Gun Shy

by Lori L. Lake

  Tim said, “I’m at the new one that recently opened in downtown Saint Paul called Pazzaluna. Nice Italian place.”

  Dez said, “I haven’t been there yet.”

  “We should all go,” Sara said. “I haven’t tried it yet either.”

  “Excellent food and good service,” Tim said. “Of course how could they go wrong with Kevin as the maitre d’?”

  Dez said, “I’ll have to meet this Kevin sometime. You and he met at the restaurant?”

  Tim nodded, his mouth full of chicken wing.

  Dez pushed her plate away, put her elbows on the plastic tablecloth and said, “How did the three of you meet?”

  Jaylynn and Sara smiled at one another, and Jaylynn said, “My sophomore year Sara moved to my dorm. I didn’t have a roommate at the time—”

  “I had a real jerk for a roommate,” Sara said. “I was only a freshman, but Jaylynn let me move into her room. We’ve been roommates ever since—”

  “In two more dorms and then this house,” Jaylynn finished.

  Tim wiped the chicken wing sauce off his hands. “I advertised in the school paper for housemates, and these two applied. I liked ’em right away.”

  “And the rent was reasonable,” Sara said. “So we’ve been living here for almost two years. I’m still working my way through classes part-time.”

  “And I quit halfway through,” Tim said, “so I could get restaurant experience and be accepted into the Culinary School instead.”

  Dez nodded as she listened to the information. This was the same way she’d met Luella—by answering an ad for an apartment. Sometimes people got lucky and turned strangers into better family than family was.

  Later in the evening, when the paper plates were tossed and the glasses and utensils cleared away, they all agreed to watch a video. Sara had brought a stack home from the video store, and they could choose adventure, thriller, drama, or two comedies. The Wedding Singer won by a vote of three to one, though Jaylynn held out for a drama. She accepted the loss with grace.

  Dez sat in an overstuffed chair in the warm living room and regarded the three roommates who sat across from her on the couch. Huggiest damn group of people I’ve ever been around. If they aren’t poking or tickling or hugging or pinching each other, then they’re patting or touching me! She felt a bit disconcerted. She couldn’t recall when the last time was that anyone invaded her personal space so repeatedly, well, unless you counted Jaylynn. Come to think of it, Jaylynn had always been in her personal space, practically since day one. She glanced at Jaylynn, frowning, and wondered why she hadn’t noticed sooner. Instead, she now understood she’d somehow been comfortable with Jaylynn from the beginning, and perhaps that was one reason being separated from her those many awful weeks during the winter was so painful.

  She thought about the fact that, with the exception of Luella, people usually didn’t come near her. She didn’t want people to touch her, to get inside her bubble. Not friends, not relatives, not other cops, not suspects. She felt safety in distance. Her eyes came to rest on the three laughing roommates across from her, and she watched as Sara made a smart retort to something Jaylynn said. Giggling, Sara launched herself practically into Jaylynn’s lap to tickle her. Tim rolled his eyes and looked over at Dez, who smiled politely and shrugged.

  Tim said, “If you two are done mauling one another, I think Dez and I’d like a little dessert before we start the video.”

  Dez eyed Jaylynn, silently daring her to put out the Twinkies. Somehow she knew Jaylynn understood. Jaylynn popped up off the couch and took Sara’s hand. “Come on,” she said. “It’s ice cream time.” She dragged Sara off toward the kitchen.

  Tim watched them go, then gestured to Dez. “Spsss. Come over.” He patted the couch next to him. She rose and moved around the coffee table to sit in the middle of the sofa.

  He said, “The nice thing about our house is you can put your feet up on anything.” He slipped out of his Birkenstocks and stretched freckled, tan legs out on the coffee table, nodding an invitation to her to join him, which she did.

  Once they got settled, she looked over her shoulder at him and he said, “As soon as the kitchen door opens, launch into a description of a bad meal you’ve had, okay?” She frowned but assented.

  “Okay,” he said, “it’s a surprise party next Saturday at noon. We’re planning it for before she goes to work, but if you could, can you help us fix it so her lieutenant secretly gives her Saturday off?” Dez nodded, and he went on. “Even if he doesn’t, we’re covered. But if he’ll do that, she’ll never expect a party at all, especially since her birthday isn’t until next Tuesday. Her mom, dad, and the girls are flying in Saturday morning. Will you pick them up at the airport at ten?”

  She nodded and he glanced nervously over his shoulder at the kitchen door. Sara and Jaylynn were talking and laughing loudly enough to cover him. “I’ve got to figure out a way to get her out of the house.”

  Dez whispered, “Call Luella. She’s very inventive.”

  “Sara already asked Luella to the party, and she’s coming over to make something—I don’t know what. She and Sara are doing the food. My job is to get the surprise part worked out.”

  “How ’bout I keep Jay busy until just before noon, and we have someone else pick up her folks?”

  “Yeah! That could work. Let’s make that happen. If you can get her out of the house for the morning, then Sara and Luella can set up, and I can run out to the airport. Works for me.”

  The kitchen door whacked open, and Dez stammered, “It was the worst meal I ever had.”

  Tim looked at her blankly and then laughed. Dez gazed shyly over Tim’s shoulder and saw Jaylynn’s eyes upon her. Jaylynn gave a surprised look to see Dez cozied up to Tim, but she didn’t say anything. She waved at them to move their feet, and Sara set a tray down on the coffee table bearing four stacked bowls, four spoons, a dish of peanuts, a brown plastic container of chocolate sauce, and a pile of Twinkies on a Melmac Cookie Monster plate. Jaylynn carried a tub of vanilla ice cream and a scoop.

  “Everybody help yourself,” Sara said. She sat down next to Dez.

  “I’ll scoop the ice cream,” Jaylynn said. “It gets so messy.” She proceeded to dole out generous globs for everyone and went back in the kitchen to put the ice cream away.

  Sara took the brief opportunity to whisper, “Are we all set?”

  Tim nodded. “Details later, but yes. Dez is in.”

  Sara smiled at Dez, her brown eyes full of warmth and caring. “Thank you. It’ll mean a lot to her if you come. By the way, nice quads you got there.”

  Dez was still blushing when Jaylynn came back into living room and squeezed between Sara and Dez to settle in for the video, totally oblivious to the clandestine planning going on. She grabbed up the TV remote and pressed the button. As she set the remote down, Dez juggled her bowl of ice cream, leaned forward, and snagged a Twinkie with her free hand. With a smirk directed at Jaylynn, she took a generous bite and offered the remainder to Jaylynn who accepted it with a roll of her eyes. “Don’t blame me, Dez, if you get fat overnight,” Jaylynn said, as she bit down on the remaining half.

  All week Dez wracked her brain to think of something she could do with Jaylynn from nine a.m. ’til noon on Saturday. Nothing seemed compelling enough to warrant a nine o’clock start. Finally she talked to Crystal, learning that she and her partner were also invited to the party.

  Crystal said, “Why don’t you bring her to our house for brunch?”

  Dez thought about it. “That could work, but then you’d miss the surprise.”

  Crystal considered for a moment. “What if we got totally ready so the minute you drive away, around noon, Shayna and I could jump in our car and race over there? You just have to stall. All you’d have to do is stop to fill up with gas or pick up a coke at the drive-thru or something. Then we could be there on time.”

  “Okay. What do you want me to bring on Saturday morning?”

  “Le
t Shayna worry about that. You bring Jay over about nine and we’ll keep you both occupied. At roll call tomorrow night, I’ll invite you guys over. For once, I’ll actually show up early.”

  The next night, true to her word, Crystal was there ahead of time and corralled the two of them. She said, “Dez, Jay, I got a favor to ask. Would you be willing to come over on Saturday morning for brunch? Shayna has a couple new recipes she wants to try—and Dez, don’t worry. They’re not too high-cal.”

  Dez said, “Sure. What time?”

  “Let’s see, about nine, how’s that?” She looked from one woman to the other.

  Skeptically, Jaylynn said, “I won’t be very awake, but okay. What’s your address?”

  Dez interjected smoothly, “I know how to get there. How about I pick you up at a quarter to nine?”

  “Okay,” Jaylynn said, “but I’m not promising to be a very entertaining brunch companion.”

  Crystal squeezed Jaylynn’s arm and said, “Nonsense. You’re always entertaining, right, Dez?”

  Gruffly Dez said, “Yeah, right. C’mon. The sarge is on the way.” They all found seats as the sergeant entered the room and began his announcements.

  The day of the party dawned clear and bright, only a few fuzzy clouds blowing around in the bright blue sky. A shaft of rich gold light glowed through the small window above Dez’s double bed. On her back, she lay with the sheet over her warm body and watched dust motes floating in the beam of light. She only remembered waking once during the night after another bad dream. She vaguely recalled struggling, like she was drowning, and she woke up with a pain in her chest as though she’d been shot again. Reaching her arms out to either side of her, she stretched, twisting her torso, tensing her chest muscles. She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, and her gaze fell upon the two presents on the coffee table. They were wrapped in plain red paper, no bows, and the tape more than apparent. Pathetic wrapping job. She figured she should have had them professionally wrapped. Oh, well, it’s the thought that counts, right? She had a hunch Jaylynn would like both gifts.

  She ate her regular breakfast of oatmeal and a protein shake and got ready for the day. By the time she left the apartment, she was actually feeling perky.

  Just as she’d said, Jaylynn wasn’t very lively when Dez picked her up, but as they drew closer to Crystal and Shayna’s house in south Minneapolis, she seemed to wake up. “Nice T-shirt,” Jaylynn said.

  Dez looked down at her WNBA shirt for the Minnesota basketball team, the Lynx. “Didn’t you know? I tried out for the team, but they don’t allow cops. So they gave me this free T-shirt.”

  Jaylynn rolled her eyes. “You’re certainly full of it today.”

  Dez raised her eyebrows and gave an innocent look. She slowed the truck in front of a cyclone-fenced yard. “We’re here.”

  The couple lived in a side-by-side duplex. Their dog was out in the backyard, and all the windows were open so the early morning breeze could blow through. Since so much fresh air was circulating through the duplex, Dez didn’t think her dog allergies would act up at all. She hadn’t been to her friends’ house for a long time, and she commented about the new couch, a giant tan L-shaped monstrosity of a thing piled up with various sized pillows. Six or eight people could easily sit there—if some of the pillows were removed. Otherwise the room looked the same: wild-colored African paintings on the living room walls; a six-foot-long tapestry of green, gold, black, and red hanging next to the doorway to the dining room; knickknacks and figurines all around the room on shelves and tables. Dez always found their place very “busy,” and she liked to tease Shayna about how much dusting she must have to do.

  The four women sat around the living room for a while, chatting, until Shayna got up to work in the kitchen. They all followed her in and kept talking. The three cops stood around, mostly in the way, until Shayna shooed them into the dining room where she could still hear but not have them underfoot.

  Jaylynn sat in one of four majestic wooden chairs at the table and watched Dez out of the corner of her eye. Her partner was in good spirits this morning. In fact, she’d been in good spirits—almost happy—for days now. Give that girl a carbohydrate, Jaylynn thought as she smiled. She decided she herself would be horribly mean if she wasn’t able to eat the variety of goodies she liked so well. No wonder Dez has been so grumpy. Jaylynn was just glad the weird diet was finally over.

  Crystal said something and Jaylynn turned her attention to her. Crystal said, “Did you read that article this morning about Dolly the Sheep?”

  Jaylynn raised her eyebrows and looked at Crystal skeptically. She hadn’t been following the thread of the conversation, so she asked, “What? Some kind of interview with her?”

  Dez barked out a laugh, surprising Jaylynn. “I think it was about the sheep, not with her.”

  Jaylynn purposely ignored her. “What are you talking about, Crystal?”

  “You know, that sheep they cloned—Dolly they named her.”

  “What about her?”

  “I read something about how when they clone the clones, it shortens their lifespan, and I was just going to comment that the department now has to end their experiment.”

  Jaylynn looked at Crystal, confused. She could tell the smirking woman was about to say something humorous, but she wasn’t able to track with it. “All right, I’ll bite. What experiment?”

  Crystal grinned and said, “The one where they clone Reilly here. They’re not doing it now that they’d end up with a bunch of mutant lesbians with tiny little lifespans.”

  From the kitchen Shayna laughed. Dez gave her friend a level stare which caused Jaylynn to laugh out loud and say, “She can dish it out, Crystal, but she can’t take it.”

  Dez said, “I don’t get mad. I get even.”

  With a smirk on her face, Crystal nodded toward Jaylynn with a knowing look. “Truer words were never said. You should have been around the time she and Ryan put flour in Lieutenant Andres’ coffee sweetener.”

  Jaylynn watched the flash of emotions move across Dez’s face, first uncertainty, then a slight wince of pain, settling into a tiny smile. Dez very rarely talked about Ryan, and she hoped she would right now.

  In a low voice, Dez said, “Ryan came up with the idea.”

  “But you got blamed.” Crystal sat forward in her seat and put her elbows on the table. Her face was lit up with pleasure, her brown eyes twinkling.

  “He paid for that later. I made him buy me supper,” Dez said, an eyebrow arched. “Andres would never believe his darling protégé would play any tricks on him, but Ryan thought up more sneaky stuff. You wouldn’t believe it. Guess I didn’t mind being blamed. It was worth it to hear that Andres spit his coffee halfway across the room in Commander Paar’s office.”

  Dez grinned, and Jaylynn saw the tip of a pink tongue run between her teeth. She couldn’t keep herself from staring. She didn’t often see Dez smile like that, her face totally relaxed and her eyes glinting with humor.

  The women spent the next hour talking and laughing, with Shayna contributing occasional comments from the kitchen. Well after ten o’clock they finally served brunch. Jaylynn munched on scrambled eggs and blueberry pancakes. She said to Shayna, “So, what’s new about this pancake recipe?”

  Shayna looked at her blankly.

  Comprehension dawned on Crystal and Dez’s faces about the same time. They both started to speak at once, but Dez shut up right away. Crystal said, “Shayna was going to make a new thing, but it didn’t work out. Hope you don’t mind.”

  Shayna’s brow was furrowed. She looked back and forth between her partner and Dez, but she was wise enough not to say anything.

  “Hey,” Dez said. “How ’bout the Lynx? You guys go to any of their games?”

  After eating, they continued to laugh and chat. Nearly another hour passed, and finally near noon, Dez rose. “Guess we’d better get going. We’ve got roll call at three, and I have errands to run.”

  They s
aid their goodbyes, and Dez led her out to the truck. Jaylynn was quiet as they drove out of Minneapolis. “Looks like it’ll be hot again tonight.”

  Dez sighed. “Yeah, but we’re sure to get a nice thunderstorm. You can feel it building, can’t you?”

  “Maybe. I’m looking forward to cooler weather—not snow, mind you. But I like fall a lot.”

  “Me, too. You mind if I stop for gas?”

  “No, I’m not in any big hurry.”

  Dez wheeled into an Amoco gas station on Lexington Parkway. She took her time filling the truck. Jaylynn got out to wash the windows, and Dez thought it lucky her back was to the street when the smoking Chevy Impala containing Crystal and Shayna went peeling by. Dez bit back a smile and observed Jaylynn, who was doing a fine job washing the side windows, but when it came to the windshield, it was a lost cause.

  “Need a step stool?” Dez asked.

  “Very funny.” Jaylynn obstinately opened the passenger door and levered herself up to stand on the edge of the doorframe so she could reach the windshield with the squeegee scrubber. She finished the driver’s side at the same time that Dez topped off the tank and removed the nozzle from the gas tank.

  “Be right back,” Dez said. She ambled into the store, wondering how much time it would take Crystal to park the car around the block and hustle up to Jaylynn’s house. She waited in line while the harried clerk counted change for the customer ahead of her. Picking up a pack of Big Red cinnamon gum, she tossed it on the counter to ring up, too.

  When she got back to the truck, she offered Jaylynn a stick of gum.

  “Uh, no thanks. That kind always burns my tongue.”

  “You can eat salsa straight from the jar and spicy barbecue stuff, but you can’t chew gum?”

  “Not that gum.” She frowned and cast a puzzled look Dez’s way. “I have to say you’re certainly feisty today.”

  Dez smiled at her and wouldn’t meet her eyes. She couldn’t believe it, but she may possibly have pulled off this little diversion. She parked in front of the stucco house, busily congratulating herself, before it occurred to her she was dropping Jaylynn off. But how was she herself going to get in there without arousing suspicion? She wanted to clonk herself on the head for not even thinking of that until now.