7. Gisele
“Can we go now?” I asked again for what felt like the twentieth time. Sitting in the dingy stale smelling office that got used only once a month when visiting law officers came into town was not my idea of fun.
I should be with my daughter after the day she had. I wanted to be with my daughter after the day she had. First her grumpy getting pulled over and arrested, admittedly only briefly but still she saw him in cuffs. The there had been the tirade from her father. She heard every vile word he said about her beloved Grumpy, threatening me with custody and that didn’t sit well with me. Not one little bit.
“I don’t know why you are still here to be frank with you, Ms. Blessing. Your sister is the only person I need to talk with, you and your mum are free to go.” Mr Hotness informed me, pointing at both me and my mother. Georgina refused to let dad stay in the frame of mind he had been in since getting pulled over. Couple that with Liam’s bullshit at the scene, dad was strung tighter than a coiled spring about to break. It took everything in mum’s arsenal to get him to agree to go home and start dinner. By my estimation, it wasn’t going to be too long before he decided to come and retrieve his girls.
“Pfft as if I’m leaving Elle alone with you,” I retorted, then realised how that might sound and quickly tried to back track, but my sister and mother caught it, and I wanted the floor under me to open and suck me in. “You know what I mean,” I grumbled hating that my face was flaming red.
“You know,” my mother started, “he does have a certain look about him; don’t you think Ellie?”
Elle catching on quick, nodded her head in agreement. “Is it just me, or does he look like that hot guy from Chicago Fire?”
“Oh yes,” mum agreed, my face completely on fire now. “That Kelly guy, right?” she asked looking at the detective then back to Elle, the twinkle in her eyes nothing but trouble for me.
“Yes, that’s him. Is that the one Gissy has a big crush on?”
Bitches. But they weren’t finished.
“It’s the greying hair and piercing blue eyes she loves. He whole bad boy persona, but inside the mushy heart. Do you have a mushy heart detective?” Georgina asked, putting on her most innocent face.
Complete bitches.
“Do I what?” HC asked totally bewildered by the sudden turn in conversation. Poor bugger, he had no idea. It took everything in me not to feel sorry for him though. After all, he had arrested my dad in front of my daughter.
Arsehole.
Hot but still an arsehole.
Shaking his head, he looked at me and I would swear there was a tiny smirk on his lips.
“Um, Ms Blessing, I understand you are angry with me for arresting your father, but the law is the law, and my job is to uphold the law. I was only doing that job.”
“This isn’t the big smoke HC, this is Blessings, population just over a thousand. My father doing a little burn out does not make a criminal offence,” I reasoned, accidentally revealing my secret nickname for him.
“HC?”
“Hot cop,” Elle supplied unhelpfully, making my day worse than I could imagine.
“Is that a blush staining your cheeks?” mum asked, not helping matters. However, she was right, I could detect a little redness.
“My name is Detective Jamison Jury ma’am; most people refer to me as Jury.”
“Not me,” Mum argued back, “Jury doesn’t fit you; I think Jami sounds much better.”
“Oh, good one Georgina Grace, I like that,” Elle enthused, having the balls to stand up and give mum a high five right there in front of the blushing man. Now I felt bad for the man.
“Chickee, why don’t you head off home and see what your dad is up to,” Mum suggested, her sweetness not fooling me one little bit.
“What is with all the names,” Detective Jamison Jury asked, cutting off any reply from me. “You are mother and daughters, yes? Yet you use her first and middle names, pet names up the wazoo. I’m getting dizzy trying to keep them all straight.”
We laughed outright at that, it wasn’t anything we had not heard before, not from locals but the tourist that stopped in town for a few days at the B and B.
“If you are here for longer than today, maybe we might fill you in,” mum conceded gracefully, “but if you are here to accuse my Ellie of anything untoward concerning her dead-beat douche bag lying cheating husband, then you get nothing.”
“Wonderful, mother,” Elle grumbled, “good way to help my innocence.”
“But you are innocent Ellie!” I cried indignantly, “you don’t have the strength to kill Jake let alone throw his body down a mineshaft. You wouldn’t know how to read dad’s maps, any more than me or Claudia.” My outburst was intended to sound well-meaning but by the look on Elle’s face, all I managed to do was make it worse.
“Mother pus bucket Gisele! Will you shut up!” Elle cried out, hiding her face in her hands.
“Mother pus bucket?” Jamison echoed, this time not bothering to hide his amusement. “that’s one I’ve never heard before.”
“Stick around, HC, because my girls have heaps of them.” Mum said proudly. Of course, she was proud, she taught us most of them.
“Mum, maybe you and Gisele should go home. The detective isn’t here to listen to our bickering or anything else for that matter that doesn’t apply to Jake. Please go and let me do this on my own.” Elle said finally getting herself under control. “His questions will be better answered by me, without you two inserting your two cents.”
Insulted by Elle’s suggestion we were in the way, I shoved up from the table, the chair making a loud annoying screech on the hard wood floor.
“I was the only one adulting, Elle Naomi,” I accused hotly, “it was you and mum who brought up the whole hot fireman reference.”
“And now I’m stopping it. Please Gis, I’m tired, pissed off and downright fed up with today. Go get something to eat then your daughter, tomorrow will be soon enough to start up the discussion that you have the hots for Detective Jamison Jury.”
Target hit. Score!
“Fine, I’m leaving. Georgina, are you coming? Daddy is in your kitchen.” I knew that reminding her that her husband was indeed in her kitchen and most likely using one or more of her expensive gadgets.
“Thank you.” Elle mouthed to me when mum abruptly stood up and ran from the room.
“You owe me,” I growled at her, doing my best not to get one more look at HC, even though I really wanted to.
Damn it.