Page 45 of Sergeant O'
He cocked his head. “Really?”
“Yeah, when I was a senior in college, I didn’t have a car, so my boyfriend would let me borrow his truck.”
“Did you two graduate in the same class?”
“No. He, um, was older.”
His eyebrows lifted. “Older? How much older?”
I shrugged. “Twelve years.”
“Twelve years? That’s like twice your age when you’re twenty-two!”
“Okay, obviously math isn’t your strong suit. But yes, he was way too old for me. But I was young and dumb and didn’t care at the time.”
“So, what happened? Why’d you break up?”
I stared out the windshield as I contemplated how to answer his question.
Finally, I just said, “He was a workaholic doctor who liked the idea of having a girlfriend at his beck and call but didn’t want to have to put any effort into actually being in a relationship. And, come to find out, I was more his dirty little secret than his girlfriend. He never told anyone about us. So pretty much the whole thing was a lie.”
“Aw, Sunshine. What a dick. I’m sorry. If he ever comes to Haven Springs, I promise to give him a ticket.”
That made me smile, in spite of having just reminisced about a really shitty time in my life.
“Think you can arrange a night in jail, too?”
“Consider it done.”
****
Brian
Our conversation flowed easily over the next several hours, and even our silences were comfortable.
Being with Jade was just easy.
I’d even let go of wanting to correct her driving.
Sort of.
Cut me some slack—I’m a cop. It wasn’t so easy to just overlook all her traffic violations—and there were plenty.
But I forced myself to keep my mouth shut. I’d promised her in my driveway I’d behave and keep my opinions to myself, and I was a man of my word.
I noticed dark clouds on the horizon and commented, “Maybe we should think about stopping for the night. We’re just a little short of halfway, and it looks like we’re about to drive into a storm.”
“You’re the navigator, just tell me where you want to stop.”
I studied the map on my phone and told her, “The next exit’s in ten miles. Let’s see what there is there. We’re kind of in the boonies, so I’m not sure how accurate the app is when it says there’s only one hotel.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Minutes later, the sky opened up and dumped so much rain, the windshield wipers couldn’t keep up, even on high.
I noticed Jade white knuckling the steering wheel as she leaned forward, trying to see out the windshield.
Fortunately, the green exit sign appeared, and she made a right onto the off-ramp.
