The Cowboy and the Cop

by Christine Wenger

  A slight frown appeared on her face and then disappeared just as fast. But he’d seen it just the same. Could it be that Amber wanted him around?

  But he had to go back to the PBR. He couldn’t miss the opportunity to ride every weekend and get points to keep his number-one standing. He also had to replenish his money. His bank account was looking anemic.

  He stood for a while in her room. It was very nicely decorated. But...wait...she needed a closet. Going back to the kitchen, he took her hand and led her toward her bedroom. She hesitated at first, but he stated, “This won’t take long.”

  “It won’t take long?” she echoed, but it was more like a question, unlike his statement.

  He noticed how red her cheeks and nose had become. It was a brilliant red.

  “It’s not what you think,” he explained. “If we were going to make love, you’d certainly know it.”

  That relaxed her and she went with him. He pointed. “Right there, Amber. I could build you a closet the length of this room and some shelves inside the closet for your things.”

  “Don’t you have enough to do?” she asked.

  “How about if I build it before I’m ready to leave for the PBR? Everything should be done or on its way to being done. Okay? It’ll be...uh...like paying you back for letting me crash here.”

  “I don’t want—”

  “Any payback. Yeah, I know. You said that before.”

  “I was going to say that I don’t want you to bother. I should be moving soon.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yes. I received a call from the state police. They asked me if I would mind being hired provisionally until I take the test and the list comes out. I jumped at it.”

  “And you have to move?”

  “To one of the northern counties. Apparently, they need to fill some vacancies in staffing and they got a waiver from Civil Service to hire.”

  “Aren’t you going to miss Beaumont?” he asked.

  “Probably every day of my life, but I have to go for my own job satisfaction.”

  “I understand, Amber, I really do. But it’s too bad that you have to leave. Beaumont County will miss you.”

  Luke helped Amber change the linens on the bed then they made small talk in the living room. Almost two hours later, when Luke’s stomach was meeting his backbone, Amber finally announced that dinner was ready.

  Luke just about ran to the kitchen. “Can I help you with anything?”

  He put out carrots, mashed potatoes, some kind of dark gravy, applesauce that looked homemade and, finally, the meatloaf.

  Just as he picked up a fork, Luke’s phone rang.

  “Hello?”

  “This is Marylou Haber from the Beaumont County Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation Facility. Am I speaking to Luke Beaumont?”

  “Yes. You are. What did my father do this time?” Luke asked.

  “Uh...no...nothing. He’s being transported by ambulance to Beaumont General. We believe he’s had a heart attack.”

  “Oh! I’ll be right there. Thanks for letting me know.”

  “Goodbye, Mr. Beaumont.”

  “Bye.” He tapped off the phone and stood. He heart was thumping in double time, and he felt sick to his stomach. “I’m sorry, Amber, I have to leave. My dad had a heart attack. They’re transporting him to Beaumont General by ambulance.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry, Luke. Would you like me to go with you?”

  “You don’t have to.” But he wished like hell that she’d come. She was a calming influence on him. He already lost his mother—he didn’t want to lose his dad.

  She stood and began stuffing the delicious meal into the fridge. “I want to go with you.”

  It didn’t take her any time at all. Soon they were back in her SUV and she floored it.

  At the corner of Carlton and Burke drives, she slowed. The ambulance had pulled over, and its lights were dim compared to what they should be like. Several people had gathered and one was shouting into his cell phone.

  “Why is that ambulance stopped?” she asked, getting out of her car and running to the scene.

  He followed her.

  “What’s going on, Craig?” she asked the ambulance driver, who stopped pacing long enough to talk to her.

  “This relic finally gave up the ghost. I told the town board that we need a new one, but they don’t listen.”

  “Where’s my father?” Luke asked as he joined them.

  “Don’t worry. He’s in the back and he’s stabilized. I’m waiting for Donny Cushman to come and we’ll move Big Dan.”

  “To his hearse?” Amber asked.

  “A hearse?” Luke yelled. “Isn’t that a little premature?”

  “Donny’s authorized to back up the ambulance. Besides, the cot is too long for a regular car and no one seems to have a big, empty van without seats. So we use Donny’s hearse when the town’s ambulance breaks down.”

  As if on cue, Donny Cushman of the Silent Repose Funeral Home arrived. The hearse gave Luke the willies.

  Craig opened the back door of the ambulance. “If you have a better idea, I’m listening.”

  Luke didn’t know what to do with his hands. “I don’t. Let’s go. I’ll help with the stretcher or whatever it’s called.”

  Big Dan weighed in. “Isn’t this something? An ambulance that breaks down? Why doesn’t this darn town have a decent one?”

  “Calm down, Big Dan,” Amber said. “Things are under control. You’re going to be transferred to this, um, hearse.”

  “I ain’t dead, dammit!”

  “Look, Dad. Donny Cushman gave up his time to help you. So calm down and we’ll get you to the hospital.”

  Amber was directing traffic. “Get moving!” she yelled from the middle of the intersection. “Get Big Dan into the hearse.”

  She went into full cop mode, yelling at the rubberneckers to move along. He didn’t like to see her in the dark and without a flashlight or her uniform on.

  Luke jogged over to Amber. “I’m going in the hearse with my father,” Luke said. “Meet you at the hospital?”

  “Okay.” She nodded, waving a dark vehicle on. “Meet you there.”

  Luke helped the EMTs slide his father into the back of the hearse. He hoped this wasn’t an omen.

  “I’m all right. Get me out of this death box on wheels.”

  “Calm down, Big Dan. We’ll be at the hospital in ten minutes,” said Donny. “And my vehicle is not a death box on wheels. It’s a state-of-the-art easy rider.”

  “Easy rider? Who are you kidding?” Dan said.

  They all chose to ignore Dan’s comments, but it was ten minutes of hell driving to the hospital, with him whining and complaining ad nauseam.

  Luke calmed him down by talking about PBR stats and how his two brothers were doing. He avoided telling him about the missing cattle, but the word would be out soon. Small town.

  Luke took his father’s hand. “Dad, just think of all the things you have to live for and quit being so cranky.”

  There was quiet, at least for a while.

  Luke sat back in the front seat and zoned out for a minute or two. He couldn’t get Amber out of his mind. She really was a skilled cop, and a skilled cook, and a skilled baker.

  And she certainly could kiss.

  Finally, Craig pulled into the hospital’s emergency room entrance area.

  “We’re just using this because the ambulance broke down again,” Craig yelled to waiting staff.

  Luke sprang out of the hearse, but was pushed aside by hospital personnel. He let them do what they were best at and he followed the stretcher into the ER.

  Funny how things worked out. If anyone ever told him five years ago that Big Dan would have a heart attack, he’d never
believe it.

  He used to be a robust guy, a boisterous, happy guy—the exact opposite of what he was now.

  Big Dan was still boisterous, but not in a good way.

  “Luke, get me out of this hospital. I don’t want to spend one more minute here than I have to.”

  “You might have to stay overnight,” Luke said and immediately regretted it.

  Big Dan swore loudly. “I don’t need no damn hospital. Just have them get me some pills and cut me loose.”

  “Calm down, Dad. And be quiet, will you? These people are trying to help you.”

  He was poked and prodded, and on occasion Luke tried not to laugh at his father’s reaction. On other times, he couldn’t help but remember how Big Dan used to be—an amiable guy who never met a person he didn’t like.

  Now he was just an ill-tempered crank, and it broke Luke’s heart. Maybe with enough therapy, his father might return to the man he used to be.

  They got him a room in record time to probably shut him up so he wouldn’t disturb the rest of the patients.

  After a while, Luke heard knocking and turned to find Amber in the doorway. “Come on in, if you can stand to. Right now, my father is complaining about the beeping of his machines around him. You’d think the world was coming to an end.”

  “How are you doing, Mr. Beaumont?” she asked Luke’s father.

  “What? You don’t call me Big Dan anymore?” Luke’s father asked.

  Amber shook her head. “You don’t look all that big anymore, Mr. Beaumont. You need more muscles.”

  She was joking, but Big Dan made a lot of noise turning in the bed to face the wall. He was curled up like a boiled shrimp.

  Luke knew why he was acting like a five-year-old. This was the hospital that Valerie Lynn had died in, and she’d been transported to the cemetery in probably that very hearse.

  But that didn’t mean Big Dan had to act like a juvenile delinquent.

  Luke was about to tell him to behave himself when Nurse Margie Proctor stormed into the room. She was a little younger than Big Dan and had lost her husband around the same time he had lost his wife.

  She lunged to his bedside, hands on her hips. “What are you doing disrupting my floor, Daniel Beaumont? This is a hospital, and we have lots of people with very serious illnesses. They don’t want to hear you whining. Now button it!”

  He turned into a regular person right before their eyes. “I’m not disrupting anything. Just give me some pills and let me go, will you, Margie?”

  Margie used to be a frequent visitor to the Beaumont Ranch because she’d been in a book club with Valerie Lynn. Luke remembered Margie as a no-nonsense nurse, but quick with a laugh and a smile. In fact, Margie had tended his mother and was there to pick up the pieces when she died.

  “The doctor on call will be right in, and we don’t just hand out pills like candy.” She plumped his pillow, smoothed his sheets and had him eating out of her hand.

  His father looked...smitten.

  Could that be?

  Maybe. Margie had honey-chestnut hair, twinkly brown eyes and a perfect shape. But more than that, Margie was nice.

  There was that word again.

  Luke went over to Amber who was sitting on an extra chair and reading messages on her cell phone.

  “I think my father’s going to be okay,” Luke said.

  “You do?”

  “Yeah. Look at him over there, flirting with Margie.”

  Amber giggled. “I know. I’ve been watching them out of the corner of my eye.”

  They both laughed and Luke added, “Looks to me like she likes him, until she finds out he’s in alcohol rehab, that is.”

  Amber grinned. “Oh, she probably knows. Small town. And he arrived here in a hearse. It’s something that people will be talking about for years to come.”

  “True.”

  He stood and paced a bit to stretch his legs. He’d talk to his father, but he was still occupied with Margie.

  “If I wasn’t so cash poor, I’d buy the town a new ambulance,” he said.

  “Don’t stop there. Our fleet of exactly four cop cars is ancient, and so is the fire truck. We could use two fire trucks and two ambulances if you’re going to get your checkbook out.”

  “Wish I could fund them. I really do.”

  “Hey, uh...wait a minute!” Amber said. “A rodeo! We could have a rodeo in your outdoor arena. And you have bleachers. We could rent more bleachers and put them around the ring. Cars and RVs could park in the south pasture, and the refreshments alone could bring in a ton of money, but the real attraction would be all the bull riding stars, who are your friends. Your brothers are an attraction, too.”

  “Amber, are you talking about what I think you are?”

  “A fund-raiser. First, I thought of just bull riding, but there’s such talent in Beaumont, we should throw an amateur rodeo and use all your new stock, but have a professional bull riding section with some of your pals.”

  She was so excited, her face was flushed. Her green eyes were twinkling and she looked...animated and...beautiful. When he’d noticed her in high school, it had crossed his mind that she was fairly pretty, but now she was gorgeous. And she was just as beautiful inside as she was outside. Some women weren’t, like Lucy McClennan.

  Lucy was hot. He’d dated her just after the senior prom through the summer before he joined the PBR. Lucy turned heads wherever she went. She was arm candy, and that’s all she was. She had a mean streak in her a mile wide, and her jealousy knew no bounds.

  Luke couldn’t handle a jealous woman, especially when he was meeting and greeting his fans. That was when her claws really came out. No, thanks.

  “What do you think, Luke?”

  “Huh? Oh yeah, the fund-raiser.”

  He was about to tell her that her idea was brilliant when Margie walked over to them.

  “Here comes Dr. Paulson now,” Margie said. “Would you two leave the room for a while? Then later he will come and speak to you. There’s a nice waiting room just down the hall on the right.”

  “Sure, Margie.”

  It seemed natural for him to put his hand on her back and walk with her down the hallway to the waiting room.

  They sank into a black faux-leather couch that should have been scrapped years ago.

  “Your idea for a fund-raiser is a good one,” Luke said. “But we’d have to hold it in August, before I have to leave. That’s only two months away. Can we pull it off?”

  “You’ve never seen me in action,” Amber said. “I’ll do it for the town. Then I’m going to leave, too. I got an offer.”

  Luke was shocked. He’d never really thought that she’d leave Beaumont. “Seriously, you’re going to leave? Where?”

  Amber smiled. “To Spirit Springs, Oklahoma. It’s northeast of here. I’ve accepted a provisional appointment with the Oklahoma State Police. I start after Labor Day.”

  Chapter Twelve

  When Amber told Luke about accepting a provisional appointment with the Oklahoma State Police, there didn’t seem to be any excitement in her heart.

  Wasn’t that the job she’d wanted forever?

  There was almost a feeling of dread.

  “A provisional appointment, huh?” he asked.

  “They got some special waivers and are allowed to hire current law enforcement personnel, but it means that I’ll have to take the test for the position when it’s offered and be reachable on the civil service list. Then I’ll have to pass an agility test and whatever else. Oh, and then there’s their famous investigation of me and my family. Which I hope they pass.”

  “Will they be an obstacle?” he asked.

  “If you were the Superintendent of State Police, would you hold my family’s...uh...past illegal
activities against me?”

  “Nope. Not at all.”

  “Wouldn’t you think that if I was in law enforcement and they were doing something illegal, I should turn them in?”

  He rubbed his chin. “That’s a tough one. They’re your family. If they are doing harm to others, yes. That’s an easy one.”

  “Moonshining could do harm to others. Especially if their customers drive drunk and hurt someone,” Amber reminded him.

  “Yeah. I see your dilemma. I also saw boxes and boxes of canning jars stacked six deep against the wall of your dad’s dining room.”

  “I saw them, too. But I checked. They were empty. But just looking at them made my stomach turn.”

  He shrugged. “I haven’t heard anything about your family making shine. Believe me. All my workers would be talking about it.”

  She let out a deep breath. “Good to know. Thanks.”

  “Wouldn’t the state police investigators be concerned with you living with a son of a man you arrested three times?”

  Oh, no! It had never even dawned on her that giving Luke a place to stay would jeopardize her state police appointment.

  Before she could formulate an answer, Nurse Margie stuck her head into the room. “You can come and visit now, but don’t stay long. Dan is pretty tired and he’s going to be busy tomorrow with tests.”

  “Thanks, Margie,” Luke said. “If he’s cranky with you, let me know, and I’ll have a man-to-man with him.”

  “Your father has been a perfect gentleman,” Margie said. “And very cooperative.”

  “No kidding?” Amber asked. “He’s miserable with me. He either gives me the stink-eye or pretends that I’m not in the room.”

  “No kidding?” Margie echoed. “Excuse me. I have other patients to check.”

  “Thanks, Margie,” Luke said to the departing nurse. Then he turned to Amber.

  “You know...you did arrest Big Dan three times.” Luke raised an eyebrow. “He told me that you were stalking him.”

  “Serious?”

  He nodded.

  “Do you believe him?” she asked.

  “Nah.”

  “Are you just saying that because you need a place to stay?” Amber asked.