Just a Little Series (Parts 1 - 4) (8 page)

“Well, I’m glad she’s getting involved,” he
said, ignoring almost everything I’d just said. “She’s never been
much for socializing.”

“Ah,” I shrugged,“she had me fooled. I don’t
think her will to work has quite as much to do with the assignment
as it does my cousin, Matt.”

“Oh, boy,” he said, shaking his head. Though
he’d just said that his sister was never one for socializing, he
didn’t seem too surprised that she’d already found herself a boy to
cling to. “She’s not wasting any time, is she?”

I smiled, but only out of politeness. I
didn’t want to give Hannah’s brother any reason to believe that I
hated his sister.

“So between school and robbing neighborhood
driveways, what do you find yourself doing for fun in Oakland? Any
tips for a newbie?”

I shrugged, “Sorry to report, but there’s
just not a whole lot going on around here. It’s a small town.”

He looked down the street, back at his
house, and then back to me. “It sure is.”

As I stared into his blue eyes, something
vaguely familiar about his appearance struck me; it was almost as
if I’d met him before. We shared a strange connection, something
almost magnetic, yet I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it
was.

“What brings you to town?” I studied his
face a little closer. I couldn’t imagine it was a job offer because
the economy had fallen in the toilet in recent years, but it
couldn’t hurt to be polite (or nosy) and ask. “Job transfer?”

“No,” he tore his gaze away from mine, “we
just needed a new place for a fresh start, you know? Hannah threw
the dart on the map, and we landed here in Oakland.”

The man nodded, still smiling. His round
eyes glistened beneath his glasses, and as the wind picked up, he
finally extended his hand to shake mine.

“Derek.”

“Julie,” I shook his hand, “Julie
Little.”

Derek’s blue eyes widened as he looked down
at me with an expressionless stare. A moment went by, and his mouth
hung ajar as I stared back at him.

“Julie,” he said, acting as though my name
left a sour taste in his mouth. He pulled his hand back as if the
simple touch of my skin would burn him. He stood taller and crammed
both of his hands into his pockets. “Well,
Julie
,” he backed
a couple of steps away, “it was nice meeting you, but I’ve gotta
get back inside.” He tossed the newspaper back to me and turned to
walk away as a police siren bleeped on the curb, and the sight of
blue and red flashing lights came into view from the corner of my
eye.

Derek stopped dead in his tracks and turned
around, looking from me to the cruiser, and then down to his feet.
He stood perfectly still as the car came to a halt, and he looked
as though he fully expected to be carted away.

The cruiser lights flipped off and Luke
stepped out of the car dressed in full uniform.

“Here to arrest me?” I called over.

With a small grin, Luke looked past me and
his eyes landed on Derek. “Who’s your friend?”

“Oh,” I looked between the two men, “this is
our new neighbor, Derek.” I lifted the newspaper a little higher.
“He’s letting me borrow his paper for a project. Derek,” I turned
to my neighbor, “this is Luke. He’s my… he works with my uncle.
He’s my mentor for a school job-shadowing project.”

“Officer,” Derek nodded before turning back
to me. “Again, it was nice to finally meet you, Julie.” He cleared
his throat and nodded. “If you could, please tell Hannah not to be
too long. She and I have some things to square away before the end
of the day.”

Derek took his porch steps quickly and
disappeared behind the door.

Luke looked at me with wide eyes.

“Squirrelly guy,” he observed.

“Yeah, well we were having a perfectly nice
conversation before you turned the corner and scared the daylights
out of him with your lights, siren, and pompous attitude.” I
smacked him in the chest. “What’s with you?”

“Just making sure you were alert,” he said,
still looking at the house next door. “Learn anything interesting
about the new neighbors?”

I shrugged. “Nothing.”

I traced his facial features with my eyes,
taking special note of the way his scarred lip curved up.

“What’s up?” I asked, still watching him
closely. “You still on duty?”

“I am,” he shook his head as if he’d lost
track of where he was. “I was just passing by and thought I’d stop
and see how you were feeling. How’re the legs?”

He smiled at me like he somehow enjoyed the
fact that I had underestimated the amount of pain I’d be feeling
after our morning run. After all the complaining I’d done, I wasn’t
surprised he’d found it necessary to check in, but it was a sweet
sentiment nonetheless.

“Great,” I lied, too concerned with admiring
his brown eyes. “Never been better.”

He smiled, and for a brief moment, the air
between us seemed to take on a heavy magnetic attraction; something
had suddenly changed, and I could feel the space between our bodies
closing with each passing breath.

The gap between our bodies closed, and my
heart took off on a wild cadence. My chest pressed lightly against
his, and I stared up to watch his eyes as his face inched closer to
mine. I felt my body jump as he reached up to move a stray hair
from my face just before he leaned down and brushed his warm lips
across my earlobe.

I closed my eyes and let Luke’s closeness
overcome me; I had no idea why he’d suddenly gotten so close, but I
couldn’t even begin to care. He was close enough to touch, heck, he
was
touching, and every hormone in my little body raged like
wildfire.

“Keep your eyes peeled, Julie,” he
whispered, brushing my ear with every move of his lips. But as fast
as we’d gotten close, we were apart again. He backed away and
winked as if he knew just how badly he’d been toying with my heart.
He retreated to his car and turned back long enough to say, “I’ll
see you first thing in the morning.”

Jilted, I rolled my eyes and watched as he
settled behind the wheel and drove away. I put my hand over my
heart, hoping it would calm itself sooner or later, and turned to
head back inside to join Hannah and Matt. But as I turned on my
heel, I suddenly noticed Derek standing at his window, peeking
through the curtains just as his sister had done earlier that
day.

Keep your eyes peeled, Julie.

I finally understood what Luke had meant. It
was the second time that day I’d been spied on from my neighbor’s
window, and I didn’t like it. Not one bit.

CHAPTER THREE

Saturday, September 15

Thursday had come and gone with another hour
of running with Luke. It hadn’t gone any better than the day
before. So, with those two runs behind us, I only had eight hours
left in my job-shadowing stint before Luke and I would have to part
ways.

I dropped by the station at noon to invite
Charlie to lunch, but I masked a hidden agenda. I’d hoped to catch
Luke as he stopped in before lunch for no particular reason, but
did I really need one? As far as I could tell, he was nowhere to be
found. His patrol car was missing from the lot, and there was no
sign of his eventual return.

“Hey there, Pumpkin,” Charlie watched me
come in. He leaned against his office doorframe. “To what do I owe
the pleasure?”

“Hey,” I smiled at him, “you’ve just been
working so much lately,” I threw a glance over my shoulder. “I
thought maybe you’d like to take a break and have lunch?”

“No can do, sweet pea,” he said, seemingly
disappointed. With as little time as we’d spent together lately,
Charlie probably
would’ve
enjoyed some one-on-one time. “I
had an early lunch. Today’s been a day from hell.”

“Yeah, okay,” I said, not really listening.
I looked around the building once again, hoping to catch a glimpse
of Luke. With no luck, I turned back to Charlie. “I guess I’ll see
you at home later?”

“Absolutely.”

When Charlie disappeared back into his
office and closed the door, I slumped my shoulders and headed for
the door.

“He’s gone over to West Bridge for the
afternoon,” Detective Bruno said.

I turned back to the fifty-something man as
he leaned against his desk. “Huh?”

“You’re looking for Trigger,” he said, and
there wasn’t a bit of question in his tone. He was a smart one,
that Detective. But I couldn’t let on that I’d shown up for any
other reason than to visit Charlie. “He said he had business in
West Bridge today. He should be back around six for the poker
game.”

“Oh,” I shrugged my shoulder, “I was just
here to see Charlie.”

“Sure you were,” he said, a smile enveloping
his face. “I can give Trigger a message. You want me to let him
know you dropped by?”

“I was just visiting my uncle—”

“Okay,” he threw his hands up, “I guess
you’re both in denial then.”

I rolled my eyes and pushed through the door
of the station, only taking two steps outside before Detective
Bruno’s last words finally registered.

I turned back and opened the door only to
find Bruno standing right in front of me.

“I wondered how long it was gonna take
you.”

“What did you mean—?”

“Mi querida,” he shook his head and patted
me on the back, “it’s all in your eyes—and his too. I know it when
I see it. I’ve spent my whole life reading people, interpreting the
words they say and, better yet, the words they don’t say.”

I scrunched my brow and stared at him for a
lingering moment. “What do you see?”

“The love,” he smiled, as though he knew
something I didn’t. “The love.”

Saturday, September 15 | 6:00 p.m.

“Love,” I rested my chin in my hand. I sat
on the barstool at the center island in the kitchen. “Do you think
I love him?”

Matt looked up at me from a sheet of
cookies, his eyes widening.

“Not possible, Julie,” he said. “You’ve
known Luke for what, two and a half weeks?”

“Something like that.”

“Love takes time to mature,” he said with a
definite sense of finality. Matt had never been one to believe in
love at first sight. I thought that his recent circumstances with
Hannah might’ve changed his mind, but it clearly hadn’t. “You’re
not in love, Julie. It’s just an infatuation. It’ll wear off in
time.”

“But Detective Bruno—”

“
Is a nut,”
he said, carefully
decorating the cookies with a fiery red icing.

“I guess,” I wished somewhere deep inside
that maybe Bruno had seen something I had failed to.

“Are you hanging out with Hannah tonight?” I
expected his answer to be the same as it had been every night since
Wednesday. The two of them were practically inseparable.

“Yeah,” he nodded at the baking sheet, “I
promised to take her some of my famous cookies.”

“You’re going over
there
?” I asked,
surprised that I would be getting an evening away from Hannah for a
change. Her presence had been a bit overbearing because when that
girl visited, she didn’t show up without a string of personal
questions and a bad attitude. She had
no
sense of personal
boundaries, and I had no idea what Matt saw in her.

“Yeah,” he said as though there were no
other option, “I didn’t want to expose her to Dad’s poker
night.”

“Poker night?” I asked. “Here?”

“He didn’t tell you?” Matt asked, almost
regretful that he hadn’t mentioned it sooner. “Dad has one big
poker night every year. Tonight’s the night. And between Dad,
Bruno, and some of the other guys from the station, it gets pretty
rowdy.”

“Other guys?” I wondered if Luke was
included among the
others
. Bruno
had
mentioned that
Luke would be back in time for a game. “What time is this thing
supposed to start?”

“They’ll be showing up any minute,” he put
the final touches on the last cookie. “And yes, since I know you’re
dying to know, Trigger
will
be here.”

“Oh,” I nodded as if his information didn’t
faze me. What he didn’t need to know was that I felt like a giddy
schoolgirl; I could feel every one of nerves jumping up and down
with excitement. I glanced at the clock and back to Matt. “Well,
have fun with Hannah tonight. I’m going to run up and get a
shower.”

“To impress Trigger?”

“So that I don’t look like a slob for
Charlie’s guests.”

“You never look like a slob.”

“Bye, Matt,” I called over my shoulder as I
ran up the back staircase taking two steps at a time.

After a quick shower, I spent a while
styling my hair and perfecting my make-up, taking extra time to
choose a very special outfit. If Luke was going to be in the house
this evening, especially in a casual capacity, I wanted to make
sure he couldn’t help but look my way.

I stood at the closet with the towel still
wrapped around me, plucking through each shirt, skirt, and dress I
owned. When I finally settled on an orange turtleneck dress, I took
one last glance in the mirror and ruled myself perfectly
acceptable.

A roar of laughter came from the kitchen
five minutes later. Obviously the men had already arrived, and from
the sound of things, had taken no time to break out the alcohol and
get the party started. For a group of educated cops, they sounded
like a room full of frat boys.

I walked downstairs to find Charlie, Bruno,
and a few handfuls of other men sitting around three poker tables.
They were all smoking cigars, all except Luke, who was at the
farthest table, carefully dealing out a hand to his fellow players.
He never once glanced up to notice me as I announced myself with a
simple, “Hello.”

Most of the men turned to greet me, and a
few even let their gaze linger a little longer than appropriate. I
peeked at Luke once again, hoping to get some kind of
acknowledgement, but I didn’t get so much as a glance.