Page 56 of Man Cuffed
“I’ve never seen one of those in my life,” the old man says, shaking his head. “It sounded just like a robber bumping into the furniture. I thought maybe he forgot to put on his glasses or somethin’.”
Mac’s scowl is firmly in place. “Your son should have warned you, maybe,” he says. “You have a good night, okay?”
I’m just leaping off the front stoop, laughing, when Mac comes out of the house. “I told you to stay in the car.”
“Sorry.” I giggle. “And you’re right. Those Roombas are dangerous.”
“I’m never gonna live this one down,” he grumbles. “But you still have to stay in the car, okay? Next time the perp won’t be a vacuum cleaner.”
“Should I write that down in my notes?” I bat my eyelashes at him.
“You do that.” He cranks the engine and then sighs. “A Roomba. What will it be next?”
* * *
I sort ofwonder what will be next too. I’m actually a little apprehensive about it. I mean, what would happen if he got a call for a domestic disturbance or something. I love seeing Mac apprehend a Roomba, but I’m not sure how I’d feel about him apprehending someone who actually wanted to harm him. It suddenly occurs to me that Mac could get hurt doing this job. He could get worse than hurt. He could get dead.
I don’t like this thought at all. In fact, it makes me a little angry. Also a little scared.
“You got quiet all of a sudden,” he says.
“I’m sorry!” I blurt out.
“For being quiet? No need to apologize. Quiet is nice sometimes.”
“No, not sorry for being quiet. Although that does feel a bit unnatural to me. I’m sorry I got out of the car when you said I shouldn’t.”
He nods.
“I thought you were just being bossy and I wasn’t really thinking about the possible, um, ramifications.”
“Of a Roomba?” he says, deadpan, but I can sense the smile just below the surface.
“Don’t be a dick. I mean, what if it wasn’t a Roomba? What if it’d been a homicidal maniac? Who bumped into furniture a lot? Because he had really bad vision?”
We both laugh at that.
“Seriously, Mac, you could’ve been hurt. Or worse. And I could’ve gotten in the way.”
He nods again. “It’s all right, Trouble. I knew what I was taking on when I agreed to let you do a ride-along with me. That’s why I asked for this shift in particular. Usually, this is the time of day, that time between day and late night, where things don’t get too bad. It’s the next shift where things fall apart.”
“So a Roomba isn’t falling apart?”
“A Roomba is comic relief,” he tells me.
We drive around for a while more. He answers some basic questions. We chitchat. It’s nice and easy and I almost forget I’m researching a role. It’s more like I’m researching Mac.
There’s a twinge in my belly, because I like what I’m learning about him.
Stop it, Meg, I remind myself.You’re researching a role, not a romantic partner.
Mac doesn’t do romance.
Not yet, anyway.
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Maguire
