by JD Nixon
“No! I don’t like him.” He looked up at me with his sad brown puppy dog eyes. I softened.
“Martin,” I sighed. “How about I drive us back to the clinic and we can have a lovely chat while I do.”
“Really, Officer Tess? Just you and me?”
“Yep.”
“Will you take the long way there?”
I sighed again. “Yes, Martin. I promise. But only if you promise to not steal this car anymore.”
“Borrow,” he insisted. His smile was beautifully brilliant as he scooted over to the passenger seat. “I promise, Officer Tess.”
We both knew he had no intention of keeping that promise. Wearily, I waved to the Sarge to let him know I was okay and slid into the driver’s seat, pulling off my sling as I did. Martin watched me, but didn’t comment on my injuries or ask about them.
I drove the both of us slowly around the town, shadowed by the patrol car. I listened to Martin’s monologue about his life at the clinic, because he didn’t actually want to have a conversation. He was a very self-absorbed man and not able to care about other people. There was probably some fancy psychiatric term for his condition, but I didn’t know what it was. Narcissism, maybe. He also had authority issues that forced him to seek police attention regularly. I wasn’t pretending to be any kind of expert, but to me it didn’t seem as though the mental health clinic was helping him very much with his problems.
I sped up on the road to the clinic, passing my own home on the way, throwing a curious glance at the sight of half-a-dozen utes and 4WDs parked in my muddy driveway. One of them was Jake’s distinctive gold ute with its JAKEY-B licence plate that I’d bought him last Christmas.
At the clinic, I let the Sarge take charge as I readjusted my sling. He handed a tearful Martin over to a surprised orderly and treated the director to yet another stern talking to about the security arrangements for inmates of the place. The Sarge started quoting passages from some obscure piece of legislation about duty of care that made the director grow even paler. He vowed, promised, to keep Martin locked up this time. The glance the Sarge and I exchanged was sceptical to say the least.
That done, we ran to the patrol car and headed back to town and the police station again. I managed to talk him into stopping at my house for a few minutes and he pulled into the driveway, squeezing the patrol car into a space amongst all the other vehicles. Inside the house, there were men everywhere, cleaning and repairing.
I spied Jake standing in the middle of a group of men. A frown of concentration creased his beautiful face as he listened to one of them speaking, nodding before pointing his finger in one direction then another. He said something that made them all laugh and the group broke up, each man heading to his assigned task, a smile on his face.
When he looked up and spotted me, his face lit up. “Hey, babe!”
I rushed over to him, hugging him tightly with my good arm. It felt like ages since I’d touched him. He spared time for a quick smooch and I forced him to do it again because it was so nice.
“You look tired,” he said with concern, stroking my cheek.
“I’ve had a horrible day. The Sarge and I were reamed by the Super.”
He cringed sympathetically and hugged me more tightly. “Poor Tessie. You don’t deserve that.”
I smiled up at him. “Sometimes I do.”
He kissed me on the nose. “How’s the house looking?”
“I don’t know what to say, Jakey. Everyone is being so wonderful.” And for a few minutes, I watched a man industriously hammering a board across one of my lounge room windows, while another carefully swept up the glass from Dad’s shattered aquarium. “Can I look around, so I can tell Dad what’s going on?”
“Course you can.” He held my hand and walked me to the kitchen, showing me where the damaged door had been replaced by a completely different one. It was my third back door this week. I glanced at him questioningly.
“Two Dog’s grandpa had a spare door stored in his garage. He didn’t need it.”
“That’s lovely. I’ll make sure I thank him for that next time I see him.”
Then I noticed that a man was in the process of replacing the damaged floorboards. I raised my eyebrows at Jake again.
“Abe had a couple of old boards in his work shed that almost matched.” Jake smiled. “And he wanted me to tell you that he would have been here helping, but he’s had a burst water pipe in the ladies’ bathroom at the pub. It’s all hands on deck over there!”
“Poor Abe. As if he needs more water to worry about.”
He took me from room to room where men, Jake’s workmates, some of them I didn’t even know, were hammering, sweeping, cleaning and doing other tasks that were completely beyond me at the moment. I was overwhelmed by their kindness, furiously blinking to avert some threatened tears.
“Are you okay, babe?” Jake asked anxiously. He hadn’t seen me crying very often. “Did you get some dust in your eye?”
I laughed and used the heels of my palms to wipe the moisture from my eyes. “No, I’m fine. In fact, I’m feeling great, knowing that there are this many wonderful men in the community. I knew Little Town was full of great people, but this just proves it. Thank you for organising this, Jakey.” I raised my voice. “Thank you so much, guys.”
The men around us waved away my appreciation with smiles, but I made it my task to personally thank everyone who had turned up to help me out on this soggy afternoon.
“Freddie, my cousin’s boyfriend, will be here tomorrow morning to do the windows,” Harry told me when it was his turn to be thanked. “You’ll be sleeping at home tomorrow evening, Tess.”
“Thanks, Harry,” I replied gratefully. He deliberately angled his cheek towards me for a kiss. I rolled my eyes, but relented and pecked him on the cheek, giving him a quick one-armed hug as well. He hugged me back with more enthusiasm than was usually considered polite.
“Hey!” Jake growled good-naturedly. “Hands off my woman.”
Harry let me go immediately. “Aw Jakey, why did you have to snap up Tess as soon as she returned to town? No one else even had a chance with her. It’s not fair.”
There was a general murmur of teasing agreement around the room that left me rolling my eyes again.
Jakey clamped his arm around my shoulders possessively and pulled a face at the men. “I hardly snapped her up, Harry. You know it took me months to get her to agree to even go out with me, let alone be my girlfriend.” He looked down at me, smiling. “She was so cruel to me. She told me to piss off and leave her alone a million times. She even threatened me with her knife once or twice.”
I grinned at him and tickled his waist, making him squirm, but I couldn’t deny it. I had been extremely cruel to him and I had once threatened to castrate him if he didn’t leave me alone. He was a Bycraft, after all. “I caved in eventually though, didn’t I?”
He smiled. “I won you over with my charm and good looks.”
“Nah, I just got sick of you bothering me all the time. You were a real pest. I couldn’t turn around without tripping over you, begging me to go out with you. I felt sorry for you. It seemed easier to give in.” He pulled my cap down over my face and tickled me in turn until I squealed with laughing protests for him to stop.
In fact, it had been his courteous persistence and genuine sincerity that had ultimately won me over. He’d pursued me sweetly but relentlessly, never giving up, despite my unsubtle discouragement. And of course his good looks, gorgeous eyes, and hot body didn’t hurt either.
“Tess, we have those printouts to go through,” interrupted the Sarge with frosty irritation. “Are you done here?”
I slid my arm around Jake’s waist. “Jakey, I’m staying with Fiona and Ronnie on Friday night. Pick me up from her place on Saturday morning? I promise we’re going to have a fantastic weekend together.”
“I promise that too, baby doll.”
We kissed, immediately enduring a barrage of laughing taunts from his m
ates that only left him swaggering with grinning cockiness. It wasn’t that they were jealous of him because I was such a great catch or anything, but because there were so few single women living locally. And unless they were brave enough to tangle with the Bycraft women or try their luck with Gretel (who I believed had dated and dumped every single prison officer already), the romantic choices were grim to say the least.
I abandoned Jake to his mates, splashing through the puddles to the patrol car. The Sarge was silent on the drive back to the station, but it wasn’t our usual comfortable silence. I remained quiet, not knowing what his problem was, but pretty sure it had something to do with Jake. The Sarge just didn’t like him for some reason, which was unusual because most people did like Jake. He was a very likeable man.
When we pulled up to the station I noticed a small rose-red sedan parked crookedly behind his BMW.
“You have a visitor, Sarge,” I said conciliatorily.
He seemed surprised, and instead of turning into the police station, continued on to his own driveway. I guess he wasn’t expecting anyone and didn’t recognise the car. I should have offered him some privacy at that point, but I’ll admit that I’m nosy. I followed him up the stairs to the verandah, curious about his caller.
A very pretty young woman sat huddled on the verandah’s bench seat, texting on her phone and impatiently tapping her expensive high-heeled tan leather boots. She was beautifully dressed in a knee-length chocolate-coloured suede jacket covering an off-white silk blouse and stone-coloured designer jeans. Her long dark brown hair was expertly styled, falling over her shoulders in glossy cascades. Her face was skillfully made-up, emphasising her big brown eyes and luscious lips. Seeing the Sarge walking up the stairs, she jumped up excitedly and ran over to him, throwing her arms around him and leaping up into his startled arms.
She smiled up at him radiantly. “Surprise, Finn darling! I’m back!”
“Oh, my God!” he choked out, stunned. “Melissa!”
Chapter 20
They had a touching and affectionate reunion that I was uncomfortably forced to witness. It was one of those difficult social moments – should I leave and give them privacy or should I stay and wait to be introduced? I was definitely the third wheel on this bicycle and was on the verge of quietly tiptoeing down the stairs over to the station, when they broke apart. Now I knew how awkward the Sarge must have felt all those times he’d been an unwilling voyeur to a brief romantic moment between Jake and me.
“I can’t believe that you’re finally home,” he marvelled, gazing down at his fiancee, tenderly stroking her hair. The love shone in his eyes and I felt a strong stab of something that I couldn’t identify. It was probably jealousy, if I was being honest with myself. I guess that I’d like to be engaged myself one day to someone who loved me that much. I distracted myself by noticing the huge difference in their heights. Melissa seemed a tiny doll next to the Sarge’s bulk.
She pouted prettily. “I was waiting here for you for ages. I’ve just about frozen to death! Where have you been?”
“We had to go to a meeting with our boss in the next town. But how long have you been back? Why didn’t you tell me? I would have met you at the airport.”
She looked up at him with big eyes. “I’ve been back about a week.”
“A week? Why haven’t you called me? I’ve been worried about you, not hearing from you for so long.”
Her voice was defensive. “I came as soon as I could. I had so many people to catch up with at home and I absolutely had to get my hair and nails done before I could see you. And then Jacinta and Cody had their engagement party on Saturday night. You remember them, don’t you? Jacinta and I went to school together. She needed me to help her choose a dress for the party.” She released a huge sigh of exhaustion. “It’s just been go, go, go since the minute I touched down.” She reached up to kiss him again, oblivious to the fleeting expression of hurt that crossed his face. “But here I am now, darling. I wanted so much to surprise you. Aren’t you pleased to see me?”
“Of course I am! But I just wish I’d known beforehand that you were coming here. You should have told me you were home. I feel like I’m the last one to find out.”
She pouted again. “Don’t be so grumpy with me,” she cajoled with a great deal of charming persuasion. “I couldn’t miss Jacinta’s party, could I? She’s my third best friend.”
“I’m not grumpy, Melissa. I just think that you could have –”
“Finn! Please!” she snapped, her charm evaporating like mist in the sun. “Let’s just have one nice day together before you start telling me what to do all the time again, okay?”
The air between them was instantly charged with what I suspected were stale and unresolved arguments about their relationship. I badly wanted to escape at that moment, but unfortunately that was when Melissa noticed me. She peered around him to regard me coolly, giving me a thorough up-and-down with her brown eyes. I wasn’t left feeling that her assessment was overly favourable.
“Oh. This must be the famous Tess I’ve heard far too much about over the last few months.”
The Sarge gathered his composure quickly. “Sorry, ladies, where are my manners? Melissa, this is my partner, Tess Fuller. Tessie, this is my fiancee, Melissa Bertelone.”
“Hello, Melissa. Welcome back home,” I said easily, smiling in a friendly way at the younger woman, hoping to dispel some of the strain between them.
She smiled tightly and looked around her without enthusiasm. “Hmm. Not sure I want to call this place home for long.”
“It can take a bit of getting used to if you’re from the city, but it’s not too bad living here,” I said defensively. This was my home town after all. “The Sarge has taken to it like a duck to water.”
“Who?”
“Him,” I said, nodding towards the Sarge. “Sergeant Maguire. The Sarge.”
“Oh. Why don’t you just call him Finn?”
“Because he’s my boss and I have far too much respect for him to be so informal,” I smiled, winking at him. He rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I bet you guys have lots of catching up to do, so I’ll leave you to it. Sarge, I’m going to clean up the mess in the carport and then I’ll spend the rest of the afternoon in the station if you need me for anything.”
“I think I’ll be occupied for the rest of the day now, Tessie. Sorry.”
“I’m pretty sure I can cope by myself,” I replied pertly. “But make sure you put up the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign if you don’t want me barging in on you later.”
“Why would you be barging into Finn’s house?” Melissa frowned, flicking her long shiny hair over her shoulders. She must spend ages styling it, I thought, feeling momentarily shamed about the five seconds I spent each day twisting my hair into a bun.
“Um, I’m staying here at the moment, while my house –”
“Is being renovated,” the Sarge cut in, shooting me a sharp glance. I returned it with a measured look. Okay, obviously Melissa had to be protected from the ugly details of my messy life. Fine by me.
“I should be back home again tomorrow, hopefully,” I told her, determinedly cheerful. “You won’t have to put up with me for very long.”
She pouted once more, less prettily this time, and complained. “Finn! I thought we’d be alone our first night together. This isn’t turning out how I planned at all. It was supposed to be romantic.” She glanced around again. “And not so dreary.”
“I’m sorry,” I said immediately. I knew she hadn’t seen the Sarge for over eighteen months and was eager to be alone with him, but she was making me feel very unwelcome. “I don’t mean to intrude. I’ll stay at my place instead.” I headed towards the front door of the house. “I just need to pack my stuff.”
“You’re not packing anything,” said the Sarge authoritatively, grabbing me by the arm. “You can’t stay there until it’s properly secured again.”
I shook his arm off. I hated it when he did that. “I’ll be all ri
ght.” I wasn’t going to stay even one night in a place where I wasn’t wanted.
“Tess!” he snapped.
We exchanged argumentative glances.
“I can look after myself.”
“Not with one arm out of action.”
I took off my sling. “There! My arm’s back in action again. All’s good with the world.”
“Tess!” He was becoming angry with me. “You’ll stay here until your place is safe, and if that takes another week then you’ll stay here another week. And that’s final. I’m not going to discuss this any further with either of you.” He cut both of us an unyielding look.
Lips compressed with annoyance at his dictatorial attitude, I spun around to stalk off down the stairs.
“Tess.”
I turned back again. “What?” I snapped.
His response was mild and defusing. “We’ll see you at dinnertime. Okay?”
I nodded dourly and continued down the stairs, but not before I heard Melissa whisper loudly and fiercely to him, “Finn, it’s our first night together for years! I don’t want her hanging around. Let her stay at her place.”
“No,” he replied sharply. “Melissa, in case you didn’t notice, she’s badly injured and –”
I hurried myself to the carport, not wanting to overhear any more of their conversation. I really didn’t want to be the cause of a fight between the newly united couple. Maybe I could wheedle an invitation to Gretel’s or Abe’s place for dinner? Maybe Abe had a spare room for the night?
Putting my thoughts into action, I pulled out my phone and rang him, explaining my predicament. I unashamedly used my most needy voice.
“Tessie, I really wish I could help you, but I’m booked out tonight,” he told me with genuine regret. “I have a group of Hungarian tourists who came here especially to climb Mount Big. Instead they’ve been cooling their heels in the pub every day because of this bloody rain.”
I hid my disappointment. “That’s okay, Abe. Just thought I’d check. Poor tourists. This rain’s diabolical, isn’t it? Please make sure that they don’t decide to climb the mountain regardless. Last thing the Sarge and I need is a search and rescue in these conditions.”