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“Not exactly the same. Don’t get me wrong,” Doug corrected. “There are lazy cops, but most responding officers don’t neglect their duties. Their hands are simply tied by how much they are actually allowed to do. Which often times, isn’t much with kids involved. That’s where we come in. Once they have us to turn to, that collaboration grows into a wonderful, symbiotic relationship with most of the local departments.”
Pixie took it all in, but the way her hand kept fluttering up to her cheek, Doug could tell she was in some serious pain.
“Almost there,” he told her, and felt compelled, once again, to send a hand over to rest atop her dormant one.
Two hours later,with a prescription for some serious pain killers, but an x-ray of both her hip and her cheek showing no broken bones, Doug pondered his next move. Did he simply drop her off at her parents’ house, or did he prolong their afternoon together. He’d already told his boss—his uncle—what had delayed him from getting back from his MECASA call-out, and the man had graciously told him to take the rest of the day. Hell, he’d told him to take tomorrow, too, the sly old man. He’d clearly been pleased beyond measure that Doug was showing some…any…interest in a female.
He pushed that disquieting thought aside, and attempted to decide what he should do next.
“You’re not going to school tomorrow, are you?” he finally asked.
Pixie shook her head. “I thought about it, but my face would probably freak the kids out. Since I have a lot of time coming to me because I never take any vacation, I’m going to lay low.” She scrambled in her pocketbook that they’d retrieved from her room before their trip to the hospital. “Thanks for reminding me. I need to let the principal know I won’t be in for the rest of the week.”
She dialed and connected, while he listened.
“Hey, Josh. No. No. I’m fine,” she assured him. “Really.”
Doug wasn’t privy to the other end of the conversation, but the principal was clearly ready to bend over backward for Pixie.
“I don’t need more than a few days. Seriously.”
Additional chatter from her boss, then…
“Fine. I’ll let you know Sunday how I feel, and whether or not I can successfully cover the balance of my bruising with makeup. Will that make you happy?”
Pixie giggled at the principal’s reply, then winced at the pain it caused. Doug wanted to tell her to hang up, but held his tongue. He wasn’t going to give her any orders. She was a grown-ass woman, and it wasn’t his place to tell her what to do, no matter how much he wanted to save her from suffering.
“Thanks, Josh. But I’m good. My mother will baby me for the next few days. I’ll call you Sunday. Bye-bye.”
“You seem to have a good rapport with him,” Doug stated, his words clipped. And no, it wasn’t jealousy talking. Just curiosity, he told himself.
Pixie ignored any edge that his voice might have held. “Josh and his wife are great friends with my parents, and I’ve known him since I was in diapers. He worries about me almost as much as my dad.”
Doug grunted, assuaged. “It’s nice to have friends.”
“It is, friend.” She turned to him and practically glowed. “I don’t know what I would have done withoutyourhelp today.”
The friend comment did him in.
“Go with me to my cottage,” Doug blurted out. Where the hell hadthatsuggestion come from? But…as soon as it passed Doug’s lips, he felt the rightness of it. “What I mean is,” he softened, “I can pick us up some take-out and we can go chill by the lake. It’s a beautiful day, and probably the first time it’s been in the seventies since last fall. I have a brand-new picnic table…”
What an idiot he was. Pixie probably wanted nothing more than to head home to a comfortable couch where she could nurse her battered body and be cared for by her mother.
“Food?” she questioned with a sudden look of interest in her eyes.
He didn’t want to get his hopes up. “Yeah. Whatever you want. You interested?”
“I’ll say,” she agreed with relish. “Just let me call my parents and fill them in on everything that’s happened before they hear it from Josh, and you have yourself a deal. Sitting in the sunshine for the rest of the afternoon sounds like a small slice of heaven right now.”
Doug did an internal fist-pump, making a smooth U-turn to head away from Pixie’s street. He pointed the truck east, toward Newport.
“Subs or pizza,” he asked. “Or fried seafood, although it might get pretty soggy by the time we arrive at my place.”
“Ummm,” she hesitated. “Does the sub shop have soup? I might not want to chew anything difficult for a day or two.”
Duh.Doug wanted to hit himself on the head. Of course, the stuff he’d mentioned for lunch would hurt. “Yeah. One of the local spots sells homemade soup,” he supplied. “They have a great Italian Wedding on the menu.”
“Perfect,” she said. “That’s what I’ll have. Along with some bread I can soak in the broth.”
