8. Archer #2
Did I want her to? Yes . Was I going to tell her that? No . I felt bad for making her come all the way over here from campus just to hang with two grumpy dudes.
Archer:
Don’t worry about it. Manny and I are about to head out anyway. But if you’re up for it, I can give you a call in 20 and you can tell me about the show.
There was a good chance I was coming across as mildly desperate, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to hear her voice.
“That your redheaded dream girl from last night?” Manny asked, nodding at my phone, a smirk on his face. “ I’ll head on back if she’s on her way here, so I don’t crash your date.”
I filled him in and told him I’d head back with him. It was probably a good idea anyway since it was my turn to testify tomorrow.
After we got home, I called Ace , and I wasn’t sure how I felt about how much my body relaxed just at the sound of her voice.
“Hey,” she answered, and I could hear the smile in her voice. “ How was your day?”
“Better now,” I told her, hoping she could sense my smile too. “ How was the show?”
“The acrobats were fantastic— I didn’t know people’s bodies could bend that way,” she said in amazement.
I laughed under my breath at her excitement. “ I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“I kind of feel bad I’ve lived here for so many years and am just now enjoying some of the things Vegas has to offer,” she noted. “ I haven’t even been to the Hoover Dam , Red Rock Canyon , or the Seven Magic Mountains , and those are all less than an hour away.”
“I’m the same,” I told her. “ Sometimes life just gets busy and you don’t get to enjoy the things around you.”
We spent the next three hours talking about everything under the sun.
I wasn’t usually a phone talker. I was good with texts or talking in person, but conversations on the phone weren’t really my thing.
With Ace , I couldn’t get enough. I told her about my cousin Vince —everything from visiting him when I was a kid to how he was overseas in the Army now.
She told me that she was adopted and had grown up on a farm along with several other foster and adopted siblings.
She also mentioned how she’d been contacted this morning, and she had a job interview tomorrow for a job in California —her home state.
“I’ll let you go so you can get some sleep for your big interview tomorrow,” I told her, reluctant to let her go, but I knew I needed sleep myself. “ Good luck.”
“Thanks, Archer . Have a good day tomorrow,” she said softly in my ear, and I knew I could get used to hearing that.
“Thanks, Ace . Sweet dreams.”
* * *
It was because of that interview that we didn’t get to see each other for three more days.
They’d loved her phone interview so much that they’d asked her to fly out for an in-person interview.
Despite that, we still talked every night.
Favorite movies, music, food—you name it, we talked about it.
She was so easy to talk to that time flew by with such ease.
One thing we didn’t discuss much was the trial. I hadn’t wanted to bring her down, especially because the trial put me in a bad mood. But she knew the jury was set to begin deliberation tomorrow and offered to meet me for a celebratory drink after the verdict was read.
* * *
Sitting just outside the courtroom the next day, as the jury continued deliberation, my phone buzzed with a text from Ace .
Ace:
OMG! I got the job! Bakersfield offered me the reporter job!
Archer:
Congratulations! Celebratory drinks for sure tonight :)
Archer:
How did the interview with the newspaper go?
Ace:
I think it went well, but I also got the vibe they wanted someone with at least a little experience.
Well, crap. I was torn. I was happy for her, but I also didn’t want her to leave.
I spent much of the next hour googling how far Bakersfield , California , was from Vegas and any other information I could get about long-distance relationships.
Part of me knew I should probably just back off and walk away—we’d only known each other a few days—but the other part of me couldn’t.
There was just something about her. I’d never felt this connection with any other woman.
I knew if the jury didn’t go in my favor, I would be in a piss-poor mood, but I wanted to see her so badly, I didn’t even care if the trial outcome wasn’t what I’d hoped for.
What I hadn’t known was how bad the trial would go.
Pagano should have gotten twenty-five years to life for murder, plus a few more years for the racketeering, bribery, and extortion charges.
Instead , due to a technicality, he only got eight years…
total. And knowing how overcrowded prisons were, not to mention how connected he was, he would likely be paroled before that.
These were the days I hated being a cop. Justice was so unfairly balanced in this country. If you had money or connections, the justice system meant nothing to you.
The only saving grace was that Pagano and his entire family seemed shocked he was even found guilty at all. The sheer disbelief on their faces that he was actually going to prison was the only bright spot of the day. That was, until Ace showed up at the bar.
Manny and I were already half drunk when she arrived. Manny hitched a ride home with a friend of ours, Tyrone , who had just gotten off shift and had met up with us to hear all about the trial verdict.
Ace sat down with a smile on her face, and that was just the medicine I needed. She and I moved from the bar to a private booth, and she listened to me replay all the sordid details of the trial.
Needing a topic change, I asked her to tell me all about her new job in Bakersfield . The excitement on her face was contagious, despite my shitty day.
“You’re beautiful,” I told her, watching her smile as she spoke about her trip to visit the station. “ The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
“And I think you might be drunk,” she informed me. I wasn’t, but I was probably close. “ How about we get out of here?”
I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay right where I was and enjoy her beauty and the joy she brought me. “ I’m not ready for this night to be done. I don’t want you to leave.”
She giggled, and it was the most beautiful sound. “ I didn’t mean let’s be done for the night. I just meant let’s leave here and maybe go for a walk.”
Oh, okay. I could do that.
We grabbed some drinks to go—a perk of Las Vegas was that it was legal for you to consume alcohol while walking down the Strip .
I grabbed her hand in mine, and we walked down the street, enjoying casual conversation and taking in some of the sights along the way.
When we finished our drinks, we grabbed another round from a street vendor and continued our peaceful walk.
“We might want to think about getting a cab home,” she mentioned.
“Why?” I questioned.
“I’m feeling myself getting a little past tipsy, and I figure one of us should be responsible tonight.”
I didn’t want to be responsible, though.
Adults behaved responsibly because we were told it would make things right—fair, even—but it didn’t work that way.
It wasn’t fair how the trial verdict went, even though I always behaved responsibly at my job.
It also wasn’t fair that I finally met a beautiful woman, and she was about to leave me and go to another state.
Nope. I was done being responsible—at least for one night.
“Being responsible is overrated,” I told her, pulling her in close and kissing her lips. “ Let’s be fun instead.”
She giggled in response as I stared at the building in front of me. Yeah , this might be the most fun plan I could come up with.
“I have an idea.”
* * *
Several hours later, I woke up in my bed, not quite sure how I got there, and dealing with a massive headache.
It was still dark outside, from what I could tell, though I wasn’t sure exactly what time it was.
I reached over to grab my phone from the nightstand, when I bumped into something and realized I wasn’t alone.
A glance to my left revealed Ace’s beautiful body next to mine.
I smiled at the fact that she was here. When I reached to pick up my phone, I saw it was nearly four in the morning.
I also noticed something unfamiliar on my left hand—a ring.
Shock and surprise filled my groggy mind.
I turned my body to glance once again at the sleeping woman next to me.
Specifically , the left hand of the sleeping woman—which now had a silver band with small diamonds around a very important finger.
What the hell had happened?