More Than Friends (11 page)

Chapter Nine

“Jarvis, Fisher, you’re on enforcement tonight,” Sergeant Stahlman said. “Get with the motors supervisor and see where they want to concentrate.”

Kendall managed to keep her groan inside. Some officers jockeyed for the special assignment, welcoming the chance to escape answering calls and dealing with the public. But she didn’t like the constant traffic stops and writing tickets for moving violations. She didn’t mind working with the motorcycle officers; they were a cool bunch of guys. But she’d much rather get a night with the crime-suppression unit. At least they got to look for guns and drugs.

Across the table, Evelyn slouched in one of the yellow, hard-plastic chairs that had been there longer than both of them. She twirled a pen between her fingers and, when she met Kendall’s eyes, she winked. Evelyn didn’t share her disdain for an evening of enforcement. Being in a uniform made Evelyn happy, no matter what task she was given.

Sergeant Stahlman finished his briefing and excused the shift to hit the streets. She and Evelyn headed for the parking lot. A group of guys clustered around a row of white Harley-Davidson motorcycles parked next to the curb. They all had the same swagger, walking like they’d just spent hours in the saddle. They resembled a motorcycle gang, dressed alike in Ray-Bans and navy uniforms, their pants tucked into calf-high boots meant to keep errant hems away from moving parts.

“All right, guys. What are we getting into tonight?” Evelyn asked as they approached the group.

“Seems we’ve got a problem with speeding on our interstates,” one of them said.

“Surely not,” Kendall shot back sarcastically.

“Let’s ride, fellas,” the supervisor, a seasoned sergeant who had spent most of his tenure in motors, called as he strode across the parking lot. When he reached the group, he handed Evelyn and Kendall each a hard-plastic case. “Lidar guns. You hit ’em, we’ll chase ’em.”

“Wonderful,” Kendall muttered as she turned and slid into her car. Now she could look forward to an evening of sitting stationary on the side of the interstate playing with a laser speed gun.

Thirty minutes later, she’d settled into her assigned spot on the eastbound side of Interstate 40 with half the motor group, calibrating her equipment and listening to the chatter on the radio from Evelyn and the guys stationed on a stretch on the westbound side.

“All set,” she said into her radio once she had the Lidar ready to go. She rolled down her window and rested the speed gun on the door sill, glad she’d at least be able to enjoy the pleasant evening. Last month, she’d been freezing her butt off on a similar assignment.

Her car was situated just after a sweeping curve, safely well off the shoulder and in a blind spot for the approaching drivers. Before long, she’d clocked three cars at more than ten over the posted limit and called out the descriptions to the motor officers waiting a quarter of a mile up the road.

A subtle chime indicated a new text message on her cell, and, without looking at the display, she punched the button to retrieve it.

“Bored yet?” Evelyn asked.

“Yep. Gonna be a long night.” She smiled to herself. She could always count on Evelyn to know when she needed a distraction. In fact, she didn’t know what she would have done without Evelyn these past few months.

When Evelyn told her about talking Melanie into going to the bar last weekend, she realized that she’d already mentally staked ownership of Evelyn’s friendship. She’d essentially lumped Evelyn into the pile that fell on her side as she and Melanie divided up their things. Realizing that Evelyn had contact with Melanie so recently had thrown her a bit.

Working out tonight?

Evelyn’s text interrupted her thoughts and made her feel guilty for her possessiveness. She needed to respect Evelyn’s obvious desire to stay friends with both of them. Should she have more right to her loyalty because they worked together? Logically, she knew the answer was no, but given the trust fellow police officers often placed in each other, the lines between personal loyalty and professional blurred.

Not tonight. I have a date.

Her days had finally begun to fall into a routine that didn’t include brooding over Melanie. She’d started working out seriously again, sometimes meeting up with Jeb Riggs or Evelyn and hitting the weights after their shift. But she’d also been corresponding with several of the women from the dating Web site, looking for enough common interest to meet in real life.

Same one from last weekend?

Nope. New one.

Two in one week?

Just trying to be a player like you.

Kendall liked to tease her. She glanced down at her display as a silver sedan flew around the curve—seventy-seven miles per hour was near-suicidal rounding that bend. She keyed her radio and called out the description and what she could catch of the tag as the car cut between two others to get in the far left lane.

Ha. Just a façade. Costs less if I don’t actually have to wine and dine anyone.

She read the snarky tone in Evelyn’s words, but there was truth behind them. As much as she and Melanie teased her, Evelyn had clearly always wanted something permanent. Even when Evelyn acted like she didn’t mind being single, Kendall could practically feel her comparing every budding relationship with what she thought they had, which was partly why she had never confessed that they were having problems.

Inside, she liked being that ideal for someone else. If she let Evelyn believe that they had it all, maybe someday she’d be able to convince Melanie as well. In the end, the only person she’d fooled into believing she was happy was herself.

*

Saturday afternoon, Evelyn drove through the new retail area looking for a treasured parking spot. Though the multi-use neighborhood had already been open for a year, she had only been there a handful of times and now she remembered why. Clustering clothing boutiques, restaurants, a movie theater, and various other shops made good business sense, but the ensuing weekend crowds kept her from frequenting the area.

After finally nabbing a spot at the far end of a lot, she worked her way back toward the center of the neighborhood. Here, the designers had added a town-square feel, with shop fronts facing an open courtyard that featured a well-manicured lawn, stone benches, and a fountain play area for the kids. This afternoon, the couples pushing strollers and kids carrying treats from the ice-cream shop gave the streets the intended small-town atmosphere. Not bad for a suburb of a fairly large city, she had to admit. However, she knew from the crime statistics that the illusion of security was just that.

In the center of the square, she found Melanie sitting on a bench watching people walk by. After their night out last weekend, she had called Melanie every day. Her initial motivation, to remain a good friend, had evolved into a genuine desire to talk to Melanie. Their conversations exceeded her original expectation that they would exchange pleasantries and ring off, but instead they’d wandered into deeper conversations and she found she didn’t want to hang up the phone.

She slid onto the bench, bumping her shoulder against Melanie’s. “Hi there.”

Melanie smiled. “Hey.”

“Do you want to skip the movie and people watch?” She would much rather stay out here and talk to Melanie than sit silently next to her in a theater pretending to care about the action playing out on-screen.

“Yeah?”

“Sure. I can definitely wait for this one to come out on Redbox. I’d rather see it at home anyway.”

“Because you have the attention span of a three-year-old when it comes to movies, and at home you can pause it for snack and bathroom breaks?”

“Exactly.” She smiled.

“Too bad. Because I really want to see this one.” Melanie stood, then took her hand and pulled her to her feet. As they walked toward the theater, Melanie released her.

“I’m glad you called,” she said. Her fingers tingled and she slid her hand in her pocket, clenching and relaxing her fist a couple of times.

“Were you busy today?”

“No. I spent the morning cleaning the house and doing laundry, nothing exciting. This is a welcome change.”

“Is this okay? I didn’t know if you’d be seeing the movie with Kendall or not.”

They’d all gone together to see the previous two thrillers in the series. “We haven’t made any plans to.”

“I wasn’t sure—it’s still weird how we all three fit now, isn’t it?”

“We don’t all three fit anymore, I suppose. But I want you both in my life. You invited me, I didn’t have plans, so I accepted. Simple.”

“And if Kendall asks you to see it with her?”

“If it’s good enough, I might go again. Otherwise, I’ll tell her I’ve seen it. I don’t intend to keep my friendship with you from her.”

“I know. It doesn’t make sense, but—spending time with you feels a little like sneaking around.”

Evelyn didn’t offer an argument or explanation. She felt it, too. When she’d gotten Melanie’s call, she’d been excited to see her, followed immediately by a bit of guilt. But when Melanie hooked her arm into the crook of her elbow, all she felt was happy.

“Maybe it’s just me, I—”

“No.” As they reached the doors, she guided Melanie to the side, out of the way of the other patrons going in. “It’s not just you.” She wasn’t sure if Melanie knew what she was confessing to.

“It’s Kendall, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“We feel strange hanging out without Kendall.”

“Um—sure.” Obviously, they weren’t exactly on the same page. She hadn’t wished once that Kendall was with them.

“Let’s just forget all this awkwardness and go enjoy the movie.”

“Absolutely.” She covered Melanie’s hand and pressed it to her arm, absorbing the warmth of her skin.

*

“That was by far the best of the series. The special effects were amazing,” Evelyn said as they passed through the lobby of the theater.

“I agree.” When they stepped outside, Melanie paused while her eyes adjusted to the sunlight. She always found it a bit disorienting to exit a darkened theater and find that it was still daylight outside.

Once in the open air, surrounded by the crowd of people leaving with them, she missed the intimate shadows of the theater. She’d sat next to Evelyn, their forearms touching on the armrest between them, captivated by the way the flickering light from the screen played across Evelyn’s expressive features. As the movie rolled, she spent nearly as much time sneaking glances at Evelyn’s reactions to the film as she did actually watching the screen. When Evelyn caught her looking and smiled, her stomach lurched in an entirely new and disconcerting way.

What the hell had that been all about? Yes, Evelyn was a beautiful woman, but she had never experienced such awareness of her. First, they’d had that odd moment before they went inside when she wondered if she’d missed a part of their conversation. But the serious look in Evelyn’s eyes had dissolved before she could figure out what it meant. Now here she was thinking about how the amber cast of a particular scene in the film had saturated Evelyn’s features in a rich glow that had warmed her from the inside.

“Well, I’m over here.” Evelyn pointed down the street opposite from where Melanie had parked.

“I didn’t have lunch, yet,” Melanie blurted, not wanting to part. A week ago, she would have said her reluctance centered on avoiding her empty apartment, but today, she genuinely desired Evelyn’s company.

“You mean other than the tub of popcorn we polished off in the movie?”

“Popcorn isn’t lunch. Do you want to get something?”

“Sure.” Evelyn gestured to a restaurant on the next block. “Are you in the mood for Mexican?”

“Absolutely.”

The little place was packed, but as soon as Melanie caught the spicy aromas inside, she decided the wait would be worth it. When they finally placed their orders, she followed the cantina employee down the cafeteria-style line, requesting nearly every available condiment.

“Let’s eat outside,” Evelyn said after she’d paid for both of their meals. She protested but Evelyn refused to take money for her share.

She picked up her tray and followed Evelyn onto the patio, where they settled at one of the round tables under a brightly colored umbrella. The afternoon sun reached into the cool shade and caressed her bare arm. Perhaps that would explain the warmth crawling up her neck. It was certainly more plausible than attributing it to the sweet smile on Evelyn’s face.

“Have you been busy at work?” Evelyn asked as they dug into their over-stuffed burritos.

She nodded. “During the winter we do mostly maintenance on existing accounts. But beginning a couple of weeks ago and through summer to fall, we’ll be extremely busy. At least I hope so.”

“You need to take the work when you can get it, I guess.”

“Generally, yes. But I’m finally at the point where I can leave the heavy lifting to somebody else.” Lucas was more than capable of taking the reins, and now, after several months of self-inflicted seventy-plus hour weeks, she was finally ready for a break. “In fact, I’ve taken this entire weekend off.”

“Really? Do you have any exciting plans? Other than this, of course.”

“Some reorganizing, shopping, and plenty of relaxation.” Melanie couldn’t help but smile at the double meaning of her words. She’d awakened this morning with the need to reclaim her home. Two hours and a trip to the furniture store later, she’d secured a modern bedroom set for the spare room and scheduled delivery for the following weekend. Tomorrow, she would pick out linens for the new bed, perhaps a thick comforter with bright geographical shapes, or maybe a dramatic black-and-white one.

“That’s one way to go.”

“What?” Lost in her decorating ideas, she nearly missed Evelyn’s words.

“Relaxation. It’s one option, but if you’d rather have a little excitement, I have another suggestion.”