20. Kent - The Detective
Chapter twenty
Kent - The Detective
I t was just after Christmas. Edie and the girls had a quiet but lovely holiday season baking cookies and candies to deliver to their neighbors. One of their favorites was homemade turtle candies with salted pecans, chocolate, and caramel. The girls left to spend a few days with their aunts and grandma before going back to school. When Edie woke up a fresh layer of twelve inches of snow had fallen during the night so she knew the biggest part of her day would be blowing snow off her long driveway and sidewalks. She bundled up with the necessary winter clothing but when she got to the garage, the door had been smashed in and her new snow blower was missing. There were no car tracks or footprints so it must have happened the night before the snow began falling.
The Sheriff’s Department said they’d send someone out to investigate so Kent came to talk with Edie. She expected a uniformed officer but he was a detective explaining the officers were overwhelmed with traffic calls due to the weather so he had been assigned to look into her break-in. He was easy on the eyes and she had no problem with him looking into her break-in or anything else he wanted to look into. She thought about a saying an older friend had said to her when she was just a girl. Speaking of the country singer Eddie Arnold, Flora Ann said, “He can put his boots under my bed anytime”. Edie never forgot it and it seemed to fit this scenario quite perfectly. She’s not the kind of woman to make the first move on a man, but sometimes you have to tell them subtly that you might be receptive if they should be so inclined.
“Detective”, she said with a worried look on her face, “do you think I should be concerned about my safety since I’m here alone?” A girl sometimes needs a pickup line, too and that wasn’t bad.
With a slight sigh in his voice, he responded, “There’s always a possibility that the perps might get more aggressive. Would you feel better if I came by more often to check on you?” Kent asked in a tone that sounded more than willing. There was no wedding ring on his hand and Lord knew she needed protection and company. He took her phone number; now it was just a waiting game. He’d call or stop by if he was as interested as she was.
The following morning she had just ground some fresh dark roast beans for coffee when she saw his squad car pull into the driveway. She wasn’t exactly ready for company but, if things worked out the way she hoped, he’d see her looking worse. She invited him in for coffee and friendly conversation. He had just gotten off his shift and was headed home but wanted to make sure everything was okay. They visited for an hour when he announced he needed to get some sleep.
They said goodbye but when he went out to leave, his battery was as dead as roadkill. (Remember, Edie is a country girl.) The weather was brutal but she opened the door to ask if she could help. She bundled up and backed her car down as close to his as she could to jump his battery but there was no response. She had a charger so it would be a couple of hours before they had a heaven’s chance of it starting. Getting a wrecker out there with the weather as it was, was about as likely as tulips springing up in thin air. It just wasn’t going to happen.
He was so tired from working all night, that she tossed him a blanket and pillow and offered the sofa to him. He gladly accepted and apologized for the inconvenience. She didn’t mind; it’s always nice to have a man around the house, (in case of emergencies, you understand). He slept while she worked in her office catching up on paperwork that she’d neglected over the holidays. A couple hours later she went to her ensuite to shower when there was a light tap on the door. She panicked. “Yes?” she asked.
“Edie, I want to thank you for the hospitality. You’ve been ever so kind. Is there anything else I can do for you before I try to start my car?…like wash your back?” (You’ve gotta give a guy credit for effort and ingenuity.)
We know what you’re thinking. Edie should have said no but you know Edie by now and she hadn’t had a good back scrubbing in a long while. That shower might have gone down in history as the longest, steamiest, sexiest, most luxurious that ever wasn’t recorded. Wow! He certainly knew how to show a girl a good time, at least in the shower.
Fortunately, his car still didn’t start so he built a nice roaring fire. The sky was heavy with thick gray snow clouds. It was going to dump another foot of snow on them but this could be fun. Being alone in a blizzard isn’t nearly as much fun as with a willing snowman. She made some food that they enjoyed while sitting on the plush rug in front of the fire. She admitted she had to struggle to keep her hands off him and try to keep her breathing in check. He excused himself to get something from his car and asked if they could have some wine. This could get interesting though she had no idea just how interesting.
When he came back in he opened a nice bottle of Merlot. They sipped, he gently touched his lips to hers and said, “That’s the very best way to sample wine- from the lips of a beautiful woman.” It worked for Edie as the excitement was building. He got a serious look on his face and proposed a situation. “Please don’t be offended at what I’m going to say because I don’t know how you might feel about this but we have a ‘tongue in cheek’ saying that ‘cops have the best drugs.’ I suppose you don’t do drugs but I have some incredible weed that could take what we experienced earlier in the shower to the stratosphere. Before you say no, please consider it the purest, safest I’ve ever seen. I rarely do this but if you want to experience something you never have, indulge with me, will you?”
Edie is a self-proclaimed prude. Unless you consider alcohol and cigarettes drugs, she had never done anything like that before. She knew nothing about the effects she might experience but at that point, she threw caution to the wind. She couldn’t even describe what happened though she remembered every moment of the experience like it was today even after all these years. He instructed her, was gentle and sensual and every nerve that was in her body came to life like a million flashing neon signs. Every touch, every kiss was the most profound feeling she’d ever had. There was no rush, time stood still, and each sensation lasted the way one would hope a climax would but never does. Without a doubt, this was one of the very best sexual experiences she’d ever had. She didn’t know what it was, and never found out, but she understood how people would want to feel this.
They finally climbed into her cool, crisp sheets and snuggled together until the sun began to lighten the sky. It felt amazing to lie in a man’s arms, to be touched and appreciated just for being a woman. He stirred and showered while she made coffee and toasted English muffins. She enjoyed several sweet kisses and deep warm hugs before Kent left to meet the sheriff and undersheriff for a staff meeting. Edie was left wanting more from this man who had made a winter blizzard as warm an experience as she’d ever had.
On his way to the meeting, he got a call of a domestic disturbance of a man holding his wife at gunpoint. Kent was a short distance from the scene and the first to arrive. Following all the proper protocol, he assessed the situation was dire, called for backup, and attempted to negotiate with the man who was holding a gun to his wife’s head. Kent tried to position himself so he could take a shot if needed but the gunman caught him in the shoulder. He instinctively stepped out to take a shot but not before the madman pumped two rounds into Kent’s center body but Kent was able to fire a fatal shot that saved the woman. His last breath confirmed he was a hero and saved the mother of three small children.
Edie admitted for a couple of days she couldn’t cry. It didn’t seem real; it was too close to home. This beautiful man with whom she had spent two romantic days was gone as quickly as he had entered her life. She wanted to attend the funeral but, in a small town like ours, people would wonder how they knew each other, why she was there, and wagging tongues would create stories that she didn’t want to deal with. She grieved for Kent in her special way and just like that…Kent was just a beautiful memory.