Chapter 6 #2
“We’ve got a possible runaway. Sixteen, history of beating feet, but the parents claim she’s turned over a new leaf lately. They don’t think she went wherever she is willingly.”
Nathan swallowed a yawn as he flipped through the report.
“What’s with you today?” Andy asked. “You’re like a zombie.”
“Didn’t sleep well last night.” Since the happily married Andy was forever after Nathan to get a love life, he wished he could tell his partner the truth. But if there was one thing Nathan Caldwell didn’t do it was kiss and tell.
“Why don’t you head out? I’ll go talk to the parents. It’s on my way home.”
Nathan looked up at him. “You’re sure you don’t mind?” Normally, Nathan would have jumped all over the case, but tonight he didn’t have the energy.
“Nah. The uniforms said it sounds like a runaway, so I can handle the parents myself and then pass it to second shift. I’ll let you know what comes of it.”
“Thanks. I’m about to drop.”
“I can see that. Talk to you in the morning, if not before.”
Nathan didn’t waste any time getting out of there. Unlocking his dark gray hybrid, he decided he was too old, even at just thirty-three, for an all-night sex fest. Without some sleep—and soon—he would probably keel over in the street.
On his way home, he tried to call the cell phone he had gotten his brother Ben so he could keep closer tabs on him, but as usual, Ben didn’t answer. Frustrated, Nathan closed his phone and tossed it into the passenger seat.
The phone rang, and thinking it might be Ben calling him back, Nathan lunged for it. “Caldwell.”
“Hey,” his brother Ian said. “Any word from Ben?”
“No,” Nathan said, dejected.
“What time was he due back?”
“I think they were taking the three-thirty ferry.”
“I’m sure he’ll turn up in the next couple of hours.”
“I hope so.”
“If he doesn’t, give me a call. I’ll help you look for him.”
“Aren’t you playing tonight?” Nathan asked.
“Nope. I’m off the next few nights to give my voice a rest. I’ll be around if you need me, Nate.”
“Thanks. I’m beat, so I’m gonna crash for a while. If you don’t hear from me, he’s home.”
“Got it.”
“Later.” Nathan ended the call but kept the phone in his hand. He appreciated Ian checking in. Their whole family was worried about Ben, who had been badly injured in Iraq just over a year ago and was having trouble getting his life back together.
Nathan resisted the urge to drive by Georgie’s house on his way home and trudged into his own house, unclipped the badge from his belt, and shrugged off his shoulder holster on the way upstairs.
In his bedroom, he stashed the gun and badge in the bedside table drawer and found Georgie’s earrings.
He picked them up and let the metal slide through his fingers, remembering the way they had dangled from her delicate earlobes.
As he put them back on the table, he wondered if she’d discovered yet that she had left them.
He had known women who would leave a souvenir behind to ensure a follow-up call, but Georgie wasn’t like that.
Besides, she had been adamant that theirs was a one-night stand, so why would she bait him by leaving her earrings?
He reached up to unbutton his shirt, and the memory of her doing it for him the night before stopped him in his tracks as it became clear to him that one night with her wasn’t going to be enough. In fact, he feared a month of nights might not be enough to work her out of his system.
Still absorbing the realization, he stripped down to boxers and went into the bathroom, where he once again stopped short.
The cover was off the toilet and sitting on the floor.
What the hell? And what the heck is that hanging from the ceiling?
Is that . . . He leaned in for a closer look.
Dental floss? And then he laughed, a deep belly laugh that made his sides ache and brought tears to his eyes.
The damned toilet acted up on a regular basis, but he had forgotten to mention it to her.
Suddenly, sleeping wasn’t as important as it had been a few minutes earlier. He simply had to see her. Right now.
The bedroom door opened slowly, and Tess poked her head in. “Oh, hey, you’re awake.”
“Hey, what’s up?” Georgie had barely moved since the call from her sister. Despite her best efforts to push it from her mind, the dilemma weighed more heavily than ever after getting her sister’s grim news.
“I heard you had a big night out,” Tess said with a grin that told Georgie she knew the whole story. “I made some dinner and thought you might be hungry.”
Georgie realized she was famished. “That sounds good. Thanks. I suppose you’re going to want all the gory details in exchange for this dinner you made me.”
“Well, yeah,” Tess said as she left the room. “Ready in five minutes.”
Georgie puffed up the pillow and smiled.
She adored Cat and Tess and felt like she had known them for years rather than months.
It had been a long time since she’d had girlfriends she enjoyed as much as them.
Her high school friends were scattered about the country, and her college friends had either left Atlanta or gotten married and had families.
The women she worked with were fun, but she spent most of her work time with subordinates and didn’t hang out with them as a rule.
The few women she did socialize with in Atlanta she had met through Doug, and he would no doubt get them in their breakup.
Not wanting to think about him, Georgie got up and crossed the hall to her own room.
Hanging her mother’s robe on the back of her door, she put on shorts and one of the soft cotton camisoles she slept in.
She ran a brush through her hair, splashed some cold water on her face, and headed downstairs.
“Oh, wow, something smells really good. What did you make?”
“I grilled some chicken to go with that corn you brought home.”
“Bad Gus at the center gave it to me.”
Tess chuckled. “What does he think of that name?”
“It’s well earned, believe me.” Georgie opened a bottle of chardonnay and poured them each a glass as Tess sliced Gus’s big tomato.
Georgie fingered the soft petals of a stargazer lily in the bouquet Nathan had given her. “Thanks for doing this. I haven’t eaten all day.”
The minute they sat down at the table, Tess sent her a pointed look. “Anything you want to tell me?”
“Anything you don’t already know?”
“It’s always so much better coming from the horse’s mouth,” Tess said with a wicked grin.
Taking a long sip of her wine, Georgie glanced at her friend over the top of the glass.
“The short story is—he chewed me out about not recycling at the center, apologized later with the flowers, asked me to dinner, I went, we had fun, he asked me to come to his house so he could show me the work he’s done to it, we had sex—a lot of sex, really, really good sex—which I have never, ever done before on a first date, and I felt like a total slut all day today. That’s it.”
Tess’s mouth hung open, her eyes agog.
“What?”
“All Cat said was you went out with Jogger Guy.”
Georgie groaned. “Shit.”
“Well,” Tess said, giggling. “This is an interesting development.”
“Don’t get too excited. It was a one-night thing.”
“Why?”
“I’ll tell you the same thing I told Cat—in light of everything else that’s going on, I don’t need the complication.”
“Why does it have to be complicated?”
How could she explain that this had complicated written all over it from the moment she first saw him running by and wanted to lick the sweat from his back?
“Why can’t you just have some fun with him while you’re in town?”
“Come on, Tess. You know it never works out that way. People get their feelings involved, and it gets messy when it ends. I don’t need that, and I’m sure he doesn’t, either. Besides, I’ve already done, well, everything there is to do with him. How do we go back to just ‘having fun’ after that?”
Tess raised an eyebrow. “Everything?”
“No stone was left unturned.”
“Wow.” Tess took a big gulp of her wine. “I need a cigarette.”
Georgie cracked up.
The doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it,” Tess said.
She left the room, and Georgie dove into the spicy barbecue chicken.
Tess returned a minute later. “Georgie, you have a visitor.”
With barbecue sauce smeared on her face, she looked up to find Nathan Caldwell watching her, his bright blue eyes dancing with amusement.
“Hello, Georgie.”
Looking away from him as her face burned with embarrassment, she grabbed a napkin.
“What are . . . I mean . . . why are you here?” She hated the stammer that infected her voice as she tried to spit out the sentence.
How did he manage to turn her into a stammering fool just by walking into the room? It was so unfair!
“I was wondering if I could borrow some dental floss.”