Lexington Connection

by M. E. Logan

  Diana picked up Jessie’s clothes. Jessie never hung them up, just threw them on whatever was handy. That was why Diana had hung up the tailored leather jacket the night before. It was much too expensive and whatever she was carrying would have pulled it out of shape. She spread the silk shirt out over the chair, running her fingers over it. Such a change from cotton shirts, but so sexy. My, my, Jessie could dress up impressively when she went about it. She shook the trousers out, lining up the pants legs, when something fell out of the pocket, a credit card or something.

  The shower was just stopping when she bent down to pick it up. It became one of those moments remembered with such clarity that every little thing registers, the sound of the shower, the lighting in the room, the texture of the light wool pants still in her hand, the dark stitched leather, the silver color of the metal, the shape, the engraving, Lexington-Fayette Urban County Police Department.

  Diana literally lost her breath and her initial fight or flight response set her heart pounding before her quick thinking stifled all reactions, or at least most of the drastic ones. She stood up, still staring at the badge when Jessie came out of the bathroom, wrapped in the big bath towel.

  “What’s wrong?” Jessie asked.

  “What’s this?” Diana was able to say with some calmness.

  “My badge.”

  “Your badge,” Diana repeated like she didn’t understand the word. “You’re a cop?” She hoped it sounded surprised rather than horrified, but from the change in Jessie’s expression she didn’t quite pull it off.

  “Yesssss,” Jessie said with some guardedness. Diana just stared at her, like she was seeing some stranger. “Is there a problem with that?”

  “When did you become a cop?” Diana asked, trying hard to give an even inflection to every word.

  “I’ve always been with the police department.”

  Diana closed her eyes, trying to shift all the mental gears, to take this in and not panic at the same time.

  “Where did you think I worked, Diana?” Jessie moved cautiously, taking several steps toward her.

  Diana opened her eyes, let out a long breath. She needed to treat this casually, act casually, not like she just got caught red-handed doing a criminal act. She shook her head and looked at Jessie in puzzlement, innocent puzzlement. “Every time we were together and you had to go to work, you were going to the horse farm. I thought you worked at the horse farm, the one you took me to when we had the picnic.” She put the badge back in the trouser pocket with great deliberateness. “You really need to learn to hang up your clothes when you take them off. I’ll have to use the steam iron on these.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Jessie replied, her senses still on alert over Diana’s changed behavior. “You always came in on the weekends. The horse farms usually hire off-duty police when there are big doings going on. Extra pay. And Dad was head of security for Broadrick. He worked there after his heart attack forced his retirement from the police.”

  “So he was on the force too?” Diana said, turning back. “Family tradition.” She shook her head again, trying to clear it.

  “What’s wrong?” Jessie took Diana by the arm. “Is this a problem?”

  Diana looked her in the face. Probably it wasn’t best to freak out a cop even when she was standing there in nothing but a towel and you were standing between her and her gun. “I don’t think so,” Diana could say honestly. She deliberately relaxed. “It—it’s just a shock.”

  An understatement if there ever was one. “I mean, all this time, when I’ve been away and thought of you, my image has been of you in blue jeans and a white shirt, working around horses, riding, walking them, grooming. I’ve pictured you on a horse farm even if I didn’t have a clear idea of what you were doing.”

  She could look at Jessie in honest bewilderment. “And now I find out you’re a cop and I see you in a navy blue uniform and carrying a gun?” she asked in a questioning mode. Jessie nodded, with some caution, still watchful, still holding onto Diana, but with a more relaxed grip. Diana let out another breath, in understanding. “That’s what was in your jacket last night when I thought it was so heavy. Ahhh.” She stepped away, out of Jessie’s grip. She sat down on the bed. She shivered. All those months and she had been bedding one of Lexington’s finest. She gave a shaky laugh.

  “What now?”

  “Oh, shit Jessie,” Diana said with forced deprecation. “Learning you’re a cop, and thinking of everything I did to you last night?” She brought her hand to her mouth, half laughing, half crying.

  Jessie squatted down in front of Diana, with a reassured look. “I’m still Jessie,” she pointed out. “I’m still the same person. Just because you know something about me that you didn’t know yesterday doesn’t change anything.”

  Just everything, Diana thought. “Changes all my memories,” she said aloud. “I realize it’s hindsight, but still.”

  “Does it change how you feel about me?”

  “No,” Diana answered instantly and realized only after she said it, that it was true. But the ramifications, they were mind-boggling. “No, it doesn’t change my feelings at all.”

  “I’m glad,” Jessie said with relief. She stood up. “Sometimes when I’ve dated someone, there’s been issues. And I’ve lost some friends who discovered what my job was. Problems with drugs sometimes, maybe problems with authority.”

  “Well,” Diana said with forced casualness, “now I might have a problem with that.” Jessie gave her a quick questioning look. Diana shrugged. “Like last night, sometimes I like to be in charge.”

  Jessie chuckled. “And sometimes I like not to be,” she said carefully.

  Diana stood up. “Like I said last night, it’s appalling what we don’t know about each other. I mean, I’d recognize your voice, your walk anytime, the way you move.” She chuckled, revising images as quickly as they came to mind. “I wonder if I would recognize you in uniform.” She looked up at Jessie in puzzlement. “I thought you had to carry your gun and ID all the time.”

  “My little black bag,” Jessie answered. “My change of clothes.”

  Diana slowly nodded in realization. Of course, Jessie always had her little black bag. Diana had thought it was because she was so confident of scoring when she was on the prowl. God, talk about only seeing what I wanted to see. She kissed Jessie quickly rather than follow that train of thought. “So where are we going today?” Some place busy, active, so we don’t have to talk.

  Jessie drew Diana back for a longer kiss. “Are you all right with this? Really? I’d be upset if I lost you.”

  Diana closed her eyes, lost a little apprehension in that kiss. She waited until Jessie let her go. “Well, we don’t want to make you upset, do we?”

  “You know, we don’t have to go anywhere.” Jessie again wrapped her arms around Diana.

  “Tempting,” Diana ran her fingers across Jessie’s face. “But we need to do something, go somewhere. I need to see you out and about, process all this,” she said honestly. “Seeing you naked in bed and getting lost in you won’t do it.” Just the same, she still ran her hand under the towel. “I should have it processed nicely by the time we get back, get adjusted, you know.” She looked up at Jessie as if with a sudden thought. “Does that mean you have handcuffs?” she asked playfully.

  Jessie laughed, back to her old laughter, Diana was relieved to hear. “For me or for you?”

  “Oh, honey, I don’t think I could stand the cuffs on me. I was thinking more for you.”

  “Maybe we’ll just skip the cuffs. And maybe it’s better we go out today.” She kissed Diana again. “I was thinking of taking you to Berea.”

  “What’s Berea?”

  “It’s a little town about thirty miles from here. It’s full of craft and folk art shops. There’s a college there originally founded for the mountain folks and there’s lots of craftspeople. I thought you’d like it.”

  “Sounds like something Nicki would like,” Diana suggest
ed oh so casually.

  “No. She’d find it boring and then we wouldn’t have tonight, which I’m really looking forward to.” She leered at Diana. “God knows how long I’m going to have to store this up for.”

  Diana chuckled and shook her head. She’d manage some way.

  ***

  Diana pulled into the driveway with a sigh of relief. It had been a weekend, about as far away from her expectations as it could have been and yet still be with Jessie. God, Jessie a cop. Never in her wildest dreams. She really had put Jessie in some small secret part of her mind where the world didn’t exist. Margaret was right. That really was dangerous. Maybe she should be glad Jessie had been a cop and not any of Papa’s rivals. A cop was bad enough but it could have been worse. The world did exist, and Papa’s part of it wasn’t always a pleasant place.

  She walked into the house, dropped her suitcase, surprised to see bigger suitcases packed and lined up by the door.

  “What’s up?” she asked as soon as Margaret entered.

  “We’re going to Wyles.”

  “In Miami?”

  “You’re good,” Margaret pointed out with respectful sarcasm. “Have a good weekend?”

  “Eventful.” Diana passed off, not ready to confess to Margaret her lack of caution. “What’s up with Wyles?”

  “Your papa thinks someone’s cooking the books, wants you to examine them.”

  “Who’s going with us?”

  “Franklin.”

  “Okay.”

  “And then we’re going directly to the West Coast.”

  “Why?”

  “We’ll find out when we get there.”

  “Okay.”

  Chapter Eight

  Four months later Diana examined the changing colors as she drove back into Lexington. Autumn already. Right from spring flowers to fall colors. It had been a while. Big changes coming. She frowned. Big choices too. In or out. She had to decide while she still could, before it became an offer she couldn’t refuse. Papa had been clear on that: she could still choose. But what kind of choice did she have? All she knew was the Family. Except for Jessie.

  On the other hand, this was a nice town, she wouldn’t mind living here. Lots of history, nice year round weather. The horse farms were beautiful, white board fences, grass really was blue. She still remembered her surprise at that. She eased into the traffic on New Circle Road. Wouldn’t be bad at all. She could like it.

  She drove through downtown. She wondered if she would need the hotel this trip. Maybe, maybe not. She glanced at the sidewalks. Nice day for the outdoor café. Ahhh, and look who was there. And a parking place. Well, this was her lucky day.

  She watched her at the café table as she walked up the block. Dressed in civvies, she was reading something, one leg stretched out to the other chair, the other leg drawn up, and whatever she was reading resting against her leg. She was frowning in concentration, only slowly turning the pages. Black slacks, off-white Irish fisherman’s sweater. Coat thrown back over the chair. Coffee cup on the table. Diana walked right up to her without being noticed.

  “Hello, beautiful.”

  Jessie looked up, annoyed at the interruption, then did the classic double take. “Diana.” She leaped to her feet, greeted her with a hug.

  “I’m not interrupting anything am I?”

  “No, no.” There was a flicker of dismay across Jessie’s face and then it was gone. “I’ve got to meet someone for lunch but that’s later. Have a seat.”

  There was a distance there, and Diana had the first inkling of something wrong. Jessie’s openness was gone. She was more guarded.

  “So you came back?”

  “Well, yes,” Diana said, sitting across from Jessie. She began to have a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Did you think I wouldn’t?”

  “I didn’t know,” Jessie said frankly. “You haven’t been gone this long for a long, long time.”

  “I had a deal on the West Coast. I just got back a couple of days ago.” Jessie nodded, but there was disinterest there. “How’s everything going with you?” Diana fished.

  Jessie nodded. “Can’t complain.”

  “How’s Nicki?”

  “Doing good. Likes school this year.” Jessie met her gaze. “She wears the necklace you got her almost every day.”

  Diana couldn’t see with the high neck of the sweater whether Jessie was wearing hers. That would have helped, because this conversation was much too casual to make her feel comfortable. “Did you think I wouldn’t come back, Jessie?” she asked again.

  Jessie made that expression she had when she wanted to be casual. “I didn’t know. I thought you might have called since you were gone so long.”

  “Would that have made a difference?”

  “Maybe. I don’t know.” Jessie moved around the coffee cup, the notebook, not looking at Diana. “So what now?”

  Maybe she was imagining things, maybe Jessie was just pissed because she had been gone for so long. “I have,” Diana searched for a word, “an opportunity. I wanted to talk to you about it. But I think you’ve got news to tell me, don’t you?”

  Jessie shifted her gaze, still avoiding Diana’s. “You ought to be in my line of work. You read people very well.”

  “What’s up?” Diana asked, inwardly bracing herself even though she wanted to get up and run away rather than hear whatever Jessie was going to tell her. She did not think the news was going to be good.

  Jessie licked her lips, watched the traffic in the street for a minute. Then she finally looked directly at Diana. “Julie came back to town. She was never able to get over me either. She understands now what I was going through. We’re working things out, getting back together.”

  “Oh,” was the only coherent thing that Diana could get out. There wasn’t anything else she could think to say. “Well.” She paused again as she searched for some coherency. “I guess that makes you unavailable.”

  “Yeah,” Jessie said with a little relief, as if she had expected something more.

  “Well,” Diana repeated. She sat back in the chair, looking at but not really seeing Jessie. “Working out well for you?” she asked for lack of something better to say.

  Jessie nodded. “It’s rocky,” she admitted. “There have been a lot of changes. Julie’s a doctor now. We’re not kids anymore.”

  “But your feelings have lasted this long.” Somehow Jessie didn’t look as happy as Diana would have expected. “Well.”

  “You’ve said that,” Jessie said with some irritation.

  Diana took a deep breath, pulled herself together. “I imagine that after this many years and changes, things may be rocky for a while. I’m sure you’ll work all of those problems out.” Jessie looked up in some surprise and Diana went on. “You’ve waited for Julie a long time. You’ve demonstrated your loyalty and how important she is to you. I have nothing but wishes of happiness for you, Jessie.”

  “Really?”

  Diana’s voice softened. “Jessie, we’ve shared a lot. I knew all this time you were waiting for Julie. The last time I was here, that came up and you were so upset when I said you were waiting. Why wouldn’t I want you to be happy?”

  “I almost wished you hadn’t come back,” Jessie confessed. “I dreaded telling you. I feel bad because now my waiting has been rewarded and yours hasn’t.”

  Diana forced a laugh. “Don’t worry about me. You just focus on Julie. Not everyone gets that second chance. Make the most of it. Grab the chance to be happy.” She got to her feet, and Jessie followed.

  “You’re not leaving?”

  “What reason do I have for staying, Jessie?”

  “You didn’t tell me about your opportunity.”

  Diana shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “I don’t suppose you would want to meet Julie.”

  Diana shook her head. “I don’t think so.” She leaned forward to give Jessie an air kiss. “Give my best to Nicki.” She reluctantly released Jessie. �
�You take care.”

  “Diana, I don’t know how to get hold of you.”

  “You don’t need to now. You’ve got Julie. You be careful. It’s a rough world out there.” Then she turned and walked away, quickly, while she still could.

  ***

  She was drinking coffee in the kitchen when Margaret came down. “Well, you’re back early. I didn’t expect you back for a week.”

  Diana shrugged. It had been a very long drive home.

  “Did you decide what you’re going to do?”

  “I’m going to take the job. I’ve already told Papa.”

  Margaret poured herself some coffee. “You are? You did?” She looked at Diana curiously. “How was Lexington?”

  “Lexington is over.”

  “What happened, sweet pea?” Diana shook her head. “She dump you?”

  “Not exactly. She—an old flame showed up, they are working things out.”

  “I’m so sorry.” Margaret watched Diana over the rim of her cup. It was not Diana’s way to take it so calmly.

  Diana drank some coffee, picked up the paper. “Just as well. There would have been problems. Real difficulties down the road.”

  “Most problems can be worked out if you’re determined.”

  “That’s what I told her about her old flame. I don’t think it would have worked for us.”

  “Why not?”

  “She’s a cop.”

  Margaret spit coffee all over the counter, looking at Diana with complete disbelief. “A cop!” Then she lowered her voice, glancing around. “Are you out of your mind?”

  Diana didn’t look up from the paper. “Yes, one of Lexington’s finest and no, I’m not out of my mind. It doesn’t matter. It’s over and done with.”

  “But it went on for a long time!” Margaret hissed.