work. I’ll have to see if my aide and the older girls could help put all this away after the carnival.” Nancy stood up and waited for him to precede her through the draped door. He just stood there smiling at her and her insane outfit. She finally took a deep breath and squeezed by him when it seemed he wasn’t going to move an inch, and pulled the drapery door back to ask Tess for her help.

  As Nancy opened her mouth to speak, Tess, Kate, Christy, Jackson and the two high school girl helpers each said some form of “Go already! We’ll clean up.”

  Nancy realized that her encounter with Officer Saunders had an audience. She turned around, embarrassed beyond belief to see Doug’s grin.

  “Thanks, guys. I’ll have her home before midnight.” He was in cahoots with them! “Pick you up at 9:00. Nothing fancy.” With that he settled his cap on his head and left.

  Nancy watched Doug walk away. He stopped, leaned over and reached into a sack when three little Storm Troopers ran up to him for candy.

  Nancy found herself watching the way the muscles in his thighs bunched when he hunkered down in order to be at eye level with the kids. Her breath caught in her throat and she turned around rapidly to prevent anyone catching her checking out the cop!

  Too late. Tess, her girls and the others were all grinning at her. Again at a loss for words, she just turned and went back into the fortune telling booth to get ready for her next customer. However, she couldn’t seem to keep the smile off her face while she settled into her spot behind the small round table.

  Her mind wandered several times as well as her accent, which continued to travel far and wide throughout the rest of the evening.

  Doug found himself feeling young again. About the same way he had when Sally Sneed had agreed to go to the Spring Fling dance with him in 10th grade. He called his buddy Mike to cover for him, and was able to get off his shift a few minutes earlier than usual.

  He made it to his house and pulled into the drive. Turning off the engine he looked at the front of the house – and smiled. He’d purchased the house on Cambridge Avenue fifteen years ago when it was in dire need of repair. He’d gotten it for an excellent price, and with the housing market moving at a steady climb over the past five years, he’d refinanced it and used the money to fix it up. Luckily he’d paid it all back before the market took a nosedive.

  The front of the house now had a low river rock wall that Doug had built himself. He remembered days and days of hauling rocks to his house from the Santa Ana River bed. The low wall contained a four foot wide and eighteen foot long succulent garden, as well as several Jack-o-lanterns on the wall itself.

  The front lawn was kept in very good shape by Doug’s own hands, as were the well-maintained bushes that lined the front of the yard and ran up the side of the house to the back yard.

  The driveway was cobblestoned with smaller river rocks that matched the low wall and gave a cottage feel to the house.

  The house itself was painted a warm white with the windows and trim done in a cobalt blue that made the whole house look very clean and masculine. It had sure taken the paint salesman at the hardware store quite a while to convince Doug. But once the house was done, Doug was very pleased with the result.

  As much as the outside was perfect for the City of Orange’s Historical District where Doug lived, the best was inside.

  When he’d first bought the place, it had dark wood floors and avocado green walls. It had been hideous. Doug stripped the floors back to their warm wood tone and painted the walls a natural cream color. Doug tore out the cottage cheese ceiling in the living room and had found an old pressed-tin ceiling two feet higher. It was in excellent condition and easy to renovate.

  He then river-rocked the front of the fireplace and replaced the mantle with a 12”x5’ unfinished piece of teak that matched the floors completely. He’s spent weeks finishing that piece of wood to the satin sheen that it now was.

  In the master bathroom he tore out the 1950’s upgrade from the previous owner, and installed more river rock in the shower. It looked like an outdoor waterfall took up one complete side of the bathroom.

  Although the rest of the house was country-warm, the kitchen was all modern. Black and sleek chrome. He even had a Viking refrigerator built in along one wall. The breakfast area that led out to the backyard was where Doug ate most of his meals.

  As he changed out of his clothes, Doug turned on the taps in the shower. He then looked at himself in the mirror, turning to the side the way all guys do, and flexed his arms and his “six pack” stomach. He was pleased to see that all the time he spent keeping himself in shape for the job, kept him from looking like most other guys his age.

  Yeah, he had more wrinkles around his eyes and mouth, and more gray in his hair, but he thought he still looked OK.

  The water was steaming out of the shower, so Doug stepped in and started shampooi
ng his hair. Washing off the sweat of the day, he entertained a little fantasy about how Nancy would look in his shower – all wet and slippery and woman.

  He reached over and turned the cold spigot all the way on and the hot spigot all the way off. He was amazed at how rapidly he’d responded to the thought of making love to the woman.

  Time for a cold shower!

  CHAPTER 9

  Whatever had she been thinking!

  Nancy was frantically towel-drying her hair and desperately wishing that she had never agreed to dinner. She glanced at the clock and realized that Doug would be here any minute!

  She hadn’t meant to stay as late as she had at the carnival. It was just that so many of the children wanted their fortunes told, and she hated to disappoint the kids. So she’d kept the fortune telling booth open even after the carnival had officially closed for the evening. She didn’t escape until Victoria, the principal, had come over and shooed all the students back to their parents to go home.

  That had been 8:00 pm and now it was 8:55 and her hair wasn’t dry, she didn’t have on any make-up yet, and for sure hadn’t decided what to wear.

  Oh, no! Was that the doorbell?

  Nancy heard Kate’s voice from down the hall and through her closed bedroom door.

  “Hi! Come on in! Mom should be ready in a minute. I’ll tell her you’re here.”

  Nancy heard Kate’s footsteps come down the hall and the knock on her bedroom door.

  “Come on in, Honey.” Nancy called out and the door opened.

  “Oh, Mom! You’re not even close to ready!” Kate exclaimed while closing the door behind her.

  “Kate, am I doing the right thing?” Nancy felt like there was a chorus line of butterflies doing high kicks in her stomach.

  “If by doing the right thing, you mean having dinner with a law-abiding officer of our community who also happens to be a handsome member of the opposite sex, then yes.” Sometimes Kate could put things in perspective very rapidly.

  “Yeah, but what if he’s...” Nancy had almost said the thing that had been on her mind since Doug had asked her to dinner. What if he’s younger than me? She just couldn’t bring herself to utter the words, even to Kate.

  Kate dove into Nancy’s closet and pulled out an outfit. When Nancy saw the black jeans and pumpkin-colored sweater, she started to protest.

  “Honey! I can’t wear that to dinner!”

  “Okay. But if you wear anything fancier, you’ll be way overdressed. He’s wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. Besides, the sweater’s color brings out your eyes.”

  “Oh.” Nancy was somewhat taken aback. “Oh, okay. Good. Well then.” She went into her bathroom and turned the hair dryer towards her hair, wishing for the first time that she’d spent the money on highlights.

  “Mom, do you want your boots or sneakers?” Kate’s voice was muffled by the closet doors behind which her head was buried.

  Nancy turned off the hair dryer and loudly whispered, “What’s he wearing?”

  “Don’t know. I’ll go find out.” Kate loudly whispered back with an impish grin. Then she hurried out of the room before Nancy could stop her.

  Oh, for Pete’s sake! The man is going to think we’re nuts.

  Within seconds Kate was back and closed the door behind her.

  “Boots. Definitely boots.” Kate’s smile was huge and contained a bit of the-cat-who-ate-the-canary to it.

  Nancy finished blow-drying her hair and threw on some make-up. Oh how she wished the costume lipstick hadn’t stained her mouth. Maybe if she put a light gloss over it, it would even out.

  Finally, after pulling on her jeans (why hadn’t she’d lost those 12 pounds?) and putting on her sweater (too bright? too tight?) she decided that she was as ready as she was going to get.

  “You look fine, Mom! In fact, you look really good.” Kate was handing Nancy her purse. “Do you have money? Your cell phone?”

  Pausing, Nancy and Kate looked at each other and then burst out laughing. When had their roles reversed?

  Nancy walked out into the living room. Doug stood up from the couch when she entered. His jeans fit just right and his sweatshirt proved that he sure kept himself in shape. He looked great!

  “You look great!”

  “Thank you,” she managed to say. Deep breath - she was really nervous.

  “You ready?” Along with the faded jeans and a police department sweatshirt, Doug had on cowboy boots, and his hair was sort of standing up. That’s when Nancy noticed the pair of helmets on the coffee table.

  “We’re riding a motorcycle?”

  Doug seemed to hesitate. “Yeah. Is that all right with you?”

  “Oh, yes! I love motorcycles!” Nancy hadn’t ridden in years. Jonathon used to own a touring bike, but it had become less and less fun to ride with him, and Nancy didn’t ride on her own.

  Doug’s smile came back. “Good!” He walked forward, carrying the two helmets, one in each hand. “Let’s go, then.” Oh my! His walk was 90% male, 10% predator and 100% exciting! Nancy felt her pulse already starting to race.

  To hide her embarrassment, she turned towards the door where she found Kate, Christy and Jackson lined up, grinning like the village idiots.

  Nancy smiled and shook her head. “What’s this?”

  Jackson spoke first. “What time will you be home?”

  “And where are you going?” chimed in Christy.

  Doug became solemn and stepped forward. “We’ll be at the Steak ‘n Stuff on Lincoln Avenue, probably stay awhile for the band, and then I’ll have her home before midnight since it’s a school night. Okay with you?”

  The three idiot-grinners just continued to smile and nod.

  “Sure, that’ll be fine. We’ll wait up for her.” Kate sounded pleased; and somehow grown up and in charge.

  Nancy gave quick kisses to all of them and went out the door. “See you guys later. Love you.”

  “Love you, Mom.” “Bye! Have fun!” The door closed behind Nancy and Doug as they walked over to the motorcycle.

  “You have a wonderful family,” Doug said as they approached the bike.

  “They’re my whole life,” Nancy quietly answered. Then she spotted the motorcycle.

  “It’s a Honda Valkyrie!” Nancy loved motorcycles and her smile showed it.

  Doug threw Nancy a lopsided grin. “You know what this is?”

  “Yep, and I also know that it would win hands-down in a race against my car.” Nancy was running her hand over the bike. “She’s gorgeous!”

  “Yeah, I’m real fond of her too. I worked for quite a while to get her just the way I wanted her. At first I wasn’t sure about the color.” Doug watched as Nancy’s hand followed the contours of the bike. He swallowed as his imagination took flight.

  “Cobalt blue is Earth’s best color, ever!” Nancy almost added, ‘In fact it matches your eyes, but didn’t.

  Doug reached over and put the helmet on Nancy’s head. She reached into the sides of it and pushed her hair back.

  “You realize that my hair is going to look awful when I take this helmet off, don’t you?” Nancy felt she had to warn him.

  “It really couldn’t look any worse than that sorry excuse for a wig you were wearing today.” Doug laughed and ducked as Nancy gave a small swat in the direction of his head.

  Nancy couldn’t believe herself. She was flirting! She couldn’t remember the last time she’d done that. It sure as heck wasn’t within the last two decades. Which brought her to the big question she’d been wanting to ask for a while now. How old WAS he? It was hard to guess his age. He looked to be different ages at different times. Right now, he looked to be about 10 years younger than her! Oh, that would be so embarrassing. What’s that awful word everyone uses nowadays? Oh yeah – cougar.

  He reached over and tightened the strap to her helmet. His fingers felt wonderful on her jawline and chin; which she almost forgot to hold up so that her throat would look thinner.

  He patted the t
op of her helmet and threw his leg over the bike. He started it with ease, backed it around and indicated for her to hop on. She put her leg between Doug’s back and the backrest she would be

  leaning on, and slid onto her seat. She’d almost forgotten what fun it was to ride!

  The trip to the restaurant took about 15 minutes longer than it should, because Doug took a back way which was just beautiful. The air wasn’t cold, just cool. The stars were bright, and the moon was three quarters full. The smell of orange blossoms was heady. There were a couple of late-night trick-or-treaters heading home and Doug rode carefully, conscious of the small people still out and about.

  Nancy closed her eyes, inhaled deeply and sighed. Doug reached over and placed his hand on her knee which was next to him. It felt very right.

  Nancy had forgotten that riding a motorcycle with someone was intimate, but in a different sort of way. Right now it just felt natural and good. Doug’s driving made her feel very safe. He wasn’t necessarily a slow driver, but he was very aware of the surrounding traffic and seemed to be able to foretell what the other drivers were going to do.

  They arrived at the steak house and Doug carefully wended the motorcycle through a crowd of young adults standing in the parking lot, obviously under the influence. The guys were play-scuffling over something and the girls were giggling together, watching the mock-fight.

  Doug parked the bike close to the front door. Nancy got off the bike, removed her helmet and ran her fingers through her hair, hoping against hope that it didn’t look too bad.

  Doug stood and removed his helmet, keeping his eyes on the young crowd. He unconsciously ran a hand through his hair to unflatten it. He had on what Nancy thought of as his cop face.

  She noticed that Doug’s attention was focused primarily on one young man in the group. She also noticed that Doug not only had on his cop face, but that in fact, his jaw was clenched pretty tight.

  Handing her his helmet, Doug turned to Nancy. “Excuse me a moment. I’ll be right back.”