Blue as Sapphires

by Constance Bretes

  Why can’t I remember how I got home? The coffee pot stopped brewing, and she poured herself a cup and sat down at the dining room table. She put her foot on the chair and rested her elbow on her knee with her head in her hand. She took a sip of coffee, and someone knocked at her front door. Go away. I can’t talk to anyone right now. She sat there hoping the person would leave. Another knock at the door then a voice.

  “Marissa, are you up?” Riley asked.

  Riley...why did it have to be Riley? She could hardly function, and he was the last person she wanted to talk to. She sat there a little longer until she heard the doorknob rattle. She knew he had a way to get into a house, so she’d better let him in. She walked to the door and opened it. He stood on the other side looking in at her. She left the door open and walked back to her table and her coffee. Riley followed her in and sat down next to her.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  “Horrible.”

  “I figured.”

  “Do you know how I got home last night?”

  “What’s the last thing you remember?” His mouth twitched as he looked at her disheveled hair while she rubbed her temples.

  “I was dancing with you on the dance floor.”

  “You were making a scene, and I suggested we leave. You were ready to start a fight when Heidi stepped in and got you to go back to the table so we could continue the discussion. I said I was taking you home, and you got pissed off about that. Heidi dragged you outside so I could get you in my truck and bring you home. I picked you up and carried you to my truck. You fought with me all the way to my vehicle. We stopped about a half a block from the bar and you barfed in the road, leaving your mark. We got here and you let yourself out of my truck and fell into some burrs. I got you in the house and put you to bed. Anything else you care to know?”

  “No. Thank you, I think.” Marissa rubbed her eyes.

  “You think?” Riley asked. He lifted an eyebrow.

  “Do you want some coffee? Help yourself,” Marissa said, closing her eyes for a few seconds and then opening them again.

  “I’m here to take you to breakfast. You’ll need one to help get rid of that hangover.” A smile danced on his lips.

  “I’m not moving at this moment. I’m going to sit still here and wait until the pounding eases up,” Marissa said, taking another sip of coffee.

  “Okay. Why did you girls decide to drink whiskey last night?” Riley got up and walked into the kitchen. When he returned he was carrying a cup of coffee.

  “It’s all Heidi’s fault. She dared Barb and me. How did they get home?”

  “They walked.”

  “Oh.”

  “Did you have a good time?”

  “I don’t know. I think I did. Did I get real mouthy with Melody?”

  “Oh, you said a few things you wouldn’t have said if you were sober.”

  Marissa moaned. “Great. I’m sure Melody will blab to the whole town that I couldn’t handle my liquor.”

  “Not to mention that the sheriff had to physically remove you from the place,” Riley added.

  “Ohh, it gets worse!” Marissa squeezed her eyes shut. “Am I going to be able to hold my head up in town?”

  Riley chuckled. “It’s survivable.”

  “Easy for you to say. You had to play my knight in shining armor.”

  “Well, I couldn’t leave you there to fend for yourself. There’s no telling what would have happened. Plus, you could have ended up in the hospital with acute alcohol poisoning, since you’re not used to drinking.” They sat in silence for a few minutes, before Riley asked, “Are you ready to move around now and get dressed for breakfast?”

  “Where are we going?” Marissa didn’t really want to go to town and show her face.

  “My place. I make great scrambled eggs.”

  “Oh. Okay,” she mumbled.

  Getting up slowly, she walked to her bedroom. The hammer continued beating inside her head as she pulled on a sweatshirt and an old pair of jeans. She grabbed a pair socks and sat down to put them on. When she leaned forward the movement made the pounding in her head even worse, and she moaned.

  “Are you okay in there?” Riley hollered.

  “Yeah, just trying to put my socks on.” She finally got her socks and her old gym shoes on and walked out. “Okay, I think I’m ready.”

  They got into Riley’s truck, and he backed out and drove up to his house.

  “I always thought this was a beautiful log home,” Marissa mused. “Did you have it built?”

  “Yes. There’s something peaceful and pleasant about living rustic in a log home.”

  They got out of Riley’s truck and walked up the back porch, and Riley opened the door.

  “Oh, this is nice,” Marissa said, looking around at the kitchen, dining and living room.

  “Thanks.” Riley went into the kitchen and took a frying pan from the cabinet.

  “Can I help you with anything?” Marissa came up behind him.

  “Nope. You sit and nurse your headache. I’ll get a pot of coffee on in a sec.”

  “Okay.” She sat down at the dining room table.

  Riley went to the refrigerator and pulled out eggs, bacon, butter, and other ingredients. He put the bacon in the frying pan to sizzle and cook. He cracked several eggs, and put tomatoes, ham, onions, and peppers in with the eggs and scrambled them. He got the hash browns cooking and put vegetables in them to make them tasty. Finally, he put whole wheat bread in the toaster. Within twenty minutes, he had breakfast all prepared and served it.

  Marissa took a bite of the scrambled eggs. “This tastes really good. You do seem to know your way around the kitchen.”

  “When you’re single, you learn to do these things, or you’d eat out all the time.” They ate in silence for a few minutes.

  “Riley, you married your childhood sweetheart, and then you ended up divorced. What happened?”

  “Rachel liked living in Denver. She liked the parties and the socializing. And when I was offered a job here, she didn’t want to return. I found out later that she was having an affair with one of the other officers.”

  “Was it a bitter divorce?”

  “Yeah. It was a hard pill to swallow. I married my high school sweetheart, but we didn’t have a lot in common and we wanted different things. She wanted the parties and the booze, and I wanted a family and to live in a small town. I also like an orderly, disciplined lifestyle, and she hated that. What about you? What happened in your marriage?”

  “I met Mark at the university. We were both taking the same classes. His father owned Heartland Diamonds. After we graduated we got engaged, and his father hired me as one of his gemologists. I was to test all the diamonds that came in and grade the quality. We got married after I was hired, and we were married for nine years before we got divorced.”

  “What caused the divorce?”

  “Irreconcilable differences,” she grimaced.

  “You guys were married a while.”

  “Yes, we were married too long. I should never have gotten involved with him in the first place.”

  “Why?” Riley asked.

  “Let’s just say he was not a nice person when he was drunk and leave it at that.”

  “From the way you came back to Frankenburg, I’m assuming it was a bitter divorce,” Riley said.

  “Oh yeah. I escaped the marriage to save my life, and he left me destitute. Telling the judge I was a bad wife.” Bitter tears slipped out of her eyes and ran down her cheeks. She swiftly wiped them away.

  She looked at Riley and saw that he was staring at her as if he was waiting for her to say more.

  They ate in silence for a while, then Riley asked, “What have you got planned for today?”

  “I’ll spend part of the day going through my rocks to find sapphires. I’ll meet up with Campbell late this afternoon to do some more digging.”

  “Instead of doing that, why don’t you go to dinner with me, and we can go
to the opera house afterward?”

  “Are you trying to keep me away from the dig site?” Marissa looked at Riley with her eyebrows raised.

  “Is it working?”

  “No.” She tugged at her hair.

  “Come on, Marissa, I like spending time with you, and going to dinner and the opera tonight would be far more enjoyable than hard labor, don’t you think?”

  “Yes, it is better than doing the back-breaking labor. But Campbell and I have an arrangement.”

  “Can’t you call him and cancel it for one evening?”

  “Well, yeah, I could do that. I’ll call him and ask if he would mind not doing it tonight, but if he does mind, I’m going.”

  “Okay.” Riley smiled wide.

  Marissa pulled her cellphone out of her purse and called Campbell.

  He answered on the third ring. “Hello?”

  “Hey, Campbell. This is Marissa. I was wondering if you’d mind if I canceled out on digging today?”

  “No, I don’t mind. You got a date with the sheriff?”

  Marissa chuckled. “Yeah, something like that.”

  “Okay, let’s meet up at our usual time on Monday.”

  “Okay. Thanks, Campbell.” She snapped her cellphone shut. “We’re all set,” Marissa told Riley.

  “Good. Let’s go out to the swing on my front porch and enjoy the scenery and some coffee. The fresh air will help with your hangover.”

  They sat on the swing, Marissa at one end and Riley on the other. She placed her feet up and over Riley’s lap. He held her legs and swung the swing with one foot. They stared out at the rolling hills and the mountains off in a short distance.

  “This is really beautiful,” Marissa said, mesmerized by the beauty.

  “So, your dad was a gemologist too. I imagine he was proud of the fact you followed in his footsteps.”

  “Um, yeah, I think he was.” Marissa thought back to the time when she told her parents what she wanted to do. “My mom was happy too, because she quit college when she and Dad got married. I wonder sometimes if she regretted that she never finished getting her degree. How about your parents?”

  “My dad was a real estate broker for a number of years with Realtor One, Incorporated. He, too, retired. My mom was also a real estate broker, and she worked for the same company, but she stayed on for another ten years before retiring a few years ago. They live in Arizona now.”

  “Why did they go to Arizona? Was there something there they liked?” She toyed with a lock of hair.

  “Mom has asthma, and she likes the dry climate, it keeps her asthma in control. Plus, the winters are easier to deal with down there than they are here.”

  “How’s Damian doing?” Marissa asked.

  “Okay, I guess. He’s having marital problems right now. I hope they can work them out. He’s another one that married his high school sweetheart.”

  While they sat chatting and enjoying the view, the fire station air raid went off. At the same time, Riley’s two-way radio went off. He got up and went in to check it. Marissa could hear him talking, but she couldn’t make out what he was saying. She got up and walked into the house.

  Riley finished his conversation and came out to the kitchen. “I’m sorry, Marissa, but there’s a fire and I have to go help the fire department. I’ll drop you off at your house on the way.”

  “Okay.”

  Riley dropped Marissa off at her house and told her, “I’ll let you know if I can still go to dinner tonight. It depends on if the fire is suspicious or not.”

  He leaned over and gave her a kiss. She got out of the cruiser, and he backed out of her driveway, turned his siren on, and took off.

  Chapter 16

  After Riley dropped her off, Marissa dusted, vacuumed, and cleaned the house. When she finished her household chores, she sat and sifted through the rocks on the porch. She found three more sapphires that were yellow. She picked up one and looked at it through her eye loupe. “Hmm, almost perfect.” She picked the other one up and looked. “Ah…much better.” She viewed the third one through the eye loupe. “Another perfect color.” She took the two perfect ones in and faceted them into emerald shape cuts.

  At four that afternoon, Riley called Marissa on her cellphone.

  “Hi, Riley.”

  “Hey, Marissa. How about I pick you up at five-thirty and we’ll go to dinner in town and to the opera house? It starts at seven.”

  “The fire is under control?”

  “Yes. It was an electrical fire, so there was nothing for me to investigate.”

  “Five-thirty sounds fine. Would you like me to meet you in town?”

  “Nah, I’ll be by. I’ve got to run home and do a few things.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you then.”

  * * * *

  Once they were seated at Mill Creek Restaurant and had placed their orders, Marissa asked Riley, “So did the house burn down completely, or was it a minor fire?”

  “No, it gutted the house. Once those old wires start, the fire goes through like a strike of a match on a matchbook.”

  “Oh, that’s too bad. Was it an old house?”

  “Yes, it was. Fortunately, the owners weren’t home when it happened. That’s why I was adamant about you having your house inspected. After sitting vacant as long as it did, and with the age of the house, I wanted to be sure it was safe for you to be in it. How’s the hangover going?”

  “It went away around noon, and I spent the afternoon going through the rocks, looking for sapphires, and faceting. It was a relaxing day for me. Too bad it wasn’t for you. Do you always respond when there’s a fire?”

  “Yes. I have to in case there’s something suspicious. We don’t have a fire chief here to investigate it, so it’s up to the sheriff’s department, primarily me, to investigate. If I think the fire is suspicious, we have what we call a mutual aid pact with fire departments in other areas where a fire chief will come in and investigate,” Riley explained.

  “You carry a lot of responsibilities, don’t you?”

  “It seems like it sometimes. But in these communities, most things are not an everyday occurrence. Other times, I wonder if it will ever end. But it’s the nature of the job, I guess.”

  The waitress arrived with their food, and they ate in silence for a few minutes.

  “What are we seeing at the opera house?” Marissa asked.

  “It’s a vaudeville show.”

  “Oohh, do you like vaudeville?”

  “Yeah, kind of.”

  “What do they do?”

  “They have music, comedy, humor, skits, along with our very own Frankie’s chickens.”

  “Who are they?” Marissa asked.

  “A group of locals doing comedy.”

  After they finished their dinner, they left the restaurant and walked over to the opera house. Riley bought two tickets, and they walked into the lobby area. An older couple stopped to talk with Riley.

  “Sheriff! How’s it going?”

  “Hi, Arnold. I’m doing good. How’s it going on your ranch?”

  “Business is good this year. Who’s the lovely lady by your side?”

  “Marissa, this is Arnold Finley. He owns the Double J Ranch in Potter Town, about nine miles south of here.”

  “Hello, Mr. Finley. Nice to meet you.” Marissa shook his hand.

  “It’s good to meet you too. This is Bertie, my wife of fifty-five years.”

  Marissa smiled and held out her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Finley.”

  Bertie shook Marissa’s hand. “Oh heavens, please call me Bertie. We don’t get into town that much, but maybe you and the sheriff could come out to Double J and go horseback riding?”

  “Thank you. That sounds like fun.”

  After introducing Marissa to a few of the folks from the surrounding small towns, they went to the usher who led them to their seats. They sat down just as the curtains rolled up and the lights dimmed in the audience.

  First,
the magicians came out, and they called people from the audience up to the stage to do their tricks. Marissa whispered to Riley, “I wonder how they do some of those tricks.”

  “Mmm-hmm, I wonder too.”

  Next a comedian dressed as a clown came out. He told off-the-wall jokes, and whenever he got to the punch line, someone behind the stage hit the drums in a ta-dum.

  After the comedian came the musicians with the dancers. The music was old showgirl tunes, and the dancers had on one-piece bodysuits with sparkling, colored tights and high-heeled shoes.

  The last act was Frankie’s Chickens. It was fun to watch. Marissa hadn’t laughed so hard in a long time. Frankie’s Chickens performed acts that reminded her of The Three Stooges with slapstick comedy, involving humor and crazy situations.

  * * * *

  After they left the opera house, they walked over to where Riley’s truck was parked, and he drove to Marissa’s house. He got out and came around to help her out. They walked the beaten path to her porch, she unlocked the door, and they entered.

  Riley looked around for a place to put his hat, and he set it on the dining room table. He turned to face Marissa. Her eyes blazed with passion as he pulled her into his embrace and leaned in to kiss her. His hands roamed all over her back and her arms as his lips teased and nipped hers. His lips trailed her jawline to her neck, and he reached up and touched her breasts. She gasped and arched her back ever so slightly so her breasts were pushed even further into his hands.

  He backed her into the bedroom. As he did, he unbuttoned the front of her blouse so he could slip it off her shoulders. He felt her hands on his back, then they slid down to his belt, slipping inside his jeans. Desire radiated between them. His erection was stretching fast and hard, and he knew if he wasn’t careful, he’d spill all over the place. He wanted to get her in the right moment at the right time.

  Reaching around, he unsnapped her bra and flung it off to the side. He cupped her breasts with his hands and looked at them. They were beautiful, perfect, with rosy tips that marbled at his touch. He brought his lips to her tips and kissed them, then suckled them.