Brothers in Blue: The First Love Match (2 page)

Ariel was gulping inside because 8 was pretty early for her, but she was willing to make a s
acrifice to spend time with John.

             
“That sounds good to me.”

John smiled at her as his radio crackled to life on his sho
ulder.  He answered the call with his location and said he was on his way.

             
“Well I’ll see you in a few days then, just send me an email sometime on Tuesday and I’ll let you know which park to meet me at.”

He turned and walked away.  Ariel sighed, not sure
if it was a sigh of relief that he was gone or was it the fact that she wished they had just a little while longer to chat.  She turned to watch him walk down the hallway; he looked so strong and authoritative.  Not the kind of guy who would want to take anything slow or date someone with intimacy issues like her. 

Not the kind of girl to
be consumed with thinking about a guy, that’s all Ariel could find herself doing.  She thought about John way more than she should have.  Not on purpose of course, but, she couldn’t help herself but to wonder what he might be doing, or if offering to help her with Bruno was just so they could get to know each other better.  Or maybe he was really just a nice guy and she had put him in a position where he felt like he had to offer to help her out?  The whole thing was so confusing.  It had been so long since she had even flirted with a guy, much less made plans with one that she was sorely out of practice.  Wednesday morning was going to show up much more quickly than she expected.  At least work kept her busy; the ER was always busy on her shift so that sort of kept her mind off of things, but not quite enough.  Soon Tuesday was moving by and she realized that she had to write an email to John.  At least it was easier than making a phone call, much more impersonal.  She waiting for her break at work and went into the staff lounge to use her laptop. 

Dear John,

Wait a minute here, is saying Dear John too formal, or did it sound like she was calling him Dear or Honey already, would he think that?

Hi John,

There that sounded better.  Glancing up at the clock, she saw five minutes had already passed by on her break and she had only written a greeting.  Stop over analyzing, stop over analyzing, she started repeating that phrase in her mind like a mantra and got back to typing.

Hi John,

Thank you for offering to help with my dog Rufus.  I just wanted to touch base with you and see if you still wanted to meet up in the morning, and if so at which park? 

-Ariel

That sounded good.  Her response was short, simple, and to the point.  It didn’t need to be more than that, or did it?  Reading over the note she hit send before letting herself start thinking about it again.  Leaving the laptop open she got her lunch bag out of the fridge.  Nothing exciting just some left over pasta salad that she had made the night before for her dinner.  Chowing down on her food she saw that she had a new email, she quickly opened it up and John had already written her back.

Ariel-

Yes, I’m still planning on going to the park in the morning.  I will be at the Fisher Pointe Park near downtown Tampa on the waterfront.  That way the dogs can cool down in the water when we’re done working with them.  See you at 8.  If you have any problems finding me at the park just give me a call, I wrote my cell on the back of the card I gave you, I have a Ford F-350 and its silver. 

-John

Hmm his email seemed somewhat non-committal; she wasn’t sure what to make of it.  Did he want to spend time with her or not? He hadn’t offered to pick her up or provide any food so he wasn’t thinking of it as a date. Glancing up she saw that her break was almost over so she packed up her things and stowed them in her locker before heading back into the ER.  No time to worry about it, it would have to wait for the morning.

Well, the morning sure came with a vengeance.  The sun was shining, birds were chirping, the alarm clocked blared, all Ariel wanted to was to crawl back under her warm covers and go right back to sleep.  She had committed to meeting at the park and it was already 7am, had she hit snooze in her sleep?  Hopping out of bed she scrambled into the bathroom and started the shower while she brushed her teeth.  Bruno was whimpering at the door but he was going to have to wait this morning, she had to make herself presentable.  In the shower Ariel quickly scrubbed herself down leaving her hair up and dry to make the dressing process a bit quicker, she would have to wash again later anyhow.  She streaked into her room across from Sean’s closed the door and threw on panties and jeans, quickly deciding on a push up bra to go under her fitted V-neck T-shirt.  The royal blue of the shirt made her eyes and hair look even more dark and lush.  Swiping on first some lip gloss and then some mascara she grabbed her purse, and headed for the door.  Then she remembered, Bruno, it would sure look silly to show up without him.  Sliding into her sandals she clipped his leash on as he happily jumped around her and pushed open the front door.  Damn the sun was bright at this early in the morning.

The traffic was bad, but not too bad and she made it to the park right before 8. Driving through she saw the large truck parked near a field and playground and a large black lab running full speed across the field.  Bruno was scraping the car door with his paws and clearly wanting out so Ariel rushed over before he ruined the leather interior.  Bruno pulled her across the parking lot towards the other lab with all of the unbridled intensity and strength that a twenty five pound puppy usually comes along with.  She found herself struggling to keep up with him.  Just when she almost took a tumble over the curb and into the grass John stepped towards her reaching for the leash.  Gratefully, she handed over all control of her undisciplined dog who acted as if heel was exactly what he thought she was. 

              “Morning, how are you?”

             
“OK, even though my dog almost caused me to take a header into the dirt over here.”

John smiled at her and that s
mile did something, it made her feel like she was special.  It shouldn’t really, he probably smiled like that at everyone, the bank teller, cashier, dry cleaning person, and even the people he arrested at work, but it made her feel really good. 

             
“You ready to get these two started?  I think we should start with some things that can be done on leash for today, just until he gets used to things.  We don’t want him running all over the park.”

Nodding in agreem
ent Ariel stood watching as John called his dog Mallard over to him.  Mallard came loping and stopped right in front of Mike sitting instantly with his tail wagging and tongue lolling outside of his mouth. 

             
“Good boy.”

John sto
oped down and rubbed the dog behind his ears.  The tail seemed to wag even harder and the other dog didn’t even pay attention to the fact that Bruno was two feet away and hopping around in excitement.  John clipped a sturdy leather leash to Mallard’s collar and led Ariel and Bruno towards the center of the park. 

As John put the dogs through their paces and Ariel watched Bruno respond to his teachings she was focused more on the man than his lesson.  He was firm with the dogs but they wanted to please him, they almost seemed to be smiling at him for approval of a job well done and seemed overjoyed when they got a rubdown after the hour was up. 

              “Thank you John, I can see how much he’s responding already, I appreciate you showing me how to work with him.”

             
“No problem.”

They were making their way back to the cars and Ariel wasn’
t sure what to say or do next.  If he wanted to see her again he would let her know, wouldn’t he?  Guys were supposed to be the obvious ones.  Opening the door to his truck, John patted the seat and Mallard jumped in with another pat Bruno jumped in right after him. 

             
“I thought maybe you and I could take a ride over to the water and let these guys play for a few minutes, you may want to keep Bruno on his leash for today, but I brought another towel if you want to let him play.

             
“Sure, thanks for thinking of us.”

Ariel turned to walk back to her car.

              “You can ride with me and on the way out I’ll drop you back by your car if you want.”

             
“Sure.”

Ariel
was turning back around and going to open the passenger door, when John motioned for her to not do that.

             
“Sorry, but I’m afraid one of them might try to get out while you’re getting in, you can climb in my side and sit in the middle if you don’t mind.”

Ari
el dutifully walked over to John and climbed up on the running board to hoist herself into the truck.  She had to admit that being this close to him felt good. He had hovered behind her while she got in, she suspected he was worried she would somehow fall on her face.  She could smell his soap and light cologne.  The morning was already warm and humid and he had a light sheen of sweat on his arms that looked particularly male to her.  His arms were strong, muscled and tan.  She was thinking about what it would feel like to run her hand over the strong muscles and feel the pronounced vein that was running through the arm he was using to shift gears with. Snap out of it, he only invited you here to help your dog, but no matter what she told herself she just couldn’t help but think about him.

              “So, are you from around here?”

John started up the conversation as he
drove slowly through the park and into a paved parking area where they were the only vehicle in site. 

             
“No, I grew up south of Tampa, in a smaller town.”

As they unloaded themselves
and the dogs from the truck John had her continue talking about the town she was from, her family, parents and brother.  He asked if her parents were still together, did she have a big family, did they go camping while she grew up.  All sorts of questions that made her feel like he was genuinely interested in getting to know her.  It felt good to have someone be interested in her for a change.

Then it was her turn.
She was a little timid at first but John seemed to like her curiosity and encouraged the conversation along.  John had grown up in Tampa, his father and grandfather were both Tampa city police officers, just like him.  He had wanted to be a cop ever since he could remember and was pretty much living his dream.  He had one older sister and his mom and dad were still happily married.  He had always wanted a larger family though, like the ones you see in the movies with kids running all over the place and huge meals where you had to rent extra tables just to accommodate everyone.  That prompted Ariel to tell him about her extended family which was quite large and the camping and summer trips they all tried to take together each year. 

              “Ariel, we have to get going it’s almost noon.”

             
“I can’t believe that it’s so late already, but at least today is my day off so I don’t have to rush home and get ready for work.”

             
“Oh you’re off today?”

             
“I work ten hours shifts so I’m off on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, it’s a pretty good schedule and keeps the long shifts broken up pretty well.”

             
“I work ten hours shifts as well, but my days rotate, I’m actually off Thursday this week too.  Maybe we can get together and work with the dogs some more tomorrow, if you want?”

Ariel readily agreed and they decided to meet up the next day, working out the details in the morning.

              “Oh and John . . . .”

             
“Yes.”

             
“I had a really nice time this morning; it’s been awhile since I’ve gotten out and done, well, really anything.  My roommate was starting to worry that I would never give him and his girlfriend some time alone in the house.”

John
had a strange look on his face and she realized that maybe she had said something wrong, or shared too much, or made herself sound like a loser, but then it was gone just as quickly as she had seen it. 

After dropping her off at her
car and making sure she and Bruno were safely deposited inside John gave a wave and drove off, stirring up a low cloud of white dirt in his wake. 

The whole way home Ariel couldn’t help but think that maybe she had met John for a reason, he was a really nice guy and seemed to be everything that Tyler hadn’t been.  Mature, confident and kind.  But still, she felt like a little nervous about the whole thing, she didn’t want to get her hopes up and find out that he was just being nice to her as a courtesy because he was such a nice guy.  But he had asked to spend time with her the next day, and that didn’t feel like a courtesy.