by Maisy Morgan
“Yeah, he’s an observant guy,” Preston said. “Come here boy.”
The old dog made his way over to them slowly. Surprisingly, he didn’t even beg for food, which seemed rather unusual for a house dog. He sat himself on the ground in front of them and slowly stretched out onto the floor like one giant foot warmer for them both. “Awe, he’s sweet. Looks like he’s getting on up there in age,” Mary stated.
“Yeah, well, he’s fourteen,” Preston said.
“That is really ancient for a German Shepherd!” Mary said.
“He’s been around,” Preston explained. “My dad was also a cop like me but in Atlanta. Buck belonged to a rookie my dad trained right before his retirement. The two of them were close. My dad worked with drug dogs. A couple years into Buck’s career, and a creep shot him in the face during a raid in the big city.”
“Oh, my goodness!” Mary exclaimed.
“He ended up being just fine. Buck’s a tough one. However, after that, they retired him. Actually, my dad was the one who trained Buck, just a few months before he himself retired. Then another guy named Monte took over working with Buck. He stayed by my dad’s side for the last five years of his life. There’s no doubt about it, he was my dad’s best bud,” Preston said as he reached down and patted the old dog on the head. “Now he’s mine, right boy?” Buck grunted in response, and Preston gave him a little nibble of cheesecake.
“That’s so sweet,” Mary said.
“My dad used to call Buck his partner,” Preston said.
“Sounds like you and your dad were really close?” Mary asked.
“Oh, definitely,” Preston said. “My mother passed away about ten years before he did, and he got pretty lonely. I spent as much time with him as I could, but he was a pretty independent guy until right there at the end. I was really glad that Monte gave Buck to him. It was the sort of thing my dad needed. Monte retired a few years ago himself… I probably won’t be too far behind him. I don’t know how it happened, but somehow I became the old guy on the force.”
Mary laughed. “That’s just the way it works, isn’t it? We’re young and on top of the world, and then the next thing you know you’re being spoon fed cheesecake while you hide under a coffee table. Isn’t that right Buck?”
Buck glanced up at her and exhaled as though he only found her mildly amusing, and Preston laughed. “Be nice Buck.”
Mary finished up her cheesecake feeling quite satisfied by the delicate treat. “You really made this? I might have to hang up my chef’s hat.”
“Honestly, its store bought,” he said. “I fibbed.”
Mary laughed. “No, did you really?”
“It was an excuse to spend more time with you,” he admitted. “But I guess that’s pretty lame isn’t it?”
“Just a little,” Mary said. “Though I’m not sure if I would have come by for store bought cheesecake.”
“You just said you liked it,” he reminded her.
“Yes, I suppose I did,” she said laughing.
“Honestly, I was hoping to talk to you about tomorrow. Is Tripp still wanting to have a fishing day after everything that happened today?”
“I’m pretty sure that if he was okay with me still going off on a date night then he will be okay with avoiding work at the sweets shop tomorrow for a guys’ day,” she said with a laugh. “He was very excited about it believe it or not.”
“Really?” Preston asked, looking rather hopeful by this comment. “Okay, now I’d like to have a real talk, and I’m a little nervous.”
“Whoa,” Mary said overly dramatically causing him to roll his eyes.
“Hey, easy,” he said. “I really like you, Mary. You’re a nice woman, and honestly, I think I know you well enough to know that if Tripp’s got a serious problem with me then you would walk away. Am I right?”
Mary blushed. She hadn’t thought too much on this before, but truthfully after everything that Tripp had been through, she doubted she would complicate things further by dragging a much-hated step-grandparent into the mix. “That’s a tough question,” she said.
“You’ve kept me around because things have been easy and casual,” Preston said. “And, I understand. Tripp comes first right now, and I want you to know that I get it. I just don’t want to mess things up with you and me because I jumped the gun and asked Tripp for some bonding time too soon. I really don’t want that to freak you or him out so, I’m admitting to be a bit nervous.”
“Well, Preston, I appreciate the sentiment,” Mary said. “But I don’t think you have anything to worry about. So far, Tripp has really seemed to have taken a liking to you. Honestly, he’s only just now started to come around to me. After his dad died, Tripp really shut himself off.”
“I can’t imagine what it must have been like for him to have witnessed that,” Preston said. “He was upstairs hiding when those guys broke in?”
“Yeah,” Mary said. “All the more reason I was glad Tripp got out of the bank earlier today before the guns started going off. I don’t think he would have bounced back so quickly if he had still been in the bank with gunshots being fired. He’s skittish, and I think it would have just made things worse.”
“I agree,” Preston said. “Trauma has a way of sneaking back up on you. Take Buck, for instance. I know he’s a dog, but dogs aren’t really different from people in this way. Once my dad was backing out of the driveway and his car backfired a bit. It scared Buck half to death, and he tore up just about everything in the house he could get his hands on. It took him hours to calm down. When he sees my gun, he goes and hides in the other room still even to this day. He was practically a pup when he was shot.”
“That’s terrible,” Mary said, reaching down petting Buck on the head. The dogs tail wagged lazily. “I’m just thankful you got Tripp out of there. I know it was you that was responsible for that.”
“Well, he was the one who started texting me,” Preston said. “Thanks to you two, I was able to alert the responding officers and SWAT who all was inside. We were able to remove two hostages before the shootout started, and when bullets start flying, the less people in the line of fire, the better.”
“I agree,” Mary said. “I’m probably going to have nightmares about that gun being pointed at my face.”
“Well, if you do, call me. We can talk,” Preston said smiling warmly at her.
“Thanks,” she said and felt herself lean closer to him. “I suppose I should get going. I don’t want to keep Cindy up all night waiting for me to pick up Tripp.”
“Oh, if you must,” he said, then they headed to his car to take her back home. As they pulled up into her driveway, she leaned over to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. Unintentionally, of course, he had turned his head, and she wound up giving him a kiss on his lips. Instead of pulling away in surprise, she lingered for a moment, and when she pulled away, she saw that he was wearing an oversized grin on his face.
“See you tomorrow,” she said piling out of his truck with a smile.
He was still smiling at her as she backed her own car out of the driveway to go pick up Tripp. On the ride there, all she could do was reminisce about the night and her fondness of Preston.
Chapter Six
Tripp heard his alarm going off, and he squinted his eyes a bit wondering why in the world he had set his alarm for so early in the morning. Saturday was a day when the shop didn’t open until much later which allowed him to sleep in. He rubbed his eyes, trying to contemplate why his alarm was going off at 6:00 AM, when all of a sudden it hit him at once. Preston would be there within the hour to take him fishing at Lake Horton. He bolted out of bed. He was a bit surprised at how excited he was. He jumped in the shower, combed his hair, and threw on an old pair of blue jeans and worn t-shirt along with a ballcap he had from a LA Dodgers game. The cap was a memento from the last game he and his father had gone to together.
He bolted down the stairs, eager for breakfast, when he heard his grandmother shouting from upstairs
. “Tripp! Are you up!”
He grinned. “Yeah, downstairs!” he called up to her, and her head appeared from around the corner, staring down at him.
“Oh!” she exclaimed and made her way down. “I wasn’t expecting you to actually get up on your own.”
“I got some pretty good sleep last night,” he lied. Truthfully, it was late when they got back home, and he’d been too excited to fall asleep right away. Even his dreams had been plagued of the day’s crazy adventure at the bank. He had dreamed that they had been robbed by a stereotypical Georgia redneck wielding a fishing rod.
“Really?” Mary asked as she made her way down the stairs looking at him somewhat skeptically. “Well, let me get some breakfast going then. Are you excited?”
“Yeah, a little,” he said, not wanting to seem too thrilled. “I’ve kind of always wanted to learn to fish. Dad always said he would take me.”
She looked back at him, seeming rather sad by this comment. Truthfully, Tripp was a little sad as well. Although he would never admit it to her or even himself. He was really more excited than upset. He had always wanted to learn to fish, and while he would much rather have learned to fish with his dad, he was still quite thrilled at the prospect of learning from Preston. Mary made him some bacon, eggs, and toast. She knew it was a breakfast that would leave him feeling full and satisfied.
Just as he was swallowing his last bit of orange juice, the doorbell rang. “Hurry up, go brush your teeth,” Mary demanded.
Tripp tried not to huff at her before hurrying up the stairs. He rushed to brush his teeth and then darted back down the stairs. Preston was standing in the doorway with the most cliché looking fishing hat on his head that Tripp had ever seen. It made him get so tickled that he snorted slightly. “Hey, don’t start making fun of my hat, we haven’t even gotten to the lake yet. Now, are you ready?”
“Yeah,” Tripp said, trying not to sound too eager.
Tripp and Preston said goodbye to Mary before heading out and loading up into Preston’s truck, which now had a small row boat in the back of it. Then, they were off and heading deeper into Brooks.
They went down several dirt roads before pulling into to a small park. As they drove through the park, Tripp rolled the window down to enjoy some of the nice summer air. He caught a whiff of what could only be lake water, and he smiled. He noticed a playground, and as he was distracted watching the swings gently swinging on their own in the summer breeze, Preston abruptly slammed on the breaks. Tripp flung forward in surprise and yelled. “Hey!” as he exclaimed he looked up to see that a woman had wandered into the middle of the drive.
“Whoa!” Preston exclaimed, and they heard a crashing sound from the back of the truck and knew that the small boat had taken a tumble.
Preston got out of the truck, and Tripp decided to follow. “I am so sorry!” the woman said. She was dressed in tight black leggings and a long-sleeved pink shirt, along with a baseball hat and joggers.
After seeing that the boat was just fine, Preston sighed and smiled at her. “Josephine,” he said.
Tripp glanced at the woman, recognizing her immediately as the woman with whom he had experienced the horrific robbery at the bank the day before. “Oh, hey!” Tripp said.
She looked at Tripp curiously for only a moment before jumping a bit. “I remember you from yesterday,” she said. “How are you holding up, kiddo?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” he said. “How about you?”
“I’m better now that the nonsense is over,” she said.
“What are you doing Josephine?” Preston asked. “You ran right out in front of my truck.”
“I know, I’m so sorry,” she said. Distantly they could hear a man’s voice calling her name. She rolled her eyes as a man approached them from around the playground. He too was wearing a jogging outfit.
“Were you two racing?” Preston asked with a smile.
Even though the man was a bit breathless, he caught up with her. “Seriously, Josephine?” he asked and looked up curiously towards Preston and Tripp. “Everything good?”
“We almost hit her with the truck,” Tripp said as though he simply craved to add drama to whatever was taking place.
“What!” the man exclaimed glaring at her.
“I was trying to get away from you,” she snapped.
“I know, but you’re overreacting,” he said.
Tripp watched Preston. He had narrowed his eyes and was looking from Josephine to the man rather rapidly. “Who are you?” Preston asked.
“Huh? Oh, I’m Roger. Roger Stout,” he said. “Josephine’s boyfriend.”
“Ex-boyfriend,” Josephine said rather smugly.
Preston looked at the two of them again. Tripp felt like the two of them certainly looked like they had arrived at the park together. “Honestly, would you knock it off?” Roger snapped.
“You just punched a guy in the nose,” Josephine said. “I’m tired of your crap.”
“Did you just assault someone?” Preston asked, but neither of them had to answer as the victim of Roger’s assault came walking up looking quite flustered as he held his nose pinched to keep it from bleeding everywhere.
Josephine rolled her eyes. Preston waved the guy over, and he looked like he was going to ignore him until Preston pulled out his badge and waved him over with it. Now, Roger looked nervous, and Tripp couldn’t help but to shoot Roger a rather rotten looking smile. Roger frowned at Tripp and rolled his eyes.
As the injured man came up still pinching his nose, he looked at Preston and responded, “Yes, sir?”
“Are you all right?” Preston asked him.
“No, he’s not,” Josephine said. “He was punched in the nose.”
“What’s your name?” Preston asked.
“Nathan Waldrep,” he said grumbling.
Pointing a finger at Roger, Preston asked, “Did he do this?”
“Well,” Nathan said laughing slightly, “yeah, pretty much.”
“Listen here, I’m not about to –” Roger started to speak, but Preston held up his hand. Tripp watched, a bit impressed, at how quickly the man shut up when Preston gestured for him to hush.
“You folks want to tell me what happened?” Preston asked.
Nathan shrugged. “Honestly, officer, I shoved him first. It’s all just a stupid, neighborly dispute.”
Preston had been focused on Nathan as he spoke, but Tripp noticed a look of surprise on Roger’s face. It was as if Roger knew that Nathan was covering for him. Tripp crossed his arms, there was no doubt in his mind that Roger had been the aggravator of this confrontation. Yet, for some reason, Nathan seemed willing to back off. “So, am I to assume that no one is wanting to press charges here?” Preston asked.
Josephine slapped Nathan in the arm as though egging him on to press charges against her boyfriend. “Yes, sir,” Nathan said. “It’s fine really. I kind of had it coming,” he laughed. “Josephine, it’s really not that big of a deal.”
“Maybe I want to press charges,” Roger said.
“Do it, and I’ll counter it, and I’m the one with the bloody nose, you moron,” Nathan snapped.
Roger crossed his arms scowling. “Come on, Josephine, let’s just go.”
“Nah,” she said as she pulled out her keys. “Have fun walking home. Thank you Officer Preston. I’ll be on my way.”
“Are you serious right now?” Roger asked as he started to follow her.
“Don’t,” she warned and continued on her way.
Roger walked after her, but Preston stopped him. “She said don’t follow her. I suggest you listen,” Preston said, and Tripp tried not to laugh at the surprised look on Roger’s face.
“She was my ride here!” Roger snapped. “I think she can have the decency to give me a ride home after breaking up with me in the middle of the park, especially since she was the one who drug me out here to begin with.”
“Man, you’re such a tool,” Nathan said. “I’m out. I need to go take
care of my bloody mess of a nose.” Nathan thanked Preston before heading off in the opposite direction that Josephine had gone.
Preston crossed his arms and looked at Roger. “I’m going to highly recommend that you not follow her because if you do, I’m probably going to encourage her to press charges against you for harassment.”
“Come on, look at what’s really going on here, would you?” Roger snarled. “Nathan started this whole thing! He even said so himself. I fight back, and she gets all hissy with me because I did something about him mouthing off. Now, I’m the one who has to walk home?”
“I can call you a cab or an Uber,” Preston said.
“Screw you,” Roger said. “I’ve got a phone. I’ll do it myself.” Then just like that, he marched off scowling the entire way.
Tripp started laughing once Roger was far enough off. “Honestly, that’s pretty hilarious,” Tripp chuckled. “I hope he can’t get a cab out this way and has to walk all the way home.”
“I think he lives here in Brooks,” Preston said. “He probably won’t have to walk far. I’m sure he has someone to call. Part of me is glad Nathan didn’t want to press charges. It would have cut into our fishing time.” Preston turned and winked at Tripp as he said this. They hurried and got back into the truck and continued down the drive toward the lake.
Tripp smiled when he spotted Lake Horton. He was feeling really giddy about getting started. “So, you’ve never been fishing before, huh?” Preston asked as they exited the truck.
“Nope,” Tripp said. “Is it very hard to do all of this fishing stuff?”
“Not too bad,” Preston said. “It just requires a lot of patience is all. Once you learn how to cast off, you’ll be good to go. I’ve got real worms as bait. I hope you’re not squeamish.”
“Nah,” Tripp said. “I can handle it. How do you get the worms on the line anyway?”
Preston laughed. “Oh, you’re in trouble.”
“Why?” Tripp asked.
“You have to put a hook into them Tripp,” he said. “They don’t just tie themselves on.”
